As MySpace Looks At Offering Magazines, Teen Magazines Ditch Paper For Online
from the perhaps-the-timing-isn't-so-good dept
Remember just a few days ago when there was all that buzz about the possibility of MySpace starting a paper magazine for their users? It definitely seemed like "old media" thinking. However, even those who are in the "old media" business of magazine publishing seem to think it's a bad idea to offer teens a magazine these days. Less than a decade ago, every publishing house was coming out with "teen" versions of their popular magazines. It worked well for a few years, but now many of them are shutting down their paper versions to focus just on websites. Both Elle Girl and Teen People have realized that teenagers don't really read paper magazines any more, preferring instead to get their teen culture news online. So, while MySpace hasn't officially made the call on their magazine plans, it seems like a little bit of quick market research in the publishing world would suggest that going the dead tree route isn't the best idea.
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As if the internet isnt already clogged with enough useless junks.
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bad myspace!
The boffins at myspace should realize that while it may make money in the short term due to its novelty, a myspace magazine will eventually fail because:
1) its audience is used to a more dynamic medium
2) there's no such thing as a 'typical' myspace user (as untrue as that might seem)
Conversely, I consider myself a New York Times reader yet I've never (ever) bought a paper copy of their newspaper (maybe, I've fished one out of the recycling once). The same can be said of many people and I applaud what Teen People et al are doing.
bad myspace! the world is going digital, and you should know better than to go analog, no matter how cool you think it may be.
fsckr - fsckr.com
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MySpace Is A FAD!
MySpace is a fad, my opinion is that its just a gay project from Rupert's global media stronghold that just worked.
throw a bunch of shit against a wall eventually something will stick. but the shit allways -after it sticks eventually slides down the wall and on the ground.
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Re: MySpace Is A FAD!
The myspace fad has stuck for over two years now...that's a fairly good fad in today's "online world".
...despite the shitty design of the site, it's the only place that give people full customization (I say that with a grain of salt). It allows people watching in still time, and it's worked.
A magazine though? I'm not so worried about paper media as I am about the content. There's such a huge marget that there's no way they could concentrate the material to appeal to the masses.
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And what, may I ask, would grace the pages of this magazine? A bunch of cell-phone camera self-portraits and art1clez wR1tT3n lIkE tH1z?
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Re: MySpace Is A FAD!
Ummm....Ruperts global media stronghold company didn't come up with the idea. They bought the company.
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who are they fooling?
Maybe they should concern themselves with making the damn site run before they start a magazine about how people get on computers.
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So...
Will "Tom" come to my door to deliver the first issue?
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Its an extension of the paperless office paradigm. I was there:
"We're going paperless!" my boss at the time yelped with glee. That was in 1995. Going a bit further on with the process various departments would cry out that they couldn't get anything done for other departments without a 1067-C form. 5, 6 years go by and the office wasn't paperless. Since then I have worked for smaller companies. The one I work for now in fact. Before I came on board employees came in whenever they wanted, so after hiring me I he asked me if I could install a timeclock software package he was looking at. Paperless (well, cardless).
It doesn't happen when product/service producers declare "Now is the time!"
It happens slowly, organically, when consumers get used to the idea and people realize it makes sense for them.
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