The Great Divide

Print vs. Web

Print and Web

Web and Print

When I began this term in the Book and Magazine Program, I was completey of the mindset that any web component of a magazine was merely a nice little gimmick–more or less unnecessary in the larger scheme of things.

However, as I spent more time in the computer lab, listening to talk and examining samples of various tools on the net, I began to see my assumptions were based in ignorance. The web based portion of the magazines were a great way to view the magazine as a whole–both print and web–with articles, blogs, links and more that spoke volumes about the philosophy of the publication, perhaps even more than the print, because of how it talks directly to the reader and involves them as a user. The publication online may give their readers the benefit of the doubt, assuming they are already web-savy, and not include explanations of social bookmarking, RSS Feeds, or make their navigation more complicated than a standard organization. Or, they may take the reader by the hand and lead them through the website, with plenty of quick links, multiple search points, key words and clearly marked, separate sections (like the Toronto Life website)

But nothing made the importance of the web component more clear, than when my magazine editing group had to research a specfic magazine. We chose Faze magazine, because it was one the class would be less familiar with–a unique blend teen pop-culture with an emphasis on the real issues they face everyday. Refreshing right down to the hip editor Lorraine YipHoi (now Zander). Their website looked okay in the beginning, but after trying to email several of the contacts stated on the site with no response and calling the office number listed to discover it was no longer in existence–confusion and panic set in. Why would a magazine not update its website when it was so clearly a source for people to learn about the magazine and be drawn into it? And what were we going to do for our presentation when we needed primary sources???

Not only were the contacts incorrect, but the press information, media coverage, and invitations to the readers for their input were all outdated. We ended up having to go to other websites for indirect references, and contacts through other people. But our efforts were necessary to pass the assignment. What would keep a reader/potential advertiser/interested future employee searching other sites for information that should have been directly on their own site?

Eventually, I was able to make contact with the president of the company (who was Charm himself), and he told me that they were launching a whole new website within the next month, so the situation will soon be resolved. But how many people will be lost from their readership in the mean time? It was sad to think about–because the magazine has such amazing potential.

However, the situation did make me realize, even on a basic level, how important the web is to the magazine as a whole: for bringing readers in, and for keeping them. People, ESPECIALLY teens, want instant information–nothing much past the initial google search–that will show them what they are looking for.

Hopefully this new website that is going to revealed soon will be the Web 2.0 kind of place where a teen and pre-teen can feel at home….even if it has to incorporate Facebook.

Analysis of Online Magazines

Marie Claire

This magazine website has a lot of interactive web 2.0 features such as the “diary of a fashionista” which has an accessible link to add the photographic slide show directly to your myspace or to make your own slide show with different themed background for your photos. It also has a virtual model where you can try on various clothes advertised and the various new hairstyles featured in the issue, a bank of videos with all of the major names from the masthead. All of the articles (including the dating and travel blogs) on the website include links on the top and bottom of each to add to Kaboodle, Pop, Digg, Del.icio.us, facebook and RSS (in bright colours and with full explanations for how to use them and what they are).

With the articles always in the centre of the page and the interactive components like blogs, clubs and virtual activities constantly on the side, Marie Claire’s website is very user-friendly for new readers and those that come from the print version. However, they don’t seem to have any advertising, except for itself, with ads for paid subscriptions, google links and for the other magazines that Hearst owns. There is a link for potential advertisers of the online component to look at, so it is unclear why those in the print magazine have not carried over into the web version.

People

If Marie Claire is void of advertisements, People’s online magazine definitely makes up for the lack thereof. However, while the site does have links for RSS (AOL, Google, MSN, netvibes and Yahoo), it does not highlight the possible feeds in an area of the page that would help the advertisers and magazine distribute more links throughout the web—instead, it puts them in a blue, small typeface at the bottom left-hand corner of the page.

The website has podcasts (with a podcast archive), and even a video feed with celebrity interviews—a page which has the links for adding the site or specific videos to Del.icio.us, Facebook and Digg. It might benefit the website though to have the links at the top of the pages, to give more access to share the site and its articles. But the online magazine is well organized and designed in a user friendly fashion, and thus the uncluttered articles and ads do not hide the other interactive components (such as RSS and social bookmarking), even though they may not put them into the forefront of the audience’s screen.

Maclean’s

This online magazine, while extremely busy in editorial content and advertising, manages to have their RSS link at the very top of the page, on the right hand side of the panel, with the Maclean’s logo, which stays there the whole time you browse. You don’t have to search the page to find it—your eye goes there immediately. There are blogs for National Affairs, Culture and Education, that have another RSS link attached to them (in addition to the constant one at the top of the page).

The blogs are very easy to find and navigate, and so are the eight different forums they have to chat with other readers about issues such as education, world and national news etc. The advertising is mostly off to the right side of each page, so that the reader may browse through the articles and blogs undisturbed in their content, but always aware of that extra column of clearly defined advertisements. And, at the end of the articles, in a separately (and well marked) box are the links to share via social bookmarking, under the title of “Share”: Del.icio.us, Facebook, Digg, Seed Newsvine, Stumble It!, Technorati links. Both reader and advertiser, I think, would be satisfied with the strategy and organization of content, accessible sharing tools and advertising.