Magazines On Magazines

| By Katie Strandlund | Found in Communication, Technology | 6 Comments

(Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from Katie Strandlund. Thanks again, Katie!)

I have recently taken to reading TIME Magazine when I’m in the waiting room at my chiropractor’s office. It’s time in a different medium, one that isn’t glowing in front of me, and it’s different content than what I normally consume. Recently, I ran across this ad, which currently appears in a number of print publications:

We surf the Internet.

We swim in magazines.

The Internet is exhilarating. Magazines are enveloping.

The Internet grabs you. Magazines embrace you.

The Internet is impulsive. Magazines are immersive.

And both media are growing.

Barely noticed amidst the thunderous Internet clamor is the simple fact that magazine readership has risen over the past five years. Even in the age of the Internet, even among the groups one would assume are more singularly hooked on digital media, the appeal of magazines is growing.

Think of it this way: during the 12-year life of Google, magazine readership actually increased 11 percent.

What it proves, once again, is that a new medium doesn’t necessarily displace an existing on. Just as movies didn’t kill radio. Just as TV didn’t kill movies. An established medium can continue to flourish so long as it continues to offer a unique experience. And, as reader loyalty and growth demonstrate, magazines do.

Which is why people aren’t giving up swimming, just because they also enjoy surfing.

– (TIME Magazine April 19,2010)

I think there are some nuggets of wisdom buried in there. But I’m curious about your thoughts. Do you agree? Disagree? In your opinion, what magazines are surviving and why? Do the strengths and weaknesses of a particular medium influence the ways you use that medium?

Katie Strandlund is currently on staff at The CORE in Appleton, WI, and embarking on a journey to put ideas into action. She shares her passion for creativity in the church, the use of technology, and visual worship on her blog.

  • http://www.benarment.com Ben Arment

    First, love the Katie Strandlund

    Second, I swim in magazines. Best part about flying for me is purchasing a fresh copy of Fast Company or COLLIDE and immersing myself. It’s more thoughtful communication.

  • http://worshipVJ.com Proctor

    I agree with Ben on both accounts.
    Something about holding a magazine…its real, tangible and permanent. Once it’s published, you can’t really delete it. It’s there, staring at you.

    And Katie Strandlund rocks! She asks the best questions.
    Glad to see her writing a post for collide!

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/ScottMcClellan ScottMcClellan

    You're absolutely right about not being able to delete a magazine once it's published. Learned that one the hard way …

  • http://www.cautiouscreative.com Katie

    Ben & Proctor, you guys are far too kind!

    So is print "back in" or was it never "out?" 10 years from now what two mediums will an ad like this be comparing? #iwonder

  • http://worshipVJ.com proctor

    Katie-

    it seems that those of us in our "tribes" collectively turn our heads and choose to look a different way… and to us, the world changed…but we're the ones that changed.
    Mediums very rarely go away….but it is we that think they go away…when in reality, we turned a blind eye to it.
    Magazines have never been out….but our tribe has been so immersed in the "online" that from our perspective, they went away…but they never did.
    make sense?

    as i write this, i think of what obsolete mediums are still "in" today and which ones are truly becoming extinct. telegraph? ham radio? air mail via pigeon? old generation iPods? books? magazines?
    and when more than one tribe turns their head away from one medium, does that expedite a medium's extinction?
    hmmm….

  • http://www.cautiouscreative.com katie

    makes complete sense. much of that was going through my head when i posed the question "was it never 'out?'" maybe the more directed question i was getting at was is print "back in" among the creative tribe? are we going to stop bashing the print medium as it seems many have? are we ready to turn divert some of our focus away from the "online" medium?

    if we are thinking like Shane Hipps mediums don't become obsolete, they just evolve…are used for a different purpose, right?

    i'm not sure that one tribe turning their head away from a medium expedites it's extinction. i would argue that one tribe turning their head away pushes another tribe to focus on that medium even more. almost as if the mediums we favor become part of our tribe's identity.