Ladies’ Home Journal Lets Readers Write the Magazine
Venerable Publication’s Bid to Attract Younger Audience May Cause Ripple Effect Among Mass Titles By Nat Ives
http://www.btobonline.com/
Association editorial teams don’t want to miss this. The 128-year old LHJ may be the first consumer publication to use reader-generated content in their print publication. The content will be gathered from their own DivineCaroline.com, which like LHJ, is also a Meredith property. According to mediaplanner.com, this is an attempt to scoop a younger audience while keeping their current demographic which is older than the mean age of the U.S. It should be noted that the publication, which fetches a cover price of $2.49, will pay for, fact-check and vet the stories.
Many associations are facing the same issue of their member demographic aging. And many also already crowsource their content from their members. I wonder if this reader-driven content approach will work for LHJ, I’m sure we’ll all be watching to see. If they get it to work, others will follow and we’ll all learn from them. So, we’re going to be watching LHJ to learn from what works and what doesn’t.
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Steve Jobs’ Ghost: Hi-Res iPad Will Undermine the Magazine Model
Anthony Wing Kosner
There isn’t a business out there that has not been reshaped by the social mobile web, from music to book publishing to advertising. If you follow Bussolati, you know that we think association magazines can’t escape being impacted either. And here it is in Forbes, the word that strikes fear: unbundling. It’s a thought provoking read.
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