As technology has developed hugely over the past years the media industry has been forced to modernise and keep up with new technological advances if they wish to keep their readers.
With the choice of being able to read article online came the thousands of online blogs. Here people report the news, on subjects of interest and give their opinions and the opinions of others. This resulted in the magazines and newspapers competing with a group of almost amateur reporters and online journalists reporting for free, sometimes criticising the writing of print journalists.
As more people gained access to design software and Photoshop there was a bigger pressure on magazines and news papers to have high quality design and photographs.
Also as younger generations are online a lot of the time they may not be as inclined to go out and buy a print publication anymore. Also with more people on the go using mobile phones and lap tops more and more magazines and newspapers really needed to access these mediums to maintain a relationship with their existing and future readers.
Publications after realising this decided, a bit too slowly in my mind to go online. Online versions of the publication from cover to cover can be found for free in some cases. Other formats involve some of the articles in the magazine mixed with blogs, forums and other online features in an attempt to entice people into subscribing.
Some people offer all content for free but ask for payment to view things from their archives. Also many online magazines offer extras such as newsletters which they will email to you between issues, some for free some charging. Lastly some magazines who are struggling with cost, especially of printing and distribution and profit transfer the publication totally online and cease printing the magazine.
Also some publications created applications fro mobile phones. These vary in their level of design and content. They range from some magazines and newspapers offering simple text filled daily news updates to the New York Times for example who have created a virtual copy of their publication for the iPad.
Obviously there are the smaller and initial struggles with converting you print magazine into an online version. You must sort the design of the website, train people to design and write for it and sort online advertising and look at what extras such as pod casts, videos etc, if any, you wish to include.
However the main problem for magazine which decide on creating an online version is profit. It is tricky for Magazines to gain online users/readers and maintain them while charging them. Certainly the Irish media at least has not got the hang of generating revenue from their online counter parts.
Obviously the magazine cannot keep updating and employing people to write for a source that is making no return, ultimately, the publications are leaking money. However, online readers are not inclined to pay for online content while free versions are available from others, unless of course the content is absolutely exceptional and exclusive. Also even those who do subscribe online to magazines and newsletters can cause a loss of profit as they may simply forward the content to family and friends.
I think that pulling out of online versions is simply not an option for magazines who wish to remain competing in the market. To convert online versions from liabilities to profit makers a balance has to be struck somewhere. I think a taster of each issue should be made available. Also some videos, pod casts, sound slides should be included, which not all Irish publications have begun to do yet. The option to subscribe should be available online and if you want to see the rest then subscribe or buy the print versions.
Of course as a consumer I would rather get as much as possible for free but as, hopefully, as a future journalist I can see that this cannot be maintained by publications, a profit has to be made from these online publications soon. If a change isn’t made it may mean serious damage to the print version and the disappearance of online papers/magazines.
Somethings got to give!
JM
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