Here are the flip sides of the same coin: In the same week that research is released suggesting magazine people don’t “get” Web 2.0, on TechCruch (the gatekeeper of Web 2.0-worthiness), Michael Arrington displays how a Web 2.0-centric mindset can equally harm ones ability to “get” magazines.
I’m assuming Michael is trying to lace some wittiness into such comments as this in his review of JPG Magazine and the folks behind it:
“It took me a couple of weeks to get over the fact that they are actually printing a magazine, on paper, just like people used to do in the last century. But after a visit to their offices at Minor Ventures earlier this week and a discussion of how they are embracing their online community to create content, I’ve come around to their way of thinking. And I think it is a model that other tree-killers should embrace, too.
First, a little background. I’ve been a hyperventilating fan of JPG Magazine for 23 months, since January 13, 2005, the day I blogged this:
“Because I straddle the world of print magazines (my passion and career), and the online participatory-citizens-conversational world that includes blogging (my other passion and career(?), I’m often asked how one relates to the other. I’ve written lots on that issue: In a nutshell, magazines and blogging don’t compete but complement. Blogging will profoundly affect magazines, but will not replace them…Magazines, at least the type I love, are experiences, not just repositories of information. (If they were merely repositories, then, yes, I would say that the web could replace them.) The ‘experience’ aspect of magazines is why people use them (in other ways)…” (A little later, in an interview on Medialifemagazine.com, I explored the topic a bit more deeply.)
Long-time readers of this blog will recognize my 23-month old post about JPG Magazine is about as over-the-top as I ever get about something. I don’t believe I’ve spoken to a magazine group since then in which I have not referred to them.
However, I’ve got to remember to start pointing them out when I speak to web-centric audiences also: to those who who are so drunk on the Koolaid of Web 2.0 they completely dismiss the role other media play in our lives.
My prediction: There will be tree-killing (of one sort or another) in Michael Arrington’s future.
(Sidenote: My first mention of JPG Magazine was over two-years ago, thanks to a heads-up from Hugh Roper.)
Technorati Tags: jpg magazine, social media, web2.0
