Every year, during the first week of June, I head to Toronto for the annual gathering of MagNet, to hear about the latest trends in the Canadian magazine publishing industry, and to see first hand what other magazines are doing to reach more readers, extend their brand, and attract advertisers.  

The hot topic for this year’s conference? You guessed it …the iPad. So far I’ve only seen three people using them at the conference, but nonetheless, every session is sprinkled with speculation about how this new platform is going to change everything.  I believe it will… but most people haven’t had enough time to explore the technology to really understand what it will mean for readers, brand, or advertisers.  It was also not very helpful to learn that Steve Jobs thinks that we’re charging too much for digital content. (How much less expensive can you get than free?)

Most magazines, ours included, are optimistic about the digital future. Magazines thrive on innovation and creativity in shaping the reader experience. All this new media technology gives us plenty of occasions to try new things.  For example, Esquire magazine’s “augmented reality” issue uses barcode reader technology to make the physical page of the magazine come to life on your computer.   I’ve heard and seen some truly intriguing approaches to enriching the stories we tell on our pages through webisodes, podcasts, surveys, online communities, and user contributed content.

Heavy magazine readers, are most often heavy Internet users, some speculate it’s because magazines and the Internet, provide more “information-driven,” (as opposed to entertainment-driven?) experiences and a deeper level of reader-engagement. So the divide between these mediums is probably much smaller than most would have thought.   I suspect history people are interested in exploring new worlds for themselves, even if they are virtual ones and imagine there are a lot of potential readers on Facebook and Twitter just waiting to connect to us.  Digital media’s greatest promise is its potential to transform the relationship between an engaged reader and their magazine into a true dialogue.  So there are a lot of reasons to invest here.

And yet, for all the ideas and innovations out there, no one is seeing huge take-up in terms of building a truly engaged community. Fewer than no one (just adapting to Steve Jobs thinking here) have had significant success in convincing anyone to pay for these enriched experiences.  Do people really believe there is no added cost to producing content online?  Or is it they just don’t see it as having any value?

Personally I’m starting to believe these digital platforms are like the traditional newsstand.  You have to have a healthy volume out there, well placed so people notice it.  If you’re successful, lots of people will come by and browse, but less than half will actually buy something.   It’s an investment, sometimes an expensive one, but you can’t afford not to be there.  

But I’m more interested in hearing what you think.  Why are you reading this? What is it you are hoping to find in our online community? 

…Free subscription (or renewal of an existing one) for the first 5 people that show me there are signs of life out there in this new universe!…