What really is a magazine?

Magazine publishing is in an existential crisis!

At least that’s what the world would have us publishers believe.

After all, we are now operating in a world where magazines are trying to find relevance between content produced by hordes of influencers and subject matter experts for the digital world, what used to be the exclusive domain of magazines, whose editors were supposed to be the ultimate arbiters of tastes and opinion in their field of interest.

That’s no longer the case for sure.

In the words of David Abrahamson, professor emeritus of journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill school of journalism, “the volatility of the technological environment presents a huge challenge for both the producer and consumer because it distorts, even violates, the implicit magazine-reader social contract.”

The erstwhile reader is now a creator. So what happens to the magazine now?

And equally important, when almost all magazines are laying emphasis on expanding their digital avatar, co-existing with the those countless other digital creators, what really is a magazine anymore?

Wasn’t a magazine supposed to be simply a bound volume of pages, with articles, stories, photographs and illustrations, produced and delivered with a certain degree of periodicity?

Now in the digital age, what remains so unique about the magazine form?

While these may seem deeply ominous and existential questions, the answer to them is fairly obvious and straightforward.

For magazine is not something to be perceived in a strictly physical sense, or for that matter simply on the basis of its expert content. That would be at best a superficial understanding of the medium.

A magazine is much more than that.

Victor Navasky, long-time editor of the Nation and the much revered Professor at Columbia Journalism School, once wrote that magazines are “an art form, not just a delivery method.”

For someone who has been raised and lived in the world of magazines, this sounds like a truism. Magazines are an ‘art form’ that inform, inspire, and enriches their readers lives, they are a produced by people who readers trust, they are often a manifestation of a certain passion- of creators and readers alike, they are designed for an experience, and often consumed, shared and talked about between readers, who all think of themselves as linked together through some subliminal bond.

In the words of media scholars Tim Holmes and Jane Bentley, “one important aspect of magazines can be seen - they provide a locus around which communities can be constructed”.

Holmes, along with another scholar Liz Nice, in their book Magazine Journalism (2012), separate the physical form of magazine from its cultural purpose.

They explain that magazines, by their intrinsic nature: 

1. always target a precisely defined group of readers;
2. base their content on the expressed and perceived needs, desires, hopes and fears of that defined group;
3. develop a bond of trust with their readerships;
4. foster community-like interactions between themselves and their readers, and among readers;
5. respond quickly and flexibly to changes in readership and changes in the wider society as a whole.

Even the slightest bit of reflection on our own experiences with our favourite magazines, will prove all the above points axiomatic. And more so in case of specialist magazines, with a well defined niche. Readers of magazines often develop a sense of attachment to brands when they perceive them as reinforcing their identity. And attachment to a magazine brand often leads to “imagined communities”, whereby readers think of themselves as belonging to a collective group of readers, all of whom share a similar passion and interest.

The great theorist of nationalism, Benedict Anderson articulated the concept of “nation as an imagined community”, a socially constructed entity, created collectively by those individuals who perceive themselves to be part of a particular group. Although Anderson used the concept to explain nationalism, it also can be applied to the communities that develop around magazines, not least because the readers of any given magazine are unlikely to know personally or encounter physically the majority of their fellow readers.

From a few thousands to tens of millions, from microscopically niche to expansively broad based audiences, magazines build and engage with thousands of communities and social groups. This sensitivity to attitudes and interests results in greater trust and credibility and respect for magazines. 

So what does this mean for the future of magazines?

In the digital age, marred by information overload and cluttered digital spaces, the need for highly engaged and involved communities is becoming ever more important, as users feel the urge to break away from the clutter of social media lead content deluge, and find solace and comfort in spaces that align with their interests and with like-minded peers.

Magazine brands are uniquely poised to nurture such engaged communities:

If anything, the digital world lends even more deeply towards magazines’ ability to nurture deeply engaged communities:

• Digital space can allow magazines brands greater leverage to create content that encourages sharing within these ‘imagined communities’.
• The magazine space in the digital world, can be the one that cuts through the clutter, and allow readers that comfort of being amongst like-minded peers.
• A shift from editor to curator. Magazines can make readers their stars by making them contributors. Community itself can become a mode of distribution through sharing.
• Most importantly, magazines need to keep their focus on being useful. Create content that serves the needs of the community wherever they are and whatever they are doing.
• And finally, these communities can now transcend geographical barriers, and can truly be global.

The true essence of magazine in the digital world, can best be summed up in a line written by

Professor Samir Husni of the University of Mississippi, popularly known as Mr. Magazine, who wrote as far back in 2010, “Magazines are not just content providers, they are experience makers”.

Needless to say, it is up to the publishers and the magazine editorial teams to traverse this journey, from print only to a hybrid between print, digital, and various other “experiences”, all with a focus of nurturing deeply involved reader communities.

So, in a country of 1.3 billion people, and potentially millions of communities, what will it take for magazine brands to truly harness the information and entertainment needs of those diverse communities, across print and digital formats and through events and other formats of community building, and making rich experiences for their readers.

From greater understanding of reader identities, their behavioural attitudes, their information needs, to content curation and keeping pace with technology and digital eco-system advances, the Indian Magazine Congress 2023 will delve with this quest of magazine publishers to truly leverage the great strength of magazine brands to nurture a million communities in this diverse country.

Nath will speak at Indian Magazine Congress on March 24.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.com