Mine – RSS goes to print?

Time Warner and American Express Co. have decided to take the online experience to print! What?

They have created Mine Magazine – an in-print (or online) magazine that is populated with personalized information for the reader, much like an online RSS feed.
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/time-incs-mine-magazine-paper-saving-printed-rss-feed

Mine magazine is an experiment. It will be 5 issues over 10 weeks, and will be free to 31,000 subscribers. All of the ads in Mine magazine will be from Lexus, but each ad will be customized to the reader’s tastes.

This may help answer several questions for the print news biz:
Has the internet engulfed the print news industry because of the customizable news? Is it possible to continue to prosper in the print news industry, if more personalized content is available? How will advertisers respond to the ability to customize ads along with content in print?

I’m an RSS lover, so signed up. In order to customize my information, they had me pick my favorites from a list of quirky questions. I’m not sure if this is just to customize the Lexus commercials, or if they will actually use this to pick articles for me.

Then, they had me pick five magazines from a list of eight. I wanted to pick three, but had to pick five. Hopefully, my selection order will play some role in the amount of information I see from each of the mags.

I understand the draw of an in-print magazine versus online news. First, it is physically easier to read paper, as there are only a few devices (like Kindle) with enough resolution to minimize eye-strain. Paper can also be read more quickly, since we are in better control of our eye movement over a static reading surface than a scrolling reading surface (though millennials may disagree). Also, there is convenience in paper – no problems are caused if coffee is spilled on a magazine, it can be easily tucked under an arm or folded into a purse. There is no need for internet access, power cords, or charged batteries.

However, the negatives continue to outweigh the positives. The news in a magazine is “old” by the time it is printed and mailed. Also, printing and mailing both use up many more resources, including paper, ink (which makes the paper nasty to compost), electricity to run the print shop, and gas. Most importantly, there is no way to get as much custom information into a magazine as one can find online.

It is this last issue that will be best addressed by Mine. Can a slightly more customized magazine tip the online/in print news balance back in the favor of the convenience and readability of a magazine?

For those who currently stand by print media, it may be an opportunity to bridge an ever-widening gap. However, many of these people stick to print because they think it is important to get news they DON’T want, ensuring that they do not become biased news consumers. They probably will not want a customized magazine any more than they want an RSS feed of leftist topics.

Overall, I think it will be a failure. I don’t think advertisers will pay the exponentially greater cost of custom printing and collating custom magazines, just for the opportunity to select a woods scene versus city scene in their advertisement.
I certainly don’t think consumers will pay any more than they currently do for magazines. We currently customize our own in-print content by deciding whether to buy off the shelf or to subscribe. People won’t pay more for a subscription just because it is a mash-up of a few they might like .. especially while most online news is still free.

Sexting: Harmless Fun, or Kiddie Porn?

Sexting is sending nude or pornographic pictures via text message. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 20% of teenagers admit to sending these photos to their friends (http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/chris-dannen/techwatch/sexting-why-worry).

This behavior may seem to be very normal for experimental teenagers. To the kids who are doing it, it probably seems like harmless fun. They feel a false sense of privacy sending these messages to their friends, and they may not consider the likelihood that these images can be shared with the world if maliciously or mistakenly distributed. We have discussed the ease with which a pic-message can be posted on the open internet, and/or or virally distributed to hundreds of cell phones or email accounts at a time.

This is what happened to Jessica Logan, from Ohio (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29546030/). She sexted a photo to her boyfriend, but when they broke up, he forwarded to the picture to other friends, which eventually led to hundreds of local teens seeing Jessica’s picture. She was taunted for the remainder of her senior year. Jessica reached out to warn others about the dangers of sexting. Ultimately, the shame of this event led her suicide.

Even if teens who engage in sexting comprehend the possibility that hundreds or thousands may view their photo, they certainly don’t recognize the overall social, ethical, and legal consequences of these erotic messages.

Although the kids are acting willingly, they are not at a legal age to distribute nude pictures of themselves. Therefore, some of these teens have been charged with manufacturing and distribution of child pornography. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28679588/ http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2009-03-11-sexting_N.htm

This may be a harsh charge to levy. Though there is no mandatory jail sentence, convicted child pornographers must register as sex offenders, which is a penalty that follows people ominously forever. However, law enforcement officers feel the need to set examples so that kids recognize the significance of this situation.

This is uncharted territory, though, because the intent of child pornography law is to protect kids from pornographers – not to protect kids from themselves. However, we are familiar with other laws that draw this line. Minors in possession of alcohol are prosecuted. Also, statutory rape cases can be tried whether the minor was willing.

Teenagers sext messages to their friends, and their friends may be bold enough to re-post these pictures online. There is no telling, at that point, whose hands the pictures could fall into, or how else the could be redistributed.