Mr. Magazine™ (Samir Husni) Interviews (1): The Future of the Printed Word in a Digital Age
January 11, 2012
The Magazine Innovation Center at The University of Mississippi’s Meek School of Journalism hosted the ACT 2 Experience last October. We asked 17 media experts who attended the ACT2 Experience their opinions about the future of the printed word in a digital age. Click on the link above to watch and listen to the experts’ answer to the question “What is the future of the printed word in a digital age?”
The experts are, in order of their appearances:
1. Sid Evans, Group Editor
Time Inc., Lifestyle Division2. Bob Sacks, President
Precision Media Group3. Vito Di Bari
Innovation Designer and Futurologist4. Mark Pasetsky, Founder
Cover Awards5. Phyllis Hoffman DePiano, CEO
Hoffman Media6. Roy Reiman, Founder
Reiman Publications7. David McDonald, CEO
True North Custom Media8. Will Pearson, President
Mental Floss Inc.9. Jeremy Leslie
Editorial Designer & Founder
magCulture.com10. Sue Roman, President
The Taunton Press11. James Elliott, President
The James G. Elliott Co., Inc.12. John Harrington, Partner
Harrington Associates13. Franska Stuy, Editor in Chief
Libelle14. Frank Anton, CEO
Hanley-Wood15. Scott Crystal, Former President
TV Guide16. Steven Kotok, President
The Week, Felix Dennis Publications17. Kent S. Johnson, CEO
Highlights For Children Inc.
Thanks are in order for all the experts and the journalism students at The University of Mississippi’s 2011-2012 magazine class who recorded the interviews.
Mr. Magazine 
Interesting observations and nice to see two of my former employers represented (Frank Anton and Jim Elliott).
Questions:
1. Why did you choose to produce this in video format and distribute via YouTube and your blog instead of printing and mailing it? Why did you post a link to the video on LinkedIn? Do answers to these questions provide any answers to your inquiry? I think they do.
2. Did you include anyone under 40 in your interviews? Under 30? Perhaps they represent the future better than the demographic represented here? I’d venture that the younger, less vested interviewees’ perspectives would be different from many in your video.
My opinion is that print on paper will be a niche product in 10 years time (see LP’s, some still swear they’re better than digital formats, but most of us don’t own turntables). With mobile devices multiplying each year, paper’s portability advantage will be diminished. Digital’s ability to be customized and include multimedia and social interaction can’t be duplicated on paper (see paper.li for an example of how easy it is for each of us create and distribute a customized newspaper or magazine).
Now that media companies no longer have a monopoly on content distribution, we’ll see more businesses and marketing agencies hiring editors away from the media to produce and distribute top-quality content. Businesses are finding that owning the content creates an asset that gets them closer to their customers. By doing this digitally, they’re able to quantify and optimize their lead building and nurturing – something not addresses in the video.
(Posted from my iPad)
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