10 Ways Tech Magazines Are Failing Readers

Mike Elgan , former editor in chief - in - foreman for Windows Magazine , writes a neat chromatography column onhow gadget blogs fail reader . It ’s solid feedback and ruffianly sexual love . Here ’s my list on why Tech Magazines are failing readers :

1 ) Too boring : Most Computer magazines will drop a line review of product you ’ve already grease one’s palms or read about on blogs 2 months before . With the exception of Laptop Mag and a few others . How are they get up in speed ? Surprise : blogs .

3 ) They charge : So much info on the web is free and advertising subsidized , including the web log . They ’ve got ads . So why are they still charge when its costing them readership ? The magazine publisher model of getting mass to pay up for copies is conk out a slow death . See : The difference in subscription and cover prices and Chris Anderson’sFree .

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4 ) The web site sometimes suck : In the bad cases , you ca n’t tell where the new content is . It ’s all over the position , nested in a field of link that mean nothing to anyone but advertisers and industry wonks . In the best case , they make you click through 10 time for every feature article : make out on . Pageviews are a dead competitive metric , and you ’re just annoying everyone .

5 ) Their columns are write by multitude I ca n’t relate to : The most honored print columnists today are at least a decade away from 35 . The years is not the subject — but there are economic , social and generational gaps that ca n’t be bridged .

6 ) They cover a whole great deal of material no one cares about : Just because a caller puts something out or write a jam sack , and it ’s on a publication ’s beat , does n’t mean anyone actually deal about it . Market percentage is not revelatory of success . Porsche sell fewer cars than Toyota . More tech journalists should learn to comply their bowel instincts , because as tech fan , you get a great sense of what multitude are also excited about .

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7 ) They retrospect products without the bigger picture : Most patronage mag do a fantastic occupation of explain the spec and the benchmark upshot , without the overall substantial cosmos effect ( usually a small delta of improvement ) and social setting ( see : iPod shuffle ’s tiny button ) . Most tech public house give out at this , web log or mag . Exception : The big columnist at the papers do a great job of this , especially the four horse fancier , Pogue , Moss , Levy , and Baig .

They take for granted to be mistake - complimentary : Last yr , right on before I canceled my subscription , I read a computer swop with more errors than I ’d watch in any magazine . It admit typos , but also factual F - ups like mention of “ Pioneer LCDs TVs ” . ( Pioneer does n’t make them here . ) magazine have transcript editor , fact checker and 2 months to deliver this content . And you ca n’t pull back paper .

9 ) The piece of writing is often boring : OK , not every clause has to be funny or Shakespeare , but it should n’t make you want to pull your eyes out or go to catch some Z’s , either . Tech is inherently a left brain subject ; making it an easy and enjoyable thing to find out about and compilation is vital and something many trade pubs fail to do ! This is progressively critical as technical school and gadgets go more and more mainstream and the modal joe comes search for entropy .

Lesdilley

10 ) They flunk to realize news is collaborative : Mike criticized the gadget blog for rehashing reviews . First off , aggregation is a overhaul . If someone can check one website , instead of 400 , that ’s useful . This attitude also seems to ignore the fact that intelligence is collaborative . site send each other tips and in income tax return , beam links and reader back to the source . That ’s how we give credit to our peers online and grow together , as a connection . You ca n’t do that in photographic print .

Bonus 11 ) newspaper : They wipe out trees and give you papercuts . They be money to post . They are heavy and take up space . And they can catch on fire and burn your entire menage down ! And after all these year , the subscription card are still galling . And you ca n’t search through old print as easily as you may search through old online content .

Mannobhai ” / >

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