With this second post, I present other commonly used ways of merging editorial and digital experiences. Each of them is also accompanied by some examples of well-known magazines.
Additional contents online
Magazines are extending their editorial reach by offering complementary content online. This could include exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, or multimedia elements that enhance the reader’s understanding of the articles. Some magazines also use apps where this content can be reached more easily. To connect the paper version to this additional content often QR codes are used, or it is simply written to check out the website.
The New Yorker
For instance, The New Yorker, an American magazine, provides a blend of print and digital experiences with its online articles, multimedia content, and podcasts. It has a well-developed mobile app that offers a user-friendly interface for readers on the go. [1]
Social media Integration
I already mentioned the role of social media and how people share what they think about what they read there. However, this time I researched more about how some magazines use social media to engage with their readers. Social media can help create a sense of community around the magazine brand. Readers can share their favourite articles, comment on posts, and participate in discussions, fostering a more interactive and social reading experience. Moreover, the magazine can reach a wider audience by choosing captivating social media content.
The National Geographic
For example, National Geographic, a magazine about travel exploration and science, uses different platforms to engage the readers in different ways.
It uses Instagram, which features beautiful photographs, short video clips, and engaging captions. On Twitter, National Geographic maintains an active presence by sharing real-time updates and facts. Through Facebook National Geographic encourages followers to share their travel experiences and thoughts on articles. Through Snapchat short documentaries are shown. Finally, National Geographic runs interactive campaigns on TikTok. These may include challenges related to conservation efforts, photography skills, or cultural exploration, encouraging users to engage creatively with the magazine’s content. [2]
Scanning-text apps
Another way in our everyday life in which editorial and digital experiences are merged is through OCR technology to recognize and extract text from images, enabling various applications in document digitization, data extraction, and text analysis. One example of this is Google Lens. This is an external tool but it can be used together with printed text to translate it or to recognize images. Moreover, if you take photos of a book it can be recognized and Google Lens can show you reviews and summaries. [3]
Sources
[1] https://www.newyorker.com/about/us?verso=true
[2] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/editors-note-social-media
[3] https://support.google.com/photos/answer/7539151?sjid=383218545872625048-EU
Next steps
- Research designers who worked with this topic.
- Research innovative ways of merging the two experiences
