Maria Rodale, Chairman and CEO of US publisher Rodale has penned an article for the Huffington Post on why magazines won’t die. Her thesis is summed up in this paragraph:
The Internet is a technology that enables people to go out in SEARCH of things. I’m all for that and love it to pieces. But sometimes, I just want things to FIND me. Sometimes, I am just tired of looking and typing and seeking, and I just want to sit on my comfortable couch and be surprised when I turn the page.
While I agree that consumers enjoy the surprise of magazines, some content does fare better from an online only platform.
Basically, it’s a hardware issue. The enjoyment of flipping the pages of a book, magazine or newspaper has not yet been solved. But is getting close and we would be fools to think it never will.