• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, April 14, 2011

Mags Ordered Via Facebook

The advent of social buying and group discounts promises to shake up many industries (in both good and bad ways), and consumer magazines could be one of these. In the latest development, Magazines.com is bringing group discount magazine subscription sales to Facebook, in partnership with Moontoast, which operates a "distributed store" on the social network.

Fitness is the first publication available for social buying. Magazines.com plans to add other titles in the near future, drawn from its stable of roughly 2,000 subscription options in over 60 categories.

Using the Moontoast platform, Magazines.com is offering consumers the ability to share special deals on magazine subscriptions with their friends, with the chance to obtain a substantial group discount if they can recruit enough buyers. Companies can also sell magazine subscriptions through their own Web sites or partner Web sites. The Facebook platform allows marketers and consumers to keep the entire shopping experience within the social stream, if desired; they can also deliver messages about the subscription deal directly to fans of the particular magazines on offer.

Web Traffic Surges for CSM

Two years after the print publication relaunched as a glossy weekly magazine, The Christian Science Monitor is reporting major growth in its online traffic, reflecting the popularity of both its breaking news -- focused online through a "Web-first" strategy -- as well as in-depth analysis. Unique visitors jumped 45% from 5.3 million per month in March 2010 to 8.3 million in March 2011, while page views doubled over the same period to 29 million per month. The growing traffic has helped attract a number of new advertisers, including CSX and ConocoPhillips.

Amazon to Sell Ad-Supported Kindle

Amazon has unveiled a new modified version of its popular Kindle e-reader, with a lower price tag in exchange for showing advertising to the user. The "Kindle with Special Offers" will retail for $114, compared to $139 for the original device. Amazon also introduced "AdMash," a free Kindle app and Web site that allows users to choose their favorite display ads to serve as screensavers sponsored by Kindle.

Penton Bows Marketing Group

Penton Media has created a new Marketing Services Group to offer a range of special services to advertisers in areas like custom content, research and sales optimization. Penton Media CEO Sharon Rowlands stated: "We are committed to driving results for our customers with industry-leading products and services that reflect expert analysis and best-of-breed practices." Last month, Penton acquired EyeTraffic Media, a digital-marketing services agency.