In England as in the U.S., magazine executives are dealing daily with the amazing growth of the Internet. It's here, it's going to stay here, and you had better get onboard and figure out how to
leverage its power if you're to stay relevant. At least that's the prevailing feeling among industry leaders who are looking to the future. Mike Burgess, the wireless editor of London-based Emap
Interactive, this week outlined three key areas of a successful multimedia strategy: community, customization and user-generated content. "Media companies need to stop being like an authority figure
and become facilitators," he said. "Integration is critical, it is no good to just look at launching podcasting or blogging individually." David Pullan, FHM's worldwide managing director, said at the
Emap seminar that companies needed to move from pushing "pre-packaged products" and that branding is key. "There are 400 channels on Sky, and a Google search returns millions of results, but extra
choice doesn't always make consumers happy." According to MediaGuardian, "the FHM boss questioned whether consumers will always trust sources such as web communities and online peer advice and argued
that magazines may still be able to fill that role." Notice the use of the word "may." These are challenging moments for the magazine industry, and nowadays just about everyone recognizes that.
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