3D Issue Blog, digital magazine and publishing news

26 August 2010

2010 has seen a great deal of statistics and trends being released about digital media and publishing. We’ve read with great interest the developments in reader habits and behaviour as digital publishing surges.

What is interesting aside from the figures of growth is that digital reading has made us enjoy reading again. Amazon, reported that customers buy 3.3 times as many books after buying a Kindle. Whether this figure is enhanced in the early days due to the novelty factor of readers having a new gadget is not known, only time will tell. Another finding published on Fast Company seems to complement this figure by finding that 40% of ebook reader owners read more than they did prior to their purchase.  So why?….

(more…)

10 August 2010

Sideways, the first magazine exclusively designed and written for the iPad, recently surveyed readers as part of the Magazine’s July Issue (June 2010 was the debut issue) and garnered an impressive 20 percent response rate with 93 percent completion rate. Sideways takes full advantage of the iPad’s capabilities to present stories that are immersive and engaging in ways that print alone is not.

Many of the survey responses were in line with the typical early adopter demographic. Results include the following: (more…)

5 August 2010

So you’ve set up your Facebook and Twitter accounts, you’re tweeting and posting away but…… not exactly sure if anyone is listening.  Is what you’re talking about of interest to your networks? Are your posts / tweets being forwarded on to your networks’ networks? There are probably people talking about your publications right now providing valuable reader feedback (positive or negative) that perhaps you are not aware of?

When publishers implement Social Media activity there is sometimes an initial period of confusion and doubt about what and how to measure, what metrics and results to record and track.

(more…)

26 July 2010

Last week it was announced that there are now more than 500 million Facebook  users! As Publishers and Marketers it is important to understand how people are using social networking sites so we can get the most out of them.

We recently came across two great infographics which visually demonstrated the rise and make up and growth of the two largest social networks – Twitter and Facebook. The first is by the team at Facebakers.com for Mashable showing what makes up Facebook’s 500 million users. The second is from blogherald ‘Twitter’s Meteoric Rise [infographic]’  which highlights some really interesting facts and figures about the growth and usage of Facebook and Twitter.

(more…)

22 July 2010

Earlier this week we wrote an article about the future of newspapers and where the future was heading. Two days after we wrote that article another new iPad app has entered the market (and gone straight to the No.1 spot in the app store) which further develops the idea of ‘personalized news’.

We stated in the post that until apps allowed users to customize what content they wish to appear in their digital publications apps, only then would we see a new channel to market emerge for digital newspapers. And then….. Wednesday arrives, enter Flipboard.

(more…)

12 July 2010

1. Stay on top of technology offerings
   There was a lot of buzz about wired magazine’s first digital edition on the iPad. But there were no real differences between that version and functionality offered in flash magazine.  They focused a lot on 360 degree rotating products.  In our digital editions you can import your own swf animations. So why not create your own rotating effects.
2. Offer your advertisers more
   To follow up on my previous point. This type of animation is a great way to allow your advertisers to get more from there adverts. Unlike print, digital editions can offer so much more than standard flat adverts. Allow them to add audio descriptions, video descriptions or flash animation.

(more…)

18 June 2010
Twitter has over 100 million users and is growing by 300,000 users a day. That works out to over 8% growth a month. Interestingly, Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, recently revealed that social networks now receive more Internet visits than search engines in the UK. This presents an enormous opportunity for Publishers to utilize this space to engage with a wide audience.

As the social platform becomes more and more widespread it is surprising that some are still dragging their heals when it comes to getting involved and embracing Social Media. The opportunities and coverage are huge not to mention free! Look at one of the biggest publishers – The New York Times. NYT have almost 2.5 million followers on Twitter. They use Twitter as an RSS feed of their website, tweeting updates with the article title and link to the article in full on their website. Timely, straight to the point updates in under 140 characters, published to a massive audience who have all opted in and expressed an interest in what they have to say.

If you are looking to get started with Twitter or simply want to make more of it, here are some great resources to make use of….

(more…)

28 May 2010

As digital publishing technology is evolving and new platforms/devices continually emerging, publishers have become increasingly attracted to the opportunity to create digital editions. These digital versions boast a whole host of extras that can further engage the audience and ultimately enable publishers and marketers to make the most of their publications.

1. Embrace the digital community and interaction

We are in a sharing, social culture.  Times are very different to the once ‘one to many culture’ communication channel – we can no longer expect communications to be one way. Blogs, reviews and social media are platforms where publications can be openly shared, recommended, rejected and reviewed. Accepting the digital community and becoming involved, listening to what is being said and embracing this channel is a must.

Publishers can start to encourage interaction with their readers from monitoring/contributing to blogs and using interaction tools within the digital edition. Within the digital edition publishers could place email or comments links at the end of articles to generate feedback. Adding a suggestion email link so readers can suggest articles or features of interest for inclusion in future editions or  allowing readers to ‘send to a friend’ are other simple interaction tools.  Earlier this week we wrote a blog giving simple steps to integrate a social widget to you site which could show visitors live feeds of reviews of your digital publication.

(more…)

26 May 2010

Twitter has become one of the most important marketing channels for publishers. Consumers want to learn about new material, reviews and recommendations from people that share common interests -Twitter has become the perfect platform for this type of engagement.

Twitter can be integrated into your marketing activity for your publications through a number of ways, integration to your website is one of these ways.

(more…)