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Here is my magazine website anaylsis assignment for my Mags 2.0 class for the Book and Magazine Publishing Program at Centennial College.

All three magazine selected, The Walrus, Entertainment Weekly and Teen Vogue have an established online presence of varying success. Here they are, presented from best to worst.

The Walrus

The Walrus is one of the best 2.0 magazines out there. They have lots of unique online content that is interactive, including eight different blogs from various contributors, regular podcasts which can be subscribed to via iTunes, a Discussion section featuring articles of particularly interesting or hot topics, and interactive and online galleries.

Their RSS options are showcased on their header, multiple times on their sidebar and in their footer. They have several different subscription options including their Features, Blogs, Field Notes, Discussions, Podcasts, and News and Events.

All these features are clearly showcased on the frontpage of The Walrus’s website, using a clear color-coded system. The ability to subsribe to any of these features is evident using the RSS icon button beside each headline.

You have several options through which you can subcribe to their feed using both online RSS feeds as well as desktop software through a variety of programs. For their content that is free to readers, several social bookmarking sites are available at the top of each article including RSS. They are clear and use the bookmark tools’ original icons, yet integrate seamlessly into the design of the website. New readers can immediately recognize the site’s interactive potential no matter where they enter the site from and then are immediately provided with several different options through which they can interact and bookmark the site.

The Walrus provides its readers with a variety of 2.0 content. There is essentially something for everyone. The 2.0 element is very clear with the Walrus from the get-go and it has more online and interatvie content than most 2.0 and online magazines. However, it is frustrating when you are navigating their website and hit a “sorry this is for subscribers only” page. Advertisers and editors should be able to easily recognize The Walrus’s interactive new media approach and be able to easily capitalize on this opportunity for developing new and innovative content and reaching consumers.

Analysis of Entertainment Weekly and Teen Vogue below the jump!

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly makes excellent use of their RSS feature. You can subscribe to several departments (news, television, music and movies) and they have further RSS subscription breakdowns within these departments, if you choose.

For example, their Television department has the option to subscribe to their daily picks and recaps, their more comprehensive reviews, American Idol-related articles or Lost-related articles.

EW also gives you several methods through which you can subscribe to their feeds. They have an easily accessible webpage that outlines all these options, as well as explains what RSS is and how to use it. Underneath their “Latest News” on their homepage, they have a link stating “Get the Latest” which goes to their RSS page.

EW has a Newsletters and Alerts feature, where readers can choose to get a daily email newsletter or up-to-the-minute news alerts, letting readers choose to be kept up-to-date through email. These alerts and newlestters can be customized so readers can get the information they want and how they want it. This feature is more limited in types of content than their RSS feed.

On their front page, they have a box outlining the “Ways to get EW”, which includes the print form, their RSS feed options, their email newsletter options and their video options.

As for interactive content, they have tv reviews and recaps that are only available online. Unique blogs include their Popwatch Blog and Hollywood Insider Blog. All these features have a comments section so readers can immediately provide feedback and comment on the article. EW has an entire video series featuring newsbits, interviews and more as well as a daily “List of the Day” video.

Entertainment Weekly does a good job with providing lots of options to access their magazine. It is clear to new site visitors and each option is clearly explained for new users. The Newsletters and Alerts feature acts as bridge for people who are reluctant to adopt an RSS-approach to their online readings, as well as opens up another advertising stream for advertisers. However, EW could benefit from diversifying their 2.0 approach to include social bookmarking sites and through making the 2.0 elements of their website more evident from every entry point the website has, not just on their blogs and main pages.

They could further improve by creating more blog-type and 2.0 content where more senior editors would communicate and connect with readers (their blogs appear to be written by junior staff members) as well as consider introducing a podcast section. There is too much overlap with the content online and the content available in the print magazine, which makes all their 2.0 features useless if I’m going to get it in the mail three days later.

Teen Vogue

Teen Vogue gives its readers several RSS options broken down into categories. You can subsribe to the features and columns section as one of it’s many co-authored blogs: Beauty Buzz, Behind the Seams, Style File, Casting Call, Music and Snapshots.

RSS subscribers are given lots of options, but not as many as Entertainment Weekly or The Walrus. They also have a handy how-to section that explains what RSS feeds are and how to set one up.

They have a single page called Connect which outlines all these options, introduced the forums and the polls. However, without going to this page, it is difficult to fully understand the relationship a reader can have with Teen Vogue online.

Their best feature is the Team Vogue section. This gives readers the option of subscribing to a daily email newsletter from the website. Also, every intern who works at the magazine is required to write a blog. However, there seems to be no requirements for these blogs, as some are updates sporadically, if at all. Teen Vogue also has a forum that is moderated by the junior editors and interns that let’s readers ask questions and interact with the staff and with each other.

Teen Vogue still needs to take several steps forward. The 2.0 element is not immediately evident on the front pafe of the site—a reader only encounters it once it enters the Team Vogue or Connect sections of the website or notices the RSS icon in the url heading. There is an RSS feed icon in the footer of the website. On the front page, the fact they have blogs and forums is highlighted, but how to interact with them is not immediately evident. This is not beneficial to readers, who won’t be able to interact with the site without a lot of exploration, or for editors, who will become extremely creative to capitalize on the limited options available, or to advertisers, who won’t recognize the potential in the 2.0 elements because they aren’t clear or accessible.

Teen Vogue has made a start into the Web 2.0 world, however, it needs to be showcase the interactive elements of its website and give their readers more control over the content they want and how to access it. They just need to capitalize on this initiative and move it forward.