The differences between the Internet And Print Journalism Essay are clear immediatelyupon glancing at either of the two. However, to truly understand the differencesyou must study each carefully. I will briefly explore the differences betweenNewsweek and it’s printed counterpart, and Entrepreneur magazine vs. entrepreneurmag. com.
These magazines are very different in content and supplygood examples of different features that exist in a technological vs. a printenvironment. I will compare the differences between the two in three areas;1. Content 2. Advertising and 3. Useablity.
Content If you were to put any printmagazine next to your computer monitor you would immediately notice adifference. A difference not only in the format the material is set up, but adifference in the actual content its’ self. Newsweek is a magazine that deliversthe news. One would assume that news is news, and if it is printed one way inthe magazine it should be the same online. This is not true. Newsweek is amagazine that is released weekly, yet in e-commerce business moves at the”speed of thought” (Bill Gates).
This means that Newsweek must updatetheir web site daily and sometimes hourly. This makes a magazine that wouldseemingly follow the same pattern, very different. News in print may not be thesame as “e-news”. Entrepreneur magazine is a magazine that helps thesmall businesses of America. They are very crafty in using bright colors thatwill grab potential buyers attention at the newsstand. This creates a problemfor their online business.
Whenever you have lots of colors or graphics yourpage will not load quickly. This means that what works in print will not workfor their e- magazine. They have to rely on good spot graphics and headlines toattract attention. They do not do this very effectively. From looking at theirweb site you will see that they have had a hard time crossing over from print tothe Internet.
Advertising Advertising is essential in both print and webbusiness because it is a main source of income to any multi-media company. Newsweek sells pages and pages of ads in their magazine. These are well donecolor ads which are designed to attract the attention of the reader as they flipthrough the magazine. On the Internet site Newsweek chooses to place banner adsin the middle of the text page (bad placement).
The difference is thatadvertising on the Internet is much more personable. Thanks to little mechanismscalled “cookies” the ads you see on the Internet site becomepersonalized. These cookies tell a database sites to which you have previouslylogged on. In a fraction of a second you receive personal advertising that younever would have seen in a print ad. Entrepreneur does the same thing.
You arereceiving advertising that fits your wants and needs and all at a fraction ofthe cost to advertisers (who generally pay about 1 cent per hit). This is anadvertisers dream and is a noticeable difference between the two forms of media. Useablity The term useablity seems to deal only with the Internet side of thetwo forms of media. This is a misconception. It is not uncommon to look for acertain story in a magazine in the table of contents.
This is print useablity. Online useablity is undisputably better. Both sites have a type of searchmechanism so that if you are looking for a story on Bill Gates you are notlimited to one issue. This may be the greatest advantage in having an onlineversion of a magazine.
No longer is the user limited to the one issue recentlypurchased. Stories are at the users fingertips no matter when they were written. People have different views on what the roles of print magazines will be incontrast to online magazines in the future. Some magazine companies choose todownplay the Internet and the role it will take in regards to their industry.
Neil Postman, a well known philosopher of New Media Technologies states that”when we begin relying on the Internet for all of our news and informationwe will turn into a nation of zombies”. I think that Bill Gates and manyothers would disagree. The differences are great and companies must adapt tothose differences in order to be successful. .
