Miriam Camp- ALternative Story

By: Miriam Camp
Editor: Priscilla Kathe

Alternative Story
Q & A with editors: Judy Johnson- Southern Distinction, Alec Wooden- Blur, and Shannon Baker- Athens Parent.
Q: Have magazines started to use social networks?
A: Wooden: We constantly use social networks.
Johnson: We’re jumping on the band wagon with Twitter, Facebook, and blogs; we don’t want to be behind.
Baker: Twitter is set up, but not Facebook. We have our own web site.

Q: Are social networks more profitable for big magazines or small ones?
A: Wooden: Big ones do it so they don’t fall behind; it helps the small guy.
Baker: I think it probably helps the smaller magazines. I can go online [Twitter] and say, ‘It’s the advertisement deadline or we need a story about a local fisherman.’
Johnson: Facebook wasn’t as prevalent a year ago, now it’s necessary for survival.


Q: Will readers turn to online publications and stop reading physical magazines?
A: Wooden: People fear that people will go online only, but if anything, it makes people crave the physical issue.
Baker: The whole point of reading a magazine is to sit in your tub or a comfy chair and read it.