Web 2.0 Magazine Analysis

This is my Web 2.0 analysis for my online magazines course. I’ve chosen three magazines to review.

Bon Appétit

This online magazine has a number of web 2.0 features, including an RRS feed, blogs, bookmarking tools, and other forms of participatory media in the form of widgets for Facebook and a YouTube channel. All provide additional access to the site’s materials. Most of these tools are located on the main site page. The RRS feed is poorly placed at the bottom of the page, whereas the widgets, and other media items are in a prominent sidebar display. The bookmarking and sharing tools make themselves available once the reader-user has chosen something specific to browse.

The RRS feed is useful to the editors, publishers, marketers and advertisers, as it acts to promote a reader-user’s constant awareness of the magazine. The widgets, bookmarking tools, and the YouTube channel all act as advertising; advertising that is spurred by the reader-user, rather than directly from the magazine.

Rolling Stone

This online magazine is also a web 2.0 site, containing a number of 2.0 features: blogs, RRS feeds, bookmarking tools, mobile phone RS feeds, and video/radio streams. Every feature mentioned in the former is prominently displayed at the top of the page, often with repeated options as one scrolls downward as well.

The multiple choices in media on this site are valuable to the editors, publishers, marketers, and advertisers because Rolling Stone commands a wide audience. The more the site has to offer, the better. All of these tools increase the travel to this site, or to specific sites chosen by the site for the reader-user to visit.  These tools also market the site, or the Rolling Stone brand, across the internet based on user appreciation rather than targeted advertising. The video and radio streams are extensive additions to the content of the site and add to the sharing potential among reader-users.

W Magazine

This online magazine also offers a lot of the web 2.0 features;  RRS feeds, blogs, sharing and bookmarking tools, and video streams. The RRS feed is located at the bottom of the main page, the Facebook and video streams have a prominent placement in the sidebar, and the blogs are listed both at the top of the page and along the way, when scrolling down the main page. The bookmarking tools are locate within the blogs and articles, however they are also poorly located at the bottom of the page.

These tools are useful because they allow specific targeting within their reader-user groups; this is obvious most through their selection of blogs. The video streams target another group; and are great for the sharing tools the site employs. Likely all of these tools combine together to draw in the most amount of reader-users to view both the content and the advertising.