1621351874_thread.json

{
 "id":"1621351874",
 "name":"Catherine Baab-Muguira",
 "screen_name":"Greedzilla1",
 "tweets":[
  {"id":"1206326494655471616","timestamp":"1576445623","retweet_count":"3","favorite_count":"48","in_reply_to_status_id":"null","in_reply_to_user_id":"null","in_reply_to_screen_name":"null","text":"Ok, 1 like = 1 opinion on the future of magazines if anyone is interested—though I may just start spouting because hoo boy I have some thoughts on this one https://t.co/u1BKhqw3Tg"},
  {"id":"1206329250413854720","timestamp":"1576446280","retweet_count":"1","favorite_count":"18","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206326494655471616","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"1. The problems that magazines run into, as a group, decade by decade, are caused by mismanagement, not technological change. It's been true and it'll stay true"},
  {"id":"1206329957296697344","timestamp":"1576446449","retweet_count":"1","favorite_count":"18","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206329250413854720","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"2. There is a money to be made in magazines but most people mistake the business model - which is attracting venture capital (or billionaire patronage), not selling ads or subscriptions"},
  {"id":"1206331940279742465","timestamp":"1576446921","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"8","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206329957296697344","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"3. The magazines that will succeed on these terms - i.e. making someone some money as opposed to attracting a small loyal readership that will always remember the pub fondly after its inevitable death - are the ones that talk the biggest game about revolutionizing the industry"},
  {"id":"1206333662381273090","timestamp":"1576447332","retweet_count":"1","favorite_count":"13","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206331940279742465","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"4. Essentially, the future of magazines depends on the supply of bigger fools, not on the reading public or the persistence of mini genres like features or FOB or whatever"},
  {"id":"1206335593761738754","timestamp":"1576447792","retweet_count":"1","favorite_count":"13","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206333662381273090","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"5. In terms of writers and would-be writers for mags, a brief survey from the advent of cheap print on (first half of 1800s, roughly speaking) suggests that their naivete & un-optimized desire for recognition is roughly stable over time, so I see zero danger re: the labor supply"},
  {"id":"1206335927884234753","timestamp":"1576447872","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"6","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206335593761738754","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"(Maybe I should say OUR naivete & un-optimized desire for recognition, because hey, I am of this number)"},
  {"id":"1206342154462715904","timestamp":"1576449357","retweet_count":"1","favorite_count":"12","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206335927884234753","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"6. The people least able to capitalize on favorable trends or cash-out opportunities are the true believers and loyalists, i.e. your insufficiently cynical humanities majors. Again, been true, will stay true, is maybe true of all fields, but this is a highly concen. population"},
  {"id":"1206342668264980480","timestamp":"1576449479","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"3","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206342154462715904","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"Getting called away but will resume shortly"},
  {"id":"1206349193654046720","timestamp":"1576451035","retweet_count":"1","favorite_count":"3","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206342668264980480","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"Adjacent thought to this convo, not a numbered take: the reason freelance writing is such a hard way to make $$$ is not the low rates or comically late payments it’s **the total lack of equity**"},
  {"id":"1206397385699516416","timestamp":"1576462525","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"2","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206342154462715904","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"7. For staff writers & editors, my best guess would be the sooner you get pushed out of the industry, the better off you’ll be, though the experience will obviously suck in the short term. Today there are still life boats like corporate PR; you don’t want to be last off the ship"},
  {"id":"1206399548374933504","timestamp":"1576463040","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"3","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206397385699516416","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"8. For new publications the greatest areas of opportunity are prestige niches and opposite-of-prestige niches, not mass market. The less reasonable the tone of your pub, the better your chances"},
  {"id":"1206403334023761921","timestamp":"1576463943","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"4","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206399548374933504","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"9. Home decor and cooking *print* magazines will always be with us, even if there are just one or two still extant when the ocean finally reaches full boil and the last shuttle departs for Titan"},
  {"id":"1206407131647209473","timestamp":"1576464848","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"4","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206403334023761921","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"10. Folks at media startups should be channeling the WeWork guy, not any supposed editorial giant of the 20th (or 21st) century. They should act & talk like tech people not because media companies can achieve tech company economics or growth rates but in order to find a Soft Bank"},
  {"id":"1206407978229760000","timestamp":"1576465050","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"3","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206407131647209473","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"11. Romcom heroines will continue to enjoy full employment in the magazine industry until at least 2040"},
  {"id":"1206410126854197248","timestamp":"1576465562","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"1","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206407978229760000","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"12. One of the greatest $$$ areas of opportunity right now and for the foreseeable future is selling hard-right media subscriptions to wingnuts who think they hate the media; likewise, selling ad space to the sleazy operators who want to reach those wingnuts"},
  {"id":"1206414345053163520","timestamp":"1576466568","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"4","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206410126854197248","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"13. Legacy media brands like Newsweek or Vogue would be better served by instituting university-like fundraising departments, not trying to sell digital ads or monetize traffic. Just rebrand as causes and hire some suave folks whose job is calling boomers on the phone & begging"},
  {"id":"1206419425349394432","timestamp":"1576467779","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"4","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206414345053163520","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"Also not a numbered take but just a memory: early in my advertising days I used to write those subscription-offer cards that fall out of celebrity gossip magazines and my most high-converting headline ever was “Can there ever be TMI when it comes to Britney?!” This was 2008-2009"},
  {"id":"1206421612083331073","timestamp":"1576468301","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"5","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206419425349394432","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"14. EICs, editors and writers are personality types that will persist through the ages, way past the point of anyone understanding magazines as a relevant or even kinda contemporary context"},
  {"id":"1206660186909245440","timestamp":"1576525181","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"0","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206421612083331073","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"15. The death of Big Magazine leads to greater cultural freedom, not less; the whole enterprise of taste-making is passe"},
  {"id":"1206661863305445376","timestamp":"1576525581","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"7","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206660186909245440","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"16. Every editorial strategy should be first and foremost concerned with entertaining office workers bored at 2 pm on weekdays"},
  {"id":"1206807852213399552","timestamp":"1576560388","retweet_count":"1","favorite_count":"4","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206661863305445376","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"17. There will be no more magazine-business geniuses because now that the business sucks, it's a whole lot harder for anyone in magazines to look like a genius"},
  {"id":"1206809099687432193","timestamp":"1576560685","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"5","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206807852213399552","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"18. The magazines that prosper will be essentially outsourced digital Sears Catalogues: simple resource light referral strategy, deer ticks on the Amazon beast"},
  {"id":"1206815560710836224","timestamp":"1576562225","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"1","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206809099687432193","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"19. In the absence of print magazines, bankable magazine-cover stars will continue to emerge - royal babies, wholesome reality TV stars a la the Gaines - powering brief short-lived revivals, and you'll be checking out at CVS like, \"wow, hey, look, a magazine!!\""},
  {"id":"1207071381663313921","timestamp":"1576623218","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"1","in_reply_to_status_id":"1206815560710836224","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"20. In a world with very few magazine jobs, people who would have gone into magazines (or academia or nonprofits), seeking some gentler way to make a living, will find that the corporate world is as gentle and often *more gentle*"},
  {"id":"1207073260623413252","timestamp":"1576623666","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"1","in_reply_to_status_id":"1207071381663313921","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"21. The 20th cent. glory days of magazines will eventually be understood as a time of gross mismanagement and whiffed opportunities; think how, with diversified investments of ad cash, your once-giant mag companies could have become LVMH or something akin to Berkshire Hathaway"},
  {"id":"1207146134826700800","timestamp":"1576641040","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"0","in_reply_to_status_id":"1207073260623413252","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"22. Intense skepticism of past supposed golden ages and business models—seeing them as postwar flashes in pans and aberrations—is the way forward, not nostalgia"},
  {"id":"1207147074610847744","timestamp":"1576641264","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"1","in_reply_to_status_id":"1207146134826700800","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"23. Like car factories employing whole rust belt towns, the expense accounts and $2 a word (or whatever) are not coming back and are about as relevant to today’s comp as GM union jobs are to Task Rabbiters"},
  {"id":"1207147503998496768","timestamp":"1576641367","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"1","in_reply_to_status_id":"1207147074610847744","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"24. It’s not just that web ads pay so much less than old school full-page spreads, the sheer volume of web content has a powerful deflationary effect on writers’ rates"},
  {"id":"1207148739585966080","timestamp":"1576641661","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"1","in_reply_to_status_id":"1207147503998496768","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"P.S. Not suggesting I like this reality or that anyone else should or has to, but conversations abt fair pay for writers have got to be pegged to the value of the product & not just writers’ perception of the value of their time, even as it’s true that c-level comp is often ridic"},
  {"id":"1207149798169538560","timestamp":"1576641914","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"1","in_reply_to_status_id":"1207148739585966080","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"25. Figuring out how to value individual articles—what writers receive as payment and the spread that the publication pockets—is THE key to a sustainable journalism business model"},
  {"id":"1207151238581641218","timestamp":"1576642257","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"1","in_reply_to_status_id":"1207149798169538560","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"26. If writers and publication employees had these numbers (with regular real time-ish updates), the boom and bust cycle of opening the doors (“we’re gonna revolutionize the industry!!”) then shutting down or selling out 16 months later might end"},
  {"id":"1207152529668067330","timestamp":"1576642565","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"2","in_reply_to_status_id":"1207151238581641218","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"27. The reason it’s unlikely to happen is because it doesn’t really serve owners, who’d obviously prefer to preserve secrecy, flexibility, maneuverability, the ability to appear benevolent in doling out favors and to magic up the smoke and mirrors for VC and potential buyers"},
  {"id":"1207154690019872768","timestamp":"1576643080","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"3","in_reply_to_status_id":"1207152529668067330","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"28. This is why writers sharing rates (like in these year-end threads you’re seeing) is so valuable & important. It’s not all the information we need but at least, you know, the spirit is willing. The non-dystopian future hinges on an average-individual-article valuation model"},
  {"id":"1207158228649271296","timestamp":"1576643924","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"1","in_reply_to_status_id":"1207154690019872768","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"29. When I speak of a model, I don’t mean one that would determine average value across the whole magazine/journalism world, but a general model to be used by specific publications—essentially an excel doc with a list of needed inputs"},
  {"id":"1207161844806275072","timestamp":"1576644786","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"2","in_reply_to_status_id":"1207158228649271296","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"30. Obviously informal takes on what will and won’t make money already shape decision making, but having access to the formalized math (to the extent it can be formalized) would create a fairer and perhaps even kinder world for  workers/writers/producers"},
  {"id":"1207164295684820992","timestamp":"1576645370","retweet_count":"0","favorite_count":"1","in_reply_to_status_id":"1207161844806275072","in_reply_to_user_id":"1621351874","in_reply_to_screen_name":"Greedzilla1","text":"31. That disruption and disintermediation killed or are killing traditional media (to include magazines) is just the conventional wisdom; it’s the easier story to tell"}
 ]
}