Digital magazine apps and editions will evolve rapidly.  We expect new features and sharing capabilities as well as some healthy competition from the digital platforms.  Share is the essence of circulation and viral growth of any brand, and most especially magazines.  If a magazine, book, blog, news site does not have something worth sharing it may also lack content worth bookmarking or saving, or even reading.

Paid content walls and barriers to sharing provide short term revenue and long term brand destruction costs as a strategy for most publishers.  It does take a lesson or two on the value of both viral marketing and cost of traffic to understand that the reader is valuable, especially for the advertising driven publication.  And don’t we want advertisers to fund the magazine?

For both consumer and trade magazines I find the advertising of equal value to the content. Magazine apps can also provide magazine advertiser value in digital formats. We must think beyond traditional web banner ads. We must also consider the magazine apps sharing capabilities that relates in realtime (as a shared tweet) to other people receiving the share that aren’t on mobile application platforms and can link directly to the shared magazine website or digital edition. Of course, this means that publishers must include magazine application social sharing capabilities when developing their magazine apps for the iPhone and Andriod mobile platforms.

There are magazines that have strong content value with subscription price points that can maintain must-have-it readers. For these publishers, it is completely understandable that they protect their digital content.

For other publishers, I recommend you find ways to share your content and track the benefits of real people consuming and sharing your content and advertising messages.

I have included some digital magazine embeds below.

In 2010 we will see more magazine apps, digital magazines, magazine widgets, and other unique ways to connect with the visual communication advantages of the magazine brand and it’s ability to carry and advertising message.

MagApps.com – Magazine Apps Directory