Kara Swisherr, long-time Wall St Journal writer, who, with Walt Mossberg, co-produces the D: All Things Digital annual high-tech and media conference, says “Goodbye dead trees!”, goes all digital, declaring that she will likely “spend the rest of my career…publishing online only.”
Swisher says:
“…being part of this medium–which combines all the excitement of discovery that characterizes the best of journalism, with the immediacy of blogging, wherein I can post in minutes what used to take hours and sometimes days–is the only place to be.”
Print publications certainly are closing in droves, but I doubt print will disappear any time soon. Print is no longer an adequate source for breaking news, but still one for analysis. And nothing beats the look, feel, or even the smell of the ink in, for example, a beautiful art or anime magazine. There are, at least for the present, tactile and learning experiences online still can’t provide. We’ll see how long that lasts. :>)
Hat tip to Steve Rubel
Print is still alive and growing in direct mail. USPS volume has seen a huge increase since October 2004 with standard mail up 6.1%. With traditional business correspondence becoming more electronic, this an enormous net increase which is primarily due to mail marketers.