Teen Magazine Publishers Go Where the Teens Are: Online

Are teens flipping more phones than magazine pages?

Looks like it, if the latest actions of some big-name publications are any indication. Elle Girl and Teen People have announced they will close their publications and focus instead on their web sites, where they think they've got a better shot at catching teens' attention.

As Anastasia Goodstein, who publishes the Ypulse blog about Generation Y for media and marketing professionals, tells USA Today, magazines are a one-way media and this generation is all about multiple ways of communicating with friends. "We have to follow where the teens are hanging out," she says. 

Interestingly, the old media owners of MySpace, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, have been floating the idea of a MySpace magazine, even while other publishers are shuttering printed teen pubs and pouring time and resources online instead.

My teenager (she's been 13 for four whole months) has never picked up a teen fashion magazine. That's not to say she never will, but with so much out there vying for teens' attention, it's getting harder for magazines to grab and hold onto this elusive, sought-after audience. A stronger focus on the web and moblile technology is probably a better bet.

Will the teens in your house miss these magazines? Have they picked any magazines up since their subscriptions to Highlights and Boys' Life ran out?