Bike Magazine and Dirt Rag start blogs

The biggest problem magazines have in this Web 2.0 world of citizen generated media is that by the time their publication comes out each month the news that they report is already old. Bloggers and forum participants have already discussed and analyzed it all before the magazine even goes to print.

Nevertheless, magazines have a role to play in that they have considerable resources that the everyman blogger does not. One of the biggest advantages is that they are able to attend numerous press events, trade shows, festivals, and races. This gives them access to breaking news and information as well as the ability to interact face-to-face with industry insiders. Its the monthly publishing cycle, however, that limits their ability to leverage this advantage over the many bloggers out there trying to keep up with happenings in the sport that they love.

How do you solve this problem? Why, start a blog, of course.

Well that's exactly what both Bike Magazine and Dirt Rag have done. Good for them too. Now they won't be letting that first mover advantage go to waste. This is a great move for each of these publishers as I am sure that over time they will find that the blog will only serve to bolster their credibility. In addition, the blog will serve to humanize the magazine a bit more. While there is no doubt that the magazine itself takes on a personality of its own, it is sometimes difficult to get a feel for the individual voices that do the writing. Not only that, but readers will be able to comment in real time which will no doubt help the writers of feature stories for print get an idea of how people may react to certain points of view, product launches, news, etc.

Ok...enough pontificating. Here's what I suggest. Now, keep in mind each of these blogs is brand new and have not yet hit their stride. Head on over for a visit and subscribe to the feeds as I have done. In a couple of months I'll do a follow up and we'll see where they stand.

(Photo via Flickr)