Analyzing Magazine Audiences

Submit original posts and responses on time – Late posts make it difficult for others to engage with each other, and late responses may not receive the attention they deserve. Timeliness is a form of showing respect.

Be inclusive — When deciding whom to respond to, consider responding to a post that hasn’t received any responses yet. This will help foster an inclusive environment and ensure everyone feels heard.

Be kind and professional – This course is, of course, all about professionalism, and you want to apply the same guidelines to less formal communication as you do for the formal ones. Even when disagreeing with a fellow students, you want to do so using factual information, staying on topic, and without attacking or insulting the person(s) themselves.

Set a respectful tone – Along those same lines, please remember that we are collegiate colleagues, and language that might be okay to use with close friends may not be appropriate in a discussion board. It is very important to me to create an inclusive learning environment where everyone feels safe and respected. This can only happen if we all treat each other with respect.

NO YELLING, PLEASE – The use of all caps in a discussion can be interpreted as yelling, so no caps please. Personal note: You will notice that I sometimes use all caps in emailed announcements to draw attention to information such as an extra-credit opportunity. Please don’t interpret this as a form of yelling, but there is only so much bold typeface and underlining one can use. I appreciate your understanding.

Sarcasm and humor – There is an endless number of examples where the use of sarcasm or humor led to misinterpretations by audiences. What might have been a misplaced joke may come across as incredibly offensive, so avoid the use of sarcasm and humor in written posts (and in professional environments in general).

A word about spelling and grammar – Discussion boards are intended to be less formal, and your grade will not usually have a grammar component for that reason; however, when spelling and grammar mistakes inhibit the audience’s abiltiy to understand a post, then you have missed an opportunity to share and engage. (I use Grammarly, which helps me detect many mistakes, especially in eCampus.)

Think before you type and read before you submit – Take a moment to gather your thoughts before you respond to an assignment or a fellow student’s post. Also, read before you post. It is my experience that a waiting period and rereading help with noticing problems such as not making a clear point or realizing something could be misconstrued or considered offensive. Consider writing posts a day early, then read and edit it the next day as needed before posting to the discussion.

Stay on topic – While writing is a great way to think ideas through, you want to ensure your posts stay on topic (see also previous point). Avoid stream-of-consciousness posts.

Write succinctly – While I post length requirements, I will not count words and neither should you. Writing concisely is an important skill. The length requirements are meant as guidelines.

You get better with practice – These guidelines are true not only for college coursework, but more importantly professional environments as well. As you practice these rules, they will become second nature, which will help prepare you for your professional career.

From here, it is actual assignment!!

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Assignment: Locate an online journal or magazine, identify its target audience, and analyze how the publication communicates with that audience.

Select an online journal or magazine of your choice (or perform a search for one). The following are some options:

• Time http://time.com/
• Forbes https://www.forbes.com/
• The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/
• The Economist https://www.economist.com/
• The Hill http://thehill.com/
• Mother Jones https://www.motherjones.com/
• Salon https://www.salon.com/
• The New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/

Once on the site, identify the audiences for the publications. You can gather insight into the intended audience(s) using one or more of the following strategies:

1. Content Analysis — Look at the types of articles and visuals to determine who might be interested in that type of information. For example, your college newspaper contains information of interest to students (primary audience) and employees (secondary audience). You can check out Eastfield's Et Cetera as an example. Aside from the type of information, the language used and required level of expertise to be able to understand the information are a good way to gauge who the intended audience might be.
2. Advertising Analysis — The advertising a publication attracts is another good indicator for its intended audiences. Marketers place advertising strategically to get the best possible returns on their investment in advertising.
3. "About Us" Section: Locate the "About Us" section of the site or its equivalent (sometimes found in a "For Advertisers" section). Some publications state clearly whom they are writing for.

Share your findings in an original post using the memo format (you can look at Chapter 7 if you are unsure about this) and respond to a minimum of two other posts (memos). You want to support your analysis with the evidence you found. Be sure to comment on the way the publication targets — or fails to target — its audience. Respond to all comments to your post to keep the conversation going.

Note: This is not a forum for political views, and I ask that you keep any bias out of this conversation.

Learning Outcome: After completing this assignment, you should have gained some insight into targeting audiences, memo writing, as well as professional tone both for your original post and the responses to others.

Evaluation:

• Memo: (15 points)
  • Organization of information
  • Relevance and accuracy of information
  • Professionalism (tone, mindfulness of possible audiences and security concerns)
• Responses: (10 points)
  • Relevance and accuracy of information
  • Professionalism