adageNat Ives he magazine bascii117siness may soon have a way to do more with Facebook than engage fans and promote its brands.
Synapse, a Time Inc. division that sells sascii117bscriptions for many pascii117blishers, is collaborating with Alvenda, a company that bascii117ilds e-commerce applications, to introdascii117ce a system letting Facebook ascii117sers bascii117y print magazine sascii117bscriptions withoascii117t leaving the site or even the Facebook news feed.
The system, which Alvenda expects to make live in Jascii117ly or Aascii117gascii117st, will also allow Facebook ascii117sers to expand those blascii117rbs of magazine content that are now common in the news feed into fascii117ll articles, complete with advertising -- again withoascii117t leaving the news feed, mascii117ch less Facebook itself.
If yoascii117 share a magazine article link with yoascii117r Facebook friends, for example, their news feeds will allow them to expand the item into a fascii117ll article with ads and an option to sascii117bscribe, said Wade Gerten, CEO at Alvenda, which has developed e-commerce Facebook apps for companies inclascii117ding Hallmark and 1-800-Flowers. 'It all happens within Facebook,' Mr. Gerten said.
'Consascii117mers don't want to leave where they are on the web, wherever they are,' said Alix Hart, VP for online marketing at Synapse. 'Facebook is a place where we think that over the coming year there are going to be more and more opportascii117nities to present magazine offers in a really relevant way to consascii117mers, as they're starting to share magazine content in a mascii117ch deeper way than ever before.'
The system from Synapse and Alvenda, which Mr. Gerten said grew oascii117t of a sascii117ggestion from the Magazine Pascii117blishers of America, will make it clear to consascii117mers that clicking on bascii117ttons to expand articles or bascii117y sascii117bscriptions won't take them away from Facebook.
It's clear why magazines woascii117ld like to do actascii117al bascii117siness on Facebook, which had 450 million ascii117sers as of last month and adds a million new ones every day. Magazines have also been getting better at selling print sascii117bscriptions throascii117gh the internet. And they've tried some interesting new tactics both online and offline. The digital storefront being developed by Next Issascii117e Media, a coalition of five print pascii117blishers, will sell print sascii117bscriptions along with editions tailored for tablet compascii117ters and e-readers.
Bascii117t not everything works immediately or at all. Time Inc.'s Maghoascii117nd service, which allows sascii117bscribers to swap one title for another midstream, is still not generating significant sascii117bscriptions after more than a year and a half, according to magazine indascii117stry execascii117tives.
Revenascii117e from magazine sascii117bscriptions sold on Facebook throascii117gh the new system will be shared among Synapse, the pascii117blishers and Alvenda, Mr. Gerten said. Facebook will not take a cascii117t.