A big thanks to everyone who braved the rain last night to attend the first Ypulse Teen Media Mashup at Mannahatta. I loved meeting everyone in person and the panelists did an amazing job speaking in spite of the live jazz coming from upstairs. We recorded the discussion, I will hopefully be posting a link to the podcast sometime next week. Thanks again to Mr. Youth for making the event, the food and the podcast possible. Some of the big themes that emerged:

- The role of the celebrity editor -- we talked about how Jane Pratt made Sassy editors celebrities to her readers and speculated on the future of Seventeen without the very charasmatic Atoosa.

- The power of the niche -- the magazines that will survive will be delivering focused editorial to specific niche teen readers who want/need it - example is STACK magazine, which is connecting with teen male athletes.

- How magazines are trying to adapt to the new Web order - print's days may be limited. Publishers like Conde Net are creating standalone products (like Flipped.com - they didn't say the name, I'm just posting the name that's been reported in Ad Age and WWD) that aren't directly connected to their print pub Teen Vogue.

- The role of teen mags in a UGC world -- how what used to be the reader feedback page is being revolutionized by the Web. Teens can and are giving feedback directly to editors on mag sites/blogs and MySpace.

Mediabistro was there and I'm hoping they'll post some coverage and pics on their site. I'll update this post if/when they do.

Geoff from MyYearbook (a Ypulse advertiser) had a really interesting question that he asked me after the event -- how big are these magazines' online staffs? My hunch is they are still pretty small if not getting smaller. We then agreed that part of the challenge for them is how to compete with the Web 2.0 sites that are grabbing teens' attention? Is content king enough? Especially when they don't have (and won't pay for) the same Web developer talent these bigger sites attract. How can they constantly develop competitive new features (not editorial features)? They can't. So they are left to partner and integrate third party solutions, which will never be as seemless as sites with in-house teams developing these features themselves in response to user feeback.

To me, this means content has to be king (or queen) and that it must be fueled by teen generated content. Just as Sassy made readers editors (literally flying them out to edit issues of the magazine), today's teen magazines must do this too - in print (for as long as it lasts) and online. Feature their DIY fashion designs, blogs and podcasts. And just as Hollywood talent agencies are on the lookout for the next big thing on YouTube, teen mag staffs should be scouting for girls who already have big followings (bloggers, vloggers, podcasters) like EmoGirl and making exclusive content deals with them to do special features specifically for the mags. Capitalize on that big sister voice that teens need and transform it into a real interactive dialogue.

Remember, the next Ypulse Teen Media Mashup in San Diego on December 5 and will focus on action sports. Check out the details here.

Posted by anastasia