by Richard E. Glover, Jr., Editor

To a lot of you, it probably seems like the National HBPA sure is putting a lot of focus and effort into Internet-based communications. And you’d be right. The National HBPA has launched an online blog, established Facebook and Twitter pages, and has an extensive website, an e-newsletter, and e-news bulletins. And over the course of the next two years, we will transition The Horsemen’s Journal from a printed and mailed magazine to an electronic publication available to be received solely via online means.

There are two major reasons for all this focus on Internet-based communications – timely delivery and economics.

There is no question that the Internet has changed the way most people receive their information. The news cycle has now become 24 hours a day, and much of the information you read in newspapers and magazines has been available online for some time before the print version arrives.

While the Internet has been a boon to consumers in terms of available information and a way to reach out and connect with people from all over the globe, it continues to gradually chip away at the traditional roles of newspapers and magazines. The perceived timeliness of printed information has changed, as has some of the content that is printed.

Just as the Internet has been expanding the amount and speeding up delivery of information available to consumers – most at no cost to those consumers – printed media has faced steadily increasing prices for printing and postage. And consumer magazines have seen a marked drop-off in subscription rates as a result of both the slowdown in the economy and the fact that fewer consumers – especially those in younger demographic groups – are willing to pay for magazine or newspaper subscriptions when they could get the same information online faster and for free. Plus, advertisers continue to try to figure out where to put their increasingly scarce advertising dollars in light of all the changes – whether it be into printed publications, Internet-based advertising, direct mail pieces, television, etc.

An alarming number of magazines and newspapers have shut their doors over the last few years – some that had been in circulation for many decades. More continue to follow every month.

All the factors mentioned above have combined to make Internet-based communications both the most robust and cost effective means of information delivery for more and more media outlets and businesses. Using online methods, you can deliver more information more quickly to more people at a tiny fraction of the cost to print and mail information.

If you’re like me, that is all very reasonable and makes a lot of sense, but it doesn’t change the fact that you like to have a physical newspaper in your hands to read every morning. You like opening the mailbox to find a new issue of a favorite magazine and thumbing through the pages to see what you want to read first. While you may read some information online, there is still just something about sitting down with a good magazine and reading an in-depth feature article unlike what you typically find on the web. Believe me, I completely understand why the idea of getting your magazines in electronic format is not the most appealing to many people (that particularly holds true of people over approximately the age of 30 – people who grew up getting information via the Internet actually tend to prefer doing so). Given the direction of the publishing industry and the economic climate, however, online is increasingly going to become the only way you are able to get much of the information you want and are used to getting. So we are all facing the same choice – either get on board and start adapting to the digital age, or get ready to accept that we aren’t going to be able to stay current with the information out there related to the subjects about which we care.

The good news, at least in the case of National HBPA, is that you have a little time to make the adjustment. And when The Horsemen’s Journal begins to produce only electronic issues, we will make sure they are in a format that you can easily print yourself if you want to still be able to hold it in your hands and read it.

If you haven’t already, jump on board and give our online offerings a try. You’ll find some great information above and beyond what you get in The Horsemen’s Journal.

Become a fan of the National HBPA on Facebook (www.facebook.com/nationalhbpa), follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/nationalhbpa), check out our exciting new National HBPA blog for thought-provoking information and editorials (http://nationalhbpa.blogspot.com/), and visit the National HBPA website to find all kinds of great information about your association, and – I can’t stress this enough – sign up to receive news and information from the National HBPA via email so that you never miss information you need to know about your association and your industry.

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