Strategically Communicating

I came across this article on Mashable discussing the recent announcement that Newsweek Magazine would be merging with the online publication, The Daily Beast. As we all know, the print news industry is on its way out and many other publications have turned to the online publication as the primary source. What I found interesting though, was that the decision to do away with the Newsweek.com website completely, rather than integrate The Daily Beast into it. The Newsweek.com website generates about five million users per month while The Daily Beast has around two million users. Apparently the goal was to get some of the Newsweek.com traffic over to The Daily Beast, since now when users type in the Newsweek address, they will be redirected to The Daily Beast. This seemed rather bizarre considering Newsweek is a much larger contender for readership. What is really interesting though is that the people from Newsweek.com created a Tumblr page venting their frustrations and asking readers for support to not shut down the site. It will be interesting to keep an eye out and see if the Tumblr will have any effect on the websites ultimate fate, especially if online supporters link the Tumblr to their social media outlets. It is definitely a strange battle between the print and online world.