Toronto Life Just Doesn't Get It

They think no one has time to read blog's, yet they work in print. True, I can't take BlogTO on, say, the subway with me....yet. But since this generation(and surely the next) is spending more and more of their waking hours in front of a computer screen, I would say that no one has time to read a printed magazine anymore. And as the internet gets more and more portable, weekly and monthly magazines like Toronto Life will become more and more irrelevant due to their inability to stay as current as something like BlogTO.

Yet another example of "the man trying tio keep us down". Smacks of 50's era "Rock and Roll is the Devil!".

i can't quote the source on this, but i recently learned that there are more blogs on the internet today than there were users of the internet in 1998. speaks volumes to the growth of the medium - shame if toronto life ignores all that the future holds.

It's sad that TL is so out of touch - feeling, perhaps, animosity to a perceived upstart competition rather than an evolution of communicative media.

When I first moved here a couple years ago, I wanted to read TL - I was excited about the idea of a locally focused magazine.

And then I read it, and realized they weren't writing for me, they were writing for much older, upper upper middle class folk with a hell of a lot more disposable income than I.

All of their recommendations for things to buy, see, experience, consume, etc are only accessible to a small portion of Torontonians. And as their blog article reveals, they're too busy being obtuse and self-congratulatory to adapt and evolve and consider that there are others in the t-dot that deserve their attention.

(why it took them so long to publish it is another story)

Five months isn't an unheard of lead time for a magazine piece when the summer is wedged in between.

Good points otherwise.

I think that you're being a little oversensitive here. Fulford makes the following statements:

1. "Lively and otherwise unavailable material can be found there"
2. Blogs "can be politically powerful and culturally influential"
3. "if the knowledge society is indeed our future, blogging is surely a clear sign of it, a case of talent replacing capital as the crucial element in the information system"
4. "...a richly promising form of communication that follows the erratic currents of private whim.."

I don't think this is evidence of being out of touch or of the man trying to keep you down. He's simply expressing an opinion as to the quality of this blog and Torontoist. Its certainly true that what i see here is not much different than what I get at NOW and eye and Toronto Life. I agree that there is not yet a distinct voice for this blog. Rather than accuse Bob of not getting blogging, your should respond to that criticism (admittedly, you acknowledge it at least), which is the only real criticism of BlogTO. Criticism of CP24 is not evidence of not getting TV. Criticism of The Transporter 2 is not evidence of not getting fim. This article is not evidence of not getting blogging.

As a reader and not a contributor, I agree with Bob. I'll keep reading, but I am also waiting for you to find a voice. Blogs are not above criticism; you don't get a free ride simply because you're on the "cutting edge". I sense more a little bit of hurt feelings for not getting heaps of praise.

If Toronto Life is so irrelevant, its views would not be so important to you and your readers. Not many other recent posts have produced as many responses. Funny that.

I'm with morecowbell on this one. When I read the article, I took it as a signal to us that we need to improve the blog, not so much that he doesn't get blogs. I actually think Toronto Life is a pretty good magazine. Yes, their readership doesn't include me, but at least they know who their readership is.

You've voiced what I've always felt Katherine. How can any Torontonian that can form at least 10% of an opinion look through the magazine and not be incensed at how this classist trash that they dare call "Toronto Life"?? I'm thinking of collecting pictures of crimes scenes, bums/panhandlers in various states, and crack houses and calling it Toronto Vitae.

And I think my point remains too.

I 'll certainly acknowledge that in referencing "the writers who produced the...newspapers of early 18th century London", Fulford seems to suggest that blogs (or more broadly, citizen journalism) may signal the start of a new paradigm in how we produce and consume media.

What I was really responding to in my post was that in his criticism of blogTO and Torontoist, he focuses purely on the content on the blogs and not the medium. That, and despite the fact he interviewed me at length for this piece, he failed to include any of what I had to say and simply quoted me from an article that appeared in Eye Weekly back in March.

I don't know what other conclusions to draw other than I didn't come up with any sound bites that fit with his preconceived vision for Blog's Age and how he wanted to portray blogTO.

I agree that more investigation into this blog's readership and demographic might help to focus its voice, though I would hate to see it become as exclusionary as Toronto Life.




The other difference I see between this medium and the folks at Eye or Now is that it responds to breaking issues and stories in real-time. I like not having to wait a week or a month or whatever to get some perspective.




The Globe and Mail has recently added a talkback feature to their online stories. Unfortunately, 60% posts are made by trolls who are more interested in attacking people than in having a conversation. I find blogs like this one generally have better netiquette than boards like the Globe's.

I think BlogTO had better pull up its socks and stop rehashing press releases for content. I look at my RSS feed from BlogTO and most of what I see each day is the same stuff everyone else is paying attention to - simply because some PR rep has sent out a package. It's dull. Go and find some stories of your own. If you want BlogTO to shine then start finding your own stories. I don't see enough of it here. I want BlogTO to be a good resource but it has to be original to stand out in the blogosphere.

toronto life is an elitist rag. blogs like this are where it's at. wait until cell phone's get more browser-type functionality....i don't see a visionless toronto life transitioning into that world.

Did I have time to read the article? No.
I read it only after your blog paid attention to the Media column. I read it in both formats: a magazine and an on-line version. We even set up a content-analysis of the "Blog's Age" which shows that blogs are about time but magazines are about money. Show me the money, Baby!
Will I still subscribe on the Toronto Life magazine? Yes, I will. Will I read BlogTO? Yes, I will. They compliment each other. Journalists are posting blogs, blogers are writing articles. Maybe next year during the third McLuhan Festival bloggers should set up a special section "Blog's Age" or/and an interactive event "I blog TO"?

I originally thought it was cool to open up my Toronto Life e-newsletter, and read an article that mentioned blogTO in it. And then I read this post. It's unfortunate that Toronto Life didn't quite get it. I'm sure in their early days, Toronto Life and other magazines received much of the same criticism.

Blogs are still in their infancy. It'll take time before they're off running with the so-called big boys (or maybe even outrunning them).

But I do have to say, here's hoping that other people who opened up their e-newsletters, or magazines, and read the article, decide to check out some of the blogs listed. Who knows ... they might like what they read and keep coming back!

I'm taking a risk by saying this, but I disagree with McLuhan's point of the medium being the messqage.

The medium is merely the facilitator: Whether you're writing for television, radio, magazine or online, it is all about the content.

Content is key: It is what attracts and holds the reader, listener or viewer, and it is what keeps bringing them back. It attracts investors, ad revenues, traffic, you name it. It is up to each and every one of us to take the medium in which we work, and use it to its fullest potential, and the only way we're going to do that is by finding our voice and making that content the best possible product that we can turn out.

I see Fulford's point, and to slag him off like he's someone's old dad who just doesn't understand is being a bit too sensitive. BlogTO is off to a good start, but it is, as some have mentioned here, still young and it does have to find its voice. That's all he's saying: Find a niche that makes people want to keep coming back. You have the potential, and if you build on that, it will happen.

I don't think there is any point in calling Toronto Life archaic. They will happily agree. It is a Boomer magazine by boomers and for boomers. It is perpetually 1978 in that magazine and the changes in this city and in society go virtually unnoticed.

That said, they do what they do very well. They have a brand upon which they have attached all kinds of value, and nostalgic boomers eat it up.

But does this mean his criticism of Blogs is invalid? He is correct in saying that blogs have not yet found their voice in Toronto. Much of the content is repetitive and the original stuff is generally purile.

We are at a crossroads and even daily bloggers have no idea where it goes from here. Who could have imagined the computing power and bandwidth access we have today? Did any of us forcast this ten years ago? Five years ago?

Don't hate Fulford. He writes well and is trying valiantly to stay current. When you turn one hundred and five his efforts may seem more forgiving.

This is a very delayed response, but I was just re-reading this today. I agree with some of you who commented that I came across a bit too harsh on MacFarlane and Fulford. It wasn't my intention to make this a personal attack. It's not. And no disrespect to those individuals. They are quite accomplished and am sure could teach me a few things about the media world. And Fulford was trying to be helpful with his comments about the City Hall coverage. We still haven't figured out how to do that.

But it is interesting to note that since the time of this post we've seen the death of Dose (in print, anyway), and it's not unrealistic to suggest other papers aren't far behind. The print medium is declining. Boomers are aging. And seeing Toronto's Life's redesign of their web site, I suspect they came to the same conclusion.