Slate’s Double X: Will Women, AND Men, Still Engage?
Slate’s XX Factor blog has become Double X (as announced in November, 2008). A recent Ad Age article about the growth of women’s online networks written by Marissa Miley quotes Slate’s publisher, John Alderman, on the why/how of that change:
“We are doing what hasn’t been done, which is focusing on the top of the women’s market,” he said, adding that women who read The XX Factor are “very smart, affluent, technically savvy, and also interested in fashion and shopping — but not limited to that.”
The top of the women’s market I study already knows where to go for fashion and shopping, and was probably thrilled to find a more intellectual blog that skipped those two topics in The XX Factor. I understand the drive to increase advertising revenue, but diluting content sites, especially those already known for more substantive features, may be a big mistake.
On top of that – while men may well have read and joined in the conversations on The XX Factor before the more “womanly” topics and advertising were added, they will be less inclined now. This, from Slate’s announcement of The XX Factor to Double X transformation:
A magazine by women but not just for women, Double X will spin off from our “XX Factor” blog, where we’ve started a conversation among women—about politics, sex, and culture—that both men and women enjoy listening in on.
Women’s online ad networks really serve advertisers and not readers. In this case, Slate’s content/ad changes could chase away the very active and engaged niche readers The XX Factor/Double X was built on.
