Crowdsourced, Print Mag Created in 2 Days

May 24, 2010 -- The first issue of 48 Hour Magazine, though printed on old-fashioned paper, is one of the most technologically interesting magazine projects today.

The staff of 48 Hour Magazine sent off its finished "Issue Zero" to MagCloud, a print-on-demand service, at noon on May 9 after a harried two-day submission, editing and design process.

Following weeks of building buzz about the project, primarily through Twitter, the editors announced the issue's theme, "Hustle," at noon on May 7. Contributors then had all of two days (hence the "48 Hour" title) to send in their writing, photos, art and infographics around that loosely defined concept.

Using not only social media, but also a custom-built content management system and a live video stream, the editors, all experienced writers and creative types, crafted a polished magazine through methods that re-imagined the standard magazine publication process from beginning to end.

As they describe it, the magazine is "a raucous experiment in using new tools to erase media's old limits."

Making a magazine in two days clearly isn't for every publisher, but the 48 Hour Magazine project demonstrates that even this old medium can be reinvented with technical savvy and creativity.

The 48 Hour staff began by using their website to solicit the email addresses of people interested in contributing to the magazine. The result was over 5,000 responses. They chose to spread the word about the project primarily through Twitter, avoiding the use of Facebook for the project, partly due to the site's recent privacy changes.

"I love the connections Facebook enables, but it seems to have little to no respect for its users' privacy, or ownership of their own creations," said Mathew Honan, one of the magazine's editors. Honan said Facebook is increasingly developing a negative public image. "Because of that, the bottom line is that I don't want our brand associated with Facebook," he said. "I think Facebook diminishes our brand by association. There are better, less onerous ways to make social connections happen online."

The Twitter and word-of-mouth marketing strategy seems to have worked. Within that short 48-hour period, the editors received over 1,500 submissions. An intense editing process distilled these to just 70 pieces that fill 60 pages.