The Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) has announced that, for the first time, readers will be able to vote for their favourite magazine advertisement online.
Until now, readers voting for the MPA's Kelly awards for magazine advertising have had to do so by sending off a printed response, but 2009 marks the print body's shift to online media.
In an interview with the New York Times, Ellen Oppenheim, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of the MPA, said that the choice to allow readers to vote online represented modern-day advertising, and was not contradictory.
"Advertisers use multiple media and a mix to achieve their results. Magazines have web sites. We don't shy away from the fact that all media contributes," she told the newspaper.
The decision to move even the magazine advertising awards' voting system online is a hint at the relentless shift of business from a physical medium to a digital one.
The decision also highlights the opportunities the net represents: managed correctly, the internet need not be a threat to traditional businesses.
Not only will voting take place online but the winners will be announced online, making the shift a significant one this year.
At the same time advertising is leaving the printed publications behind to chase the digital dollar, another staple of the printed press is also shifting online.
Classified ads are now gaining in popularity on the web as people in need of goods or services prefer to glance immediately at what is on offer rather than trowel through old newspapers to see what has been advertised recently.
The growth in the number of visits to classifieds websites such as Craigslist.com between March 2008 and the same month this year was 84 per cent, according to online research firm Hitwise.
Visits to classifieds websites now account for 2.99 per cent of all visits to any website, the research - featured in a New York Times article - stated.
Heather Dougherty, Hitwise's research director, claimed that while the majority of the users of classifieds sites earned between $30,000 (£20,000) and $100,000 (£67,000), there has recently been a rise in the number of low-income users making use of the sites.
Craigslist.com has many equivalents across the world such as gumtree.com or asiaexpat.com.
The rise in popularity of sites previously so deeply tied to the need for a printed press could be taken as inspiration for the chance to expand any business online, in order to reach a greater customer base.
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