Teen Vogue has generated a huge amount of coverage (and attracted a significant audience) by re-positioning the magazine as a socially conscious political hub for young women.
Notes from the lesson
Teen Vogue: background
Teen Vogue was launched in 2003 as a print magazine ‘little sister’ title to US Vogue. It focused on fashion and celebrity and was a conventional magazine aimed at teenage girls.
In 2015, in response to declining sales, the magazine cut back its print distribution and focused on digital content. After single-copy sales dropped 50% in the first six months of 2016 alone, the magazine went quarterly (four issues a year) before announcing the closure of the print magazine completely in November 2017.
In 2015, in response to declining sales, the magazine cut back its print distribution and focused on digital content. After single-copy sales dropped 50% in the first six months of 2016 alone, the magazine went quarterly (four issues a year) before announcing the closure of the print magazine completely in November 2017.
Online growth
Led by digital director Phillip Picardi, the Teen Vogue website grew substantially as the print magazine declined.
Between January 2016 and 2017, Teen Vogue’s online traffic rocketed from 2.9m US visitors to 7.9m. The magazine then surpassed 10m unique users later in 2017. In addition, the magazine has 6m Facebook likes, 3.5m Twitter followers and a huge following on Snapchat.
Led by digital director Phillip Picardi, the Teen Vogue website grew substantially as the print magazine declined.
Between January 2016 and 2017, Teen Vogue’s online traffic rocketed from 2.9m US visitors to 7.9m. The magazine then surpassed 10m unique users later in 2017. In addition, the magazine has 6m Facebook likes, 3.5m Twitter followers and a huge following on Snapchat.
Evolution and activism
The spectacular digital growth of Teen Vogue has been credited to the editor Elaine Welteroth and digital guru Picardi leading the magazine in a radically different direction to traditional teenage magazines.
Focusing on politics, activism and feminism, the magazine has developed a reputation for high-quality journalism while recruiting millions of socially-conscious, educated readers.
Focusing on politics, activism and feminism, the magazine has developed a reputation for high-quality journalism while recruiting millions of socially-conscious, educated readers.
'Woke'
Teen Vogue considers itself a ‘woke’ brand.
Teen Vogue considers itself a ‘woke’ brand.
Woke definition: a political term of African American origin that refers to an awareness of issues concerning social justice.
This means Teen Vogue covers issues of politics, racism and gender identity… and amazingly has expanded the appeal and reach of the brand while doing do.
Teen Vogue: background reading and textual analysis blog tasks
Work through the following tasks to complete your first case study on Teen Vogue.
Teen Vogue: background reading
Read this Guardian feature from 2017 on Teen Vogue and
answer the following questions.
1) What was the article that announced Teen Vogue as a more
serious, political website – with 1.3m hits and counting?
2) When was the original Teen Vogue magazine launched and what
was its original content?
3) How did editor Elaine Welteroth change Teen Vogue’s
approach in 2015?
4) How many stories are published on Teen Vogue a day? What topics
do they cover?
5) What influence did digital director Phillip Picardi have
over the editorial direction?
6) What is Teen Vogue’s audience demographic and what does ‘woke’
refer to?
7) What issues are most important to Teen Vogue readers?
8) What does Tavi Gevinson suggest regarding the internet
and ‘accountability culture’ with regards to modern audiences? Can you link
this to our work on Clay Shirky?
9) What social and political issues have been covered successfully
by Teen Vogue?
10) What do Teen Vogue readers think of the magazine and website?
Teen Vogue: Factsheet Part 1
Read Media Factsheet #200 Teen Vogue - Part 1. You can find the Factsheet here using your Greenford Google login. Answer the following questions:
1) The Factsheet suggests Teen Vogue has successfully made the transition to an online, social and participatory product. Why? What platforms is it now available on?
2) Look at the screenshots and details on pages 3-4 of the Factsheet. What does Teen Vogue offer its audience?
3) Who is the typical Teen Vogue reader?
4) Read the content analysis of the Teen Vogue website on page 5 of the Factsheet. Pick out three key examples of how meanings are created in Teen Vogue and what is communicated to the audience.
5) Finally, look at pages 6-7 focusing on representations. What range of representations can be found in Teen Vogue and what does this suggest regarding Teen Vogue's values and ideologies?
Teen Vogue textual analysis and example articles
Homepage analysis
Go to the Teen Vogue homepage and answer the following:
1) What website key conventions can you find on the Teen
Vogue homepage?
2) How does the page design encourage audience engagement?
3) Where does advertising appear on the homepage?
4) What are the items in the top menu bar and what does this
tell you about the content of Teen Vogue?
5) How far does the homepage scroll down? How many stories
appear on the homepage in total?
Lifestyle section
Now analyse the Lifestyle section of Teen Vogue (in the Identity section) and answer
the following:
1) What are the items in the top menu bar for the Lifestyle
section?
2) How is the Lifestyle section designed to encouragement
audience engagement? Think about page design, images, text and more.
3) What do you notice about the way headlines are written in
Teen Vogue?
4) What does the focus on education, university and ‘campus life’
tell you about the Teen Vogue audience demographics and psychographics?
5) Choose one story featured in the Lifestyle section and explain how reflects the Teen Vogue brand.
Teen Vogue: Five key articles
Read the following five notable Teen Vogue features then
answer the questions below.
1) What do you notice about the content and style of these articles? What do they have in common?
2) How do the articles use narrative to engage the reader?
Try and apply narrative theory here if possible - what makes the reader want to click or read more?
3) Pick a quote from each article that illustrates the political, 'woke' ideology of Teen Vogue and paste it here.
4) What effect on the audience are these articles hoping to achieve?
5) How do these article reflect the values and ideologies
of the modern Teen Vogue?
There is plenty to work on here - you will need to complete the majority for homework but we will set an extended deadline due to the volume of work. Due date on Google Classroom.
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