Rookie Mag’s Structure Reveals That It Is In Fact Being Run By A Teenage Girl
In her profile in The New York Times, Tavi revealed that the site will only consist of three posts a day — which is pretty slow in the blogging world. Her reasoning, although reflective of her own school schedule, is based entirely on a contemporary teen’s day:
The first post will appear after school, the second at dinnertime and the third ”when you do your last Facebook check around bed or whatever,” Gevinson said. Of course, there are practical reasons for this schedule: ”I’m in school, and I can’t be at my computer all day.”
The simple layout of the site is reminiscent to perhaps your own adolescent’s blog with simple text, minimal photos, and an off the cuff sort of tone. No pretenses, minimal advertisements, and friends Dan Savage and Zooey Deschanel throwing in their two cents as well.
It’s too early yet to see whether the approachability of the site has hit strong with the intended demographic, but from the looks of the design and the unique structure, we’re definitely being confronted with a new way to approach teen audiences. Many blogs and websites, especially those geared towards the 18 and under set rely heavily on generating tons of content. Tavi’s decision to offer only three posts a day is not only unprecedented in the internet world, it’s also considered financial suicide in most respects.
But perhaps 15-year-old Tavi knows her audience better than all the media adults do.
(photo: rookiemag.com)