Whenever you design a web application or service, a big part of your job is to try and define how it will serve your consumers. Even if it’s something which is totally customisable and designed to be individual to every user, you still need to work out how people will interact with it to set it up…
And there is a great example on www.flip.com. It’s a social networking/slide show type site from Teen Vogue and publishers Conde Nast.
So how will they respond to the fact some girls have grouped together to create their own magazine and publish it on flip? Check it out, here.
The right way would be to take a look, and maybe publicise the fact it’s happening. Use it as a great example of interaction to build their community, and perhaps use it to find new writing talent and ideas.
The wrong way would be to try to stop it, and see it start somewhere else.
And speaking as the Editor of an independant online magazine, it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out…