Has the internet killed print media? Are newspapers, newsletters, magazines, mailouts and other printed promotion and press no longer effective? As the North American church's web presence becomes more and more the dominant form of communication between staffs and congregations, I have to wonder. When I recommend allocating resources for present and future needs, and look at the cost and benefits of print versus the web, I have to do more than ponder the ramifications. It's time to take a hard look at the reality of print and the web and begin making decisions that will affect how we communicate now and for years to come.

Print has been the dominant form of communication--and especially the communication of record--for 300 years. Even today, there is a certain "official-ness" to everything from treaties to gossip if we "put it in writing." Even with the advent of the web, people simply believe more of what they read in print than what they see on a video screen. There's an understood standard in the written word.

Yet the cost of print continues to rise--paper cost alone has more than doubled in the last five years. Add to this the fact that our communications more and more are drowning in the sea of junk mail, and that attention spans are shorter than ever--too short in many cases to read a postcard, much less browse an entire newsletter. We have seen a steady decline in the effectiveness of print communications. Mailings don't have the effectiveness they had even three years ago. Newsletters receive just a passing glance. Brochures may not even get noticed. The written word may be believable, but the fact is that people aren't reading it as they once did.

Contrast this with the web. Within most North American churches, you will find internet connectivity of the members is close to 100%. Website traffic continues to rise, as well as email usage. There is also a high demand for additional features like streaming media and online registration. And there is the immediacy of communication--from the time a decision is made to the time it is broadcast online can be literally minutes versus hours, days or even weeks with print media.

Another advantage is cost. It's much cheaper to operate several websites than to continually produce, distribute and/or mail printed material. Once over the initial web design hump, maintaining and updating is quick and efficient. As bandwidth cost continues to drop and email becomes more dominant than "snail mail," the web will only continue to eat away at print when it comes to mindshare. Older people today ingest in a mix of media from television to the net to the newspaper. Not so with the youngest generation--they've given up print in favor of the web. We are likely witnessing the slow death of print as we know it.

What are we losing? Certainly the web has less portability than print. You can't carry around websites as easily as a book or a stack of papers (though the iPhone is quickly making that a moot point). There's also a certain tactile response people have to reading versus viewing--the feel of a book or pages in your hand is significantly different than having a screen in front of you. We attach some emotion to that experience which cannot be discounted.

With the demise of print we are also losing to some degree a sense of history and preservation. Websites can change instantly--we can remake our online image and reshape or web-based message as many times a day as we want. The printed page is official, lasting, permanent. You can go to the library and see history in print as you browse old magazines or newspapers. But can you view the web as it existed 10 years ago--or even 10 minutes ago?

What now for print? Though our dependence on print media for day-to-day communication is waning, there are many ways that we can still use print effectively. The dominance of print as a primary source of information is gone, but its reliability as the source of record is still alive and well. Longer-format pieces like magazines can tell the stories of ministry and inspire people to involvement. Newsletters, once a staple of communications for most churches, are past their prime. As congregations experience nearly universal connectivity, the newsletters will soon cease in favor of net-centric updates via web and email.

Many churches have moved from weeklies to less frequent "magazines." The trouble with many church magazines is that they are simply longer newsletters. Realize that long-format pieces need depth to engage the reader for longer periods of time. Folks will not sit down to thumb through sound-bites. Magazines must have meat in the form of engaging articles in order to be effective.

Print can no longer exist on its own. Rather, plan promotion using a mix of media, of which print is one element. A mailout or brochure may not be the most effective solution to a promotional task. In fact, based on the connectivity of your audience, it may not be necessary at all.

For decades the cost of print was simply something swallowed and accepted as "the standard." Now faced with a faster and often cheaper alternative such as email or a website, we can finally ask, is the price of print worth it? Only if it fills a specific need and cannot be accomplished by other means. That's a tough question to swallow--especially for graphic artists like myself. But as our task is to communicate the message, our means and methods must evolve--even if it means evolving beyond print.

About the Author. Eugene L. Mason has more than two decades of experience in ministry communications. More...