*Online Feature

My feature for the Online Journalism module will focus on weekly celebrity magazines. Why are Britain's weekly gossip magazines lagging behind so many of the monthlies when it comes to the internet? What is the online future for celebrity gossip magazines?

Heat, the UK's biggest celebrity magazine does not even have a website, somewhat unbelievably. Now, Closer, OK! and Hello! do, but how successful are they? Have they reached their full potential? These magazines are built on breaking celebrity news, which may change on a daily basis, and the internet seems like a natural place for it to be reported. These magazines also have great scope for providing online exclusives such as video, audio and picture galleries.

It has been pointed out to me that the kind of news Heat provides would be perfect for people to read in tea breaks or between meetings in the office, so why isn't it tapping into this market?

I also want to look at the websites of American weeklies such as US Weekly and People, and compare these to the lacking online output of their UK equivalents.

I will try to ask Kim Hollamby, head of Electronic Media at IPC, about this when he comes to give a lecture this week. I will also try to get in touch with some of the magazines in question to see what their position is regarding online.

These are my current thoughts on the feature and how I hope to develop it over the next three weeks.