Next week I'll be in Paris moderating the digital element of Marie Claire magazine's  international conference. This is always a fascinating few days.  Marie Claire has done a great job of pushing its band into markets around the globe, and its journalists, publishers and sales leaders are very keen to hear new ideas. 
As I have been preparing for my opening presentation, I've been struck by how many times 'will' has been replaced by 'are' when I talk about what magazines are doing in digital. For me the biggest change since I last did this event two years ago has been the arrival of tablet editions that work. The  Audit Bureau of Circulations says that digital circulation of magazines has doubled in the past year. 3.1 million digital copies were sold in the second half of 2011, up from 1.5 million copies in 2010.
Duncan Edwards at Hearst believes readers prefer simpler, page-turning editions, and I agree with him - the growth in digital subscription sales of the past 18 months has been driven, not by hugely interactive re-imaginings of the magazine for the tablet, but by readers' appetite for the same things they get from print repurposed in an instant, very portable format. 
I'll be following Next Issue with interest. It's a sort of NetFlix for tablets, with a single subscription giving access to magazines from multiple publishers.  Right now it's on Android but we're promised an ipad version soon. 
Perhaps it's too soon to say the tablet has saved magazines, but it's certainly made the future look a little brighter for all of us. 

Last month I asked whether B2B brands should embrace social media  - it's no secret that I think they should, and arguably can benefit from it more than B2C brands, used correctly. The original article has sparked a debate in the Financial Services Marketing group on LinkedIn http://lnkd.in/rDQwgM  which now contains a growing list of research resources on  financial services and social media, with examples from Australia and the US.

I'll be taking a closer look at this issue and doing some research to seek out B2B brands who have really succeeded in this space. Do get in touch if you'd like to take part.