Facebook’s First Print Magazine – Will It ‘Grow’ (or go up in smoke?)

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Facebook Gaming Recorded Over 1B Hours Watched In Q1 2021- 91% YoY Increase-Brand Spur Nigeria
Facebook Gaming Recorded Over 1B Hours Watched In Q1 2021- 91% YoY Increase-Brand Spur Nigeria

Facebook has launched its very first magazine, Grow. It is described as ‘a quarterly magazine for business leaders’ and was first spotted in business class lounges at Heathrow and a few more exclusive spots in and around London in early June 2018. 

The first issue is labelled ‘Issue One’ and features a white on the black cover image of Swedish retail guru Oscar Olsson and explores niche brands. Facebook VP for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa Nicola Mendelsohn says that the magazine started life at a small event in the English countryside about a half-year ago.

Those who know only a little about some of the world’s more weird and wonderful magazines will be aware that Grow Magazine is the most ‘quintessential cannabis horticulture magazine’ in the world, available in all 50 US states, and Canada. This does beg the question: why did Facebook decide to give its first official magazine the same name? More pertinently, why did the social media platform, which insists it’s not a publisher, decide to put out a magazine at all?

The launch issue of Grow, “a quarterly magazine for business leaders” – by Facebook – quietly made its appearance in business class lounges at Heathrow and a few more exclusive spots in and around London in early June. Simply labelled as ‘Issue one’ the large format magazine runs a white on the black cover image of Swedish retail “guru” Oscar Olsson, who is – according to the magazine’s cover line – “H&M’s millennial whisperer”.

Nicola Mendelsohn, CBE, Europe, Middle East and Africa vice president of Facebook, writes in her forward note that Grow “started life at a small event in the English countryside about a half year ago”. The event she refers to was an off-site gathering organised by Facebook in an idyllic Soho Farmhouse in rural Oxfordshire, a private members club set in 100 acres of rolling countryside. The two day offsite, which combined conferences and presentations with activities and fine dining, was the second annual event of its sort. During this particular one, they decided to launch a print magazine.

The first magazine, explains Mendelsohn, explores niche brands – “one of the most interesting business stories of the past couple of years”.

Read more about the magazine at FIPP.