In an interview with BJP, Mark Lubell, managing director of Magnum Photos, says that the new site is part of the agency's startegy to actively engage with its audience. “You want an audience that truly engages with the agency,” he says Lubell. “I would say the fastest growing part of the business is on Twitter and Facebook. We have 100,000 followers on Twitter, and we’re seeing a 15 per cent growth per week. We have to harness that.”

To this end, Magnum is revamping its website. “Our current site is trying to serve different communities – clients, photographers, viewers,” says Lubell. “I don’t think it’s doing any of these well. In the next three months, we will launch a new site that will allow our visitors to better experience our content. We’ve found that the section dedicated to our photographers is responsible for 87 per cent of our traffic. 

“Photographers are obsessive people. They spend their time trying to find answers to the questions that obsess them. They want to engage. Our current site doesn’t explain that. With the new site, we’ll create a photographers’ channel. It will be all about engaging with the photographers who, in turn, will be able to upload and discuss with their audiences from the field.”

The channel will revolve around seven or eight photographers at a time, facilitating those image-makers who want to work in this way. “We can’t build a channel for all of our photographers, but we will launch with the photographers who want to engage – Alec Soth, Carl de Keyzer and Jonas Bendiksen, among others,” says Lubell, adding that de Keyzer is the perfect example. “Before he goes out to a particular location, he asks his audience for help in identifying the best places to photograph. This is an interesting way of engaging the audience, taking it along in the project. He has already built his audience for when his book will come out later on.”

Magnum is also looking at other platforms to distribute its content directly to its “fans”, and will release an iPhone and iPad application later this year. “It will be different from the Reporters Without Borders application unveiled earlier this year,” he says. “It’ll be cooler and more focused on our photographers.”

For more on how independent photo agencies are adapting to a changing editorial market, read our special report - with interviews with the directors of VII Photo, Institute and Contrasto among others.

Visit magnumphotos.com.