Wired (magazine)

« Back to Glossary Index

History and Ownership
– Founded by Louis Rossetto, Jane Metcalfe, and Ian Charles Stewart in 1993
– Initial backing from software entrepreneur Charlie Jackson and Nicholas Negroponte
– Debut at the Macworld conference on January 2, 1993
– Won two National Magazine Awards for General Excellence in its first four years
– Wired magazine and Wired News had separate owners from 1998 to 2006
– Condé Nast bought Wired News for $25 million in 2006, reuniting the magazine with its website
– Wired Ventures attempted to go public with an IPO in 1996, but the attempts were unsuccessful
– Wired Ventures was purchased by Advance Publications, which assigned it to Condé Nast Publications

Spin-offs and Expansion
– Launched Wired UK, Wired Italia, Wired Japan, and Wired Germany
– Wired UK was relaunched in April 2009
– HotWired spawned websites Webmonkey, HotBot, and Suck.com
– Wired launched the Italian edition in 2009
– The UK edition of Wired was relaunched in 2009

Influence and Recognition
– Founding editor and publisher Louis Rossetto had a strong influence on the magazine’s editorial outlook
– Recognized as the voice of the emerging digital culture
– Won several National Magazine Awards for both editorial and design
– Acknowledged as Adweek’s Magazine of the Decade in 2021
– Contributor Chris Anderson popularized the term ‘the long tail’

Notable Contributions
– Coined the term ‘crowdsourcing’
– Introduced the annual tradition of Vaporware Awards
– Published the story that became the movie Argo
– Known for deep investigative reporting, including a story on Facebook
– Published the iconic June 1997 cover featuring the Apple logo with a stylized crown of thorns

Leadership Changes and Website
– Scott Dadich was editor-in-chief from 2012-2014 and conducted an interview with Edward Snowden
– Nicholas Thompson, an editor at The New Yorker, became editor in 2017
– In 2021, Thompson left and was replaced by Gideon Lichfield
– In 2022, Conde Nast’s CEO stated that Wired does not operate in China due to news-related censorship
– In August 2023, Katie Drummond was announced as the new editor of Wired
– Wired.com, formerly known as Wired News and HotWired, launched in October 1994
– Wired.com and the magazine were split in the late 1990s but reunited when Condé Nast purchased Wired News in 2006
– Wired.com is currently paywalled as of August 2023
– Wired.com hosts several technology blogs on various topics
– Wired had a supplement called Geekipedia

Wired (magazine) (Wikipedia)

Wired (stylized in all caps) is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, its editorial offices are in San Francisco, California, and its business office at Condé Nast headquarters in Liberty Tower in New York City. Wired has been in publication since its launch in January 1993. Several spin-offs have followed, including Wired UK, Wired Italia, Wired Japan, Wired Czech Republic and Slovakia and Wired Germany.

Wired
The logo for "Wired". The text "Wired" is seen on a black and white checkered pattern, with the color alternating for each letter. Each letter is colored in the inverse to its background color.
Global Editorial DirectorKatie Drummond
Former US editors-in-chiefLouis Rossetto, Katrina Heron, Chris Anderson, Nick Thompson, Gideon Lichfield
CategoriesBusiness, technology, lifestyle, thought leader
FrequencyMonthly
Total circulation
(December 2023)
541,614
FounderLouis Rossetto, Jane Metcalfe
FoundedFebruary 1991
First issueJanuary 1993, as a quarterly
CompanyCondé Nast Publications
CountryUnited States
Based inSan Francisco, California
LanguageEnglish
Websitewired.com Edit this at Wikidata
ISSN1059-1028 (print)
1078-3148 (web)
OCLC24479723
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox magazine with unknown parameter "eoclc"

From its beginning, the strongest influence on the magazine's editorial outlook came from founding editor and publisher Louis Rossetto. In 1991, Rossetto and founding creative director John Plunkett created a 12-page "Manifesto for a New Magazine," nearly all of whose ideas were realized in the magazine's first several issues. During the five years of Rossetto’s editorship, Wired's colophon credited Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan as its "patron saint." Wired went on to chronicle the evolution of digital technology and its impact on society.

Wired quickly became recognized as the voice of the emerging digital economy and culture and a pace setter in print design and web design. During its explosive growth in the mid-1990s, it articulated the values of a far-reaching "digital revolution" driven by the people creating and using digital technology and networks. It won the National Magazine Awards for General Excellence in its first year of publication, and others subsequently for both editorial and design. Adweek acknowledged Wired as its Magazine of the Decade in 2009. SF Gate called Wired “the magazine that led the digital revolution.”

From 1998 to 2006, Wired magazine and Wired News, which publishes at Wired.com, had separate owners. However, Wired News remained responsible for republishing Wired magazine's content online due to an agreement when Condé Nast purchased the magazine. In 2006, Condé Nast bought Wired News for $25 million, reuniting the magazine with its website.

Wired’s second editor Katrina Heron published Bill Joy’s “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us,” breaking with Wired’s optimism to present a dystopian view of the technological future.

Wired's third editor, Chris Anderson is known for popularizing the term "the long tail", as a phrase relating to a "power law"-type graph that helps to visualize the 2000s emergent new media business model. Anderson's article for Wired on this paradigm related to research on power law distribution models carried out by Clay Shirky, specifically in relation to bloggers. Anderson widened the definition of the term in capitals to describe a specific point of view relating to what he sees as an overlooked aspect of the traditional market space that has been opened up by new media.

The magazine coined the term crowdsourcing, as well as its annual tradition of handing out Vaporware Awards, which recognize "products, videogames, and other nerdy tidbits pitched, promised and hyped, but never delivered." In these same years, the magazine also published the story, written by Joshuah Bearman, that became the movie Argo. In more recent times, the publication became known for its deep investigative reporting, including a long story about Facebook—"Inside the Two Years that Shook Facebook and the World"—that became the publication's most read article of the modern era. It was written by Fred Vogelstein and Nicholas Thompson, the latter of whom was the publication's editor-in-chief and had also been the editor on the piece that became Argo.

« Back to Glossary Index

Submit your RFP

We can't wait to read about your project. Use the form below to submit your RFP!

Gabrielle Buff
Gabrielle Buff

Just left us a 5 star review

google

Great customer service and was able to walk us through the various options available to us in a way that made sense. Would definitely recommend!

google

Stoute Web Solutions has been a valuable resource for our business. Their attention to detail, expertise, and willingness to help at a moment's notice make them an essential support system for us.

google

Paul and the team are very professional, courteous, and efficient. They always respond immediately even to my minute concerns. Also, their SEO consultation is superb. These are good people!

google

Paul Stoute & his team are top notch! You will not find a more honest, hard working group whose focus is the success of your business. If you’re ready to work with the best to create the best for your business, go Stoute Web Solutions; you’ll definitely be glad you did!

google

Wonderful people that understand our needs and make it happen!

google

Paul is the absolute best! Always there with solutions in high pressure situations. A steady hand; always there when needed; I would recommend Paul to anyone!

facebook
Vince Fogliani
recommends

The team over at Stoute web solutions set my business up with a fantastic new website, could not be happier

facebook
Steve Sacre
recommends

If You are looking for Website design & creativity look no further. Paul & his team are the epitome of excellence.Don't take my word just refer to my website "stevestours.net"that Stoute Web Solutions created.This should convince anyone that You have finally found Your perfect fit

facebook
Jamie Hill
recommends

Paul and the team at Stoute Web are amazing. They are super fast to answer questions. Super easy to work with, and knows their stuff. 10,000 stars.

facebook

Paul and the team from Stoute Web solutions are awesome to work with. They're super intuitive on what best suits your needs and the end product is even better. We will be using them exclusively for our web design and hosting.

facebook
Dean Eardley
recommends

Beautifully functional websites from professional, knowledgeable team.

google

Along with hosting most of my url's Paul's business has helped me with website development, graphic design and even a really cool back end database app! I highly recommend him as your 360 solution to making your business more visible in today's social media driven marketplace.

yelp

I hate dealing with domain/site hosts. After terrible service for over a decade from Dreamhost, I was desperate to find a new one. I was lucky enough to win...

google

Paul Stoute has been extremely helpful in helping me choose the best package to suite my needs. Any time I had a technical issue he was there to help me through it. Superb customer service at a great value. I would recommend his services to anyone that wants a hassle free and quality experience for their website needs.

google

Paul is the BEST! I am a current customer and happy to say he has never let me down. Always responds quickly and if he cant fix the issue right away, if available, he provides you a temporary work around while researching the correct fix! Thanks for being an honest and great company!!

google

Paul Stoute is absolutely wonderful. Paul always responds to my calls and emails right away. He is truly the backbone of my business. From my fantastic website to popping right up on Google when people search for me and designing my business cards, Paul has been there every step of the way. I would recommend this company to anyone.

yelp

I can't say enough great things about Green Tie Hosting. Paul was wonderful in helping me get my website up and running quickly. I have stayed with Green...