Niche social network Creativ goes global, but not in the way you would expect

Print is dead, right?

Tell that to niche social network Creativ that, in an age where startups strive to replace everything analog with digital facsimiles, has launched a new print magazine, stocked with the content that its users submit online.

At South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Creativ has announced a new distribution deal today that sees its magazine roll out to 500 Barnes & Noble bookstores across the United States on March 23.

I spoke with Blake Brinker, Creativ’s founder and president, to find out more about the social network, what he hopes to achieve, and why he decided to launch a print magazine in a world where many predict the death of print media.

I asked Brinker what drove his company to create a social network and community for creative types, such as artists, photographers, sculptors — even cake makers.

“We strongly believe that the future belongs to the creative,” Brinker said.

“Now as much as ever, we need incredible creativity, innovation and ideas to inspire humankind to move forward in bold new ways. There is such an amazing world out there full of people doing absolutely incredible things everyday. Things that are advancing us forward, inspiring us, disrupting the status quo, and changing our perception about life as we know it. We wanted to create a community that was dedicated to sharing the everyday amazing with the world.”

It sounds like a noble cause. But why start a niche social network in the first place? Don’t private communities on platforms such as Facebook cover these needs already?

“Private communities within places like Facebook are great for certain types of social interaction, if you absolutely know what you’re searching for or you desire to be segmented into specific groups,” Brinker said. “On Creativ, not only can users connect and interact with like-minded people based around specific topics of interest, they are also immersed in things they otherwise never would have thought about searching for. A musician can discover illustrators, bakers can discover dancers, photographers can discover innovators.”

And that’s important to Brinker. “No matter what type of creativity you’re passionate about, the more creativity and inspiration you surround yourself with, the more creative you become,” he said.

Of course, other social networks give creative people a chance to show their work and interact with other. DeviantArt, for example, has been around for a long time. How does Creativ differ?

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“DeviantArt has gathered a lot of great content over the years and clearly has evolved from a repository into more of an active social environment. However, it’s primarily for art, illustrations, graphic arts and photographs.Our aim wasn’t to divide creativity in that way. We aim to connect all sides of the creative spectrum, for everyone,” Brinker said.

Creativ has taken the full-circle route of launching a print magazine that features content from the network. What drove that decision, and why go back to print, the very medium most websites strive to replace?

“It’s actually quite simple,” Brinker said. “We don’t believe print is dead. Quite the opposite.”

“In a world that is so digital and non-tangible, we believe the ‘right’ kind of print is more alive, more appreciated than ever because it’s becoming ‘rare.’ Touching and flipping through a magazine is completely different from flipping through pages on a tablet.”

I first saw Creativ and its magazine at the Web Summit in Dublin last year. Since then, I wondered if adoption of the social network been high.

“It has been active for just 15 months,” Brinker said. “Users from 200 countries and a strong social following numbering in the millions speak to Creativ’s global reach, and all in a relatively short time since the launch of our platform.”

“And in addition to this U.S. distribution deal, we have attracted distributor interest in Southeast Asia, Australia, and Europe,” Brinker said. “Creativ Magazine is going global after our first print issue.”

The magazine could be in as many as 1,000 Barnes & Noble stores by April. In tandem with the announcement, Brinker and his team are being featured in the Startup Spotlight at SXSW.

For a niche social network with a tight focus, Brinker has audacious plans.

“So many new businesses start every single day,” Brinker said. “We are truly thinking outside of the box to help us break through the noise and become a part of people’s everyday lives. A world of undiscovered human creativity is out there. We see this every day and it inspires us.”