I can remember coming across my very first issue of CosmoGIRL! on the newsstands in 1999. I was a longtime reader of Seventeen (like most girls, much earlier than age 17!), and being the budding magazine addict that I am, couldn't wait to get my hands on another teen magazine that wasn't J-14 or Twist.

When most kids were begging mom for a candy bar as they sped through the checkout line, I would sneak a magazine into the cart. My mother eventually caught on to my antics and promptly limited my monthly magazine allotment. When it came down to it, CosmoGIRL! consistently trumped Seventeen. Although they both featured similar fashion layouts, lifestyle stories, and girl advice, CG had one power player that no other mag masthead could claim: Atoosa Rubenstein. Everyone - especially preteen girls - loves a good Cinderella story, and reading the editor's letters from a lowly, frizzy-haired fashion assistant who climbed through the ranks and was granted her own girl-powered publication after just six years in the biz was a boost that I looked forward to every month.

When Atoosa left for Seventeen, CosmoGIRL! struggled to define who its target reader was and how to set itself apart from competitors. Seventeen, a staple since the 1940s, has long secured its spot as the go-to teen magazine. Teen Vogue snaps up girls (and youthful-minded women!) who have a passion for fashion. CosmoGIRL! was never quite a little sister to sex-crazed Cosmopolitan, but during the post-Atoosa era, it just wasn't quite the socially-conscious, edgier twin of Seventeen that it once claimed to be.

Interestingly enough, the magazine held its own when the teen mag market was bustling. At one point, between 2001 and 2004, teens were faced with monthly issues from Seventeen, Teen Vogue, Teen People, ELLEgirl, Teen, YM, and CosmoGIRL!. These days, the only two that are still holding on are Teen Vogue and Seventeen.

So what gives? Teens are spending record time in front of their laptops, reading blogs that are tailored to their interests instead of picking up magazines that cover an umbrella of issues. Also, while teens are just as celebrity-obsessed as they were during the launch of Teen People, they now have Us Weekly, InTouch, and Life & Style to satiate that interest (as well as Pink Is The New Blog, Pop Sugar, Go Fug Yourself and Perez Hilton). Seventeen and Teen Vogue will own what's left of the print teen market for now…but this latest closure must be sending shivers down the spines of staffers at both mags.

Fashion Wire Daily has a funny story where the editors go shopping with Seventeen editor-in-chief Atoosa Rubenstein (who is a friend and fan of Ypulse). Atoosa is armed with a long list of the latest beauty products ready for her Sephora scavenger hunt. She also gets to talk about fashion (she's done with Calvin and Prada, on to avant-garde), the difference between the Cosmo Girl reader and the Seventeen reader ("the former is more DIY, trend-driven and outwardly less self-assured, the latter more of a "good girl" who strives to get straight As, be totally put together, do charity work and be independent") and how she manages to juggle her insane schedule.

When I read this, I thought about myself for a moment, blogging in some Old Navy pajama bottoms torn from too many washings and my Urban Fetch t-shirt (remember them?) and wondered how my Fashion Wire Daily feature would read…It would probably take place in the Macy's junior department, with me desperately searching for cheap clothing that makes me look somewhat hip. Esprit no longer speaks to me (it has been discontinued) — now it's XO. Then off to Walgreens to replace my eight month old lipstick that I can no longer scoop out with my pinky finger. We end the story at my favorite nail shop around the corner where very little English is spoken and everyone smiles a lot, and I can get a mani-pedi in a spa chair for $20.

Recently I posted my thoughts about the sale of YM and the spate of recent media coverage proclaiming that magazines aimed at teen girls are in trouble. I asked for comments from Ypulse readers who are working in the teen magazine business and Atoosa Rubenstein, founding editor-in-chief of CosmoGirl and current editor-in-chief of Seventeen responded with some interesting thoughts. Here's what she wrote:

"It's certainly an interesting time to be in teen magazines right now. But not as dire as the press is making it [out to be]. I almost think that it's popular to teen mag bash right now - but that's mostly because it appears that the magazines that have always been the behemoths are down. That's certainly true of YM, but I guess I wanted to let you know that the same is not true of Seventeen (newsstand is up and advertising should follow)…

Yes, communication is changing. Yes, we have more competitors out there (both in the way of other magazines and technology). BUT I still think there's a role that a magazine can play in a teen girl's life. That role is just shifting and I think some of the strategy we're using at Seventeen (focusing on "My Style" as opposed to being "In Style" and also putting diversity front and center in our beauty coverage) will tap into that. It's all about being utilitarian because (obviously!) the days of girls reading magazines because they have nothing else to do are long gone. But again, I think that the people who are saying that only niche magazines are doing well or that girls aren't reading magazines at all are going off of false information."

When Atoosa Rubenstein was the editor in chief at Cosmo Girl, she proposed a religion section and met this response from her fellow editors: "A fashion magazine was no place for God." This strikes me as being very funny. Maybe because I picture it being spoken by some Anna Wintour-in-training anorexic fashionista. Now that Atoosa has moved on the more wholesome Seventeen, her vision is being realized with a new "Faith" section in the bellweather teen mag. The Associate Press reports that Atoosa's vision is in line with current cultural trends:

"In a recent study by Teenage Research Unlimited, a market research firm in Northbrook, Ill., 58 percent of teens ranked faith as among the most important parts of their life."

First we had the whole "Friends With Benefits" cover story in the Sunday Magazine explaining that teens are no longer into dating and prefer hooking up. See my recent post on this one. Now the Times (registration required) profiles a bunch of local teens who are opting out of bringing a date to prom or going stag. No longer relegated to Wallflower status, seems these single gals are heading to the prom with groups of their friends. Seventeen confirms the trend saying 10 percent of Seventeen readers surveyed this year said they planned to go to the prom in groups, up from 7 percent last year. Is it a new bravado? Do these teens just want more options to hook-up with later? Is it easier to dance when your not tied to one date?

The article also featured funny snippet about Seventeen's Atoosa Rubenstein who confessed she was dateless for her senior prom and spent it instead eating ice cream at Carvel. I blogged this before