We've had a very interesting first week of the online portion of our Multimedia Skills class. The best part? I now comb back through some of my favorite blogs with the most critical eye. Here are some of my favorites and what I think they're doing right, as well as some critiques of what I think they are doing wrong.
Perezhilton.com--Perez definitely gets to put a check in the "personality" box. But as far as valid information goes, Perez Hilton has retracted statements about celebrities like it's his job. It's blogs like these that keep bloggers from reaching full credibility as a good news source.
The Trend Report on WhoWhatWear.com--Ok, so it may not be deep-rooted discussion of political theory, but as far as fashion blogs go, The Trend Report keeps readers in the know about style. They lack a lot of engaging multimedia, though--it's mostly just pictures and text. If they threw some fashion show footage in there, they'd be golden.
Huffington Post--All bow down to the mighty Arianna! Owner of the Huffington Post Arianna Huffington, pictured above, has helped revolutionize online journalism. I feel like much of the reason why Huffington Post rocks needs no explanation, but among my favorite things about HuffPo is it's New York Post-esque headlines, the variety of bloggers, and it's unity in layout and design. But beginning blog readers beware: information overload is imminent.
I totally agree about the Huffington Post. During my first semester at AU in Fall 2008, I was fortunate enough to have an internship at the washingtonpost.com. I distinctly remember attending a meeting where we analyzed "our competitors" sites, to see what forms of multimedia they use to try and get a better feel for the way in which we could make our own site better. One of the sites we looked at was the Huffington Post. This opened my eyes and showed me how much of an influence blogs do have on the online journalism community. The Washington Post noticed how successful the Huffington Post was and treated it like they would treat any other credible online journalism website. This act showed me how much blogs do matter in online journalism, and was my first glimpse into the evolution of the industry.
ReplyDeletePerez is surely not the most credible source, however, he sometimes breaks the new celeb scandals before the mainstream media can get to the story. Entertainment TV and magazines even use Perez as the source for some of their news coverage!
ReplyDeletePerez's personality and "outrageousness" is what keeps you and I coming back for more, even though we know that his information may not be completely accurate. But hey, there those times that the outrageous posts just happen to true! LOL
Sometimes I find strong personalities to be a turn-off for blogs. If the personality is too extreme, it can often get in the way of the message of the post. At the same time, a good style or personality can appeal to people and bring people back to the blog. It's about finding a balance, and it can be hard to do.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the "shock value-factor" over-powering the material on the site for Perez Hilton. I've never read his blog and actually didn't know who he was for a while. But I've heard on Twitter that he just says thinks with no factual backing. It is tough when personal web-logs are all under the umbrella term "blogs" regardless of credibility and actual content.
ReplyDeleteI would be very curious to know how traffic to Hilton's site has changed over time in relation to his credibility. Have people stopped coming to him, or is his personality and outrageousness sufficient to continue to drive readership? If the latter, is that a race to unsustainability?
ReplyDeleteIt definitely has a negative cascading effect on other sites, too. But, I suspect that is coming to an end as new generations of readers can more intelligently discern these differences and don't apply them wholesale to all blogs.