Practice Blog Entry

What Are Blogs?

Image Source: Melotti Media      

     Based on the Oxford definition, "a blog is a regularly updated web page, typically run by an individual or a small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style." 

...yawn

     But what makes an article a blog? How many times have I visited someone's and not even realized it? And how am I supposed to go about creating my very own blog from scratch, and still have time left for any of my other classes??

     As it turns out, blogs are quite simple and can take as little or as much time as one wants to invest in them. For this practice entry, I have chosen to analyze two popular websites' articles and gain inspiration that would help me to be successful in the forthcoming project of creating my very own blog. The challenge I willingly accepted, as I sifted through the many examples I was provided, was to set aside my own personal biases and opinions on what good content is, and accept that they are all professionally written blogs that are clearly supported by devoted audiences. 

Let's start with the likes:

    Out of the many examples I was provided, the one that stuck out as something I should strive towards was Cosmopolitan. They have a clear understanding of who their audience is, which I would assume to be Gen-Z, liberal, and feminine. Every blog I read was written in a casual yet professional format, with the authors' voices still shining through. The pages are all very well organized and highly engaging. Even though the topics are not of particular interest to me, I was quickly able to understand what a casual/ professional blog looks like.

    A perfect example of what caught my attention is this article which assumes that the person reading will inherently know what "ICYMI" and "IRL" are abbreviations for. Personally, I had to think for a moment about those, but I only fit one of the criteria of their apparent demographic. I am also a bit ashamed to admit, but I thought the topic of the post was about a championship hockey game. 

    Overall, I liked the author's strong voice and organizational skills. They seemed incredibly relatable and I can appreciate that they take their blog appropriately serious for the intended reader. Something I have learned by reading through a few articles on Cosmopolitan's website is that I should dive deeper into who I expect my intended audience to be in my forthcoming blog posts.

Now for the dislikes:

   

    

    I don't necessarily think this is a bad blog. I actually had fun reading a few of their articles; it has a lot of elements that I found engaging. They seem to know their target audience is people who enjoy hip-hop and already have some prior knowledge of most of the subjects they post about. The reason I am choosing to focus on Hot New Hip-Hop for the things I dislike is because I don't think it follows the guidelines for an English 101 blog project. Most of their pages are poorly organized, the images they use are far too large for the scale of the blog, and the information presented does not give the author a relatable tone.

    The post that checks off all of my no-no boxes is this song review and artist interview. The first two paragraphs start off strong, with a well-written analysis of an artist's new single. Beyond which, all of the information was very surface level. The interview did not live up to what was mentioned in the title, and the article itself was underwhelming. I felt as though the actual information in the blog was overshadowed by the graphics, which shifted my focus away from the original purpose of the post, the artist's new release.

    While there are many interesting and fun posts on this blog, it is not representative of the vision I have for my own blog project. I will be taking into consideration how excessive use of images and videos can draw the attention away from my writing, and ensure that my titles are accurate descriptions for what my blog post is about.

What have I learned?

Image Source: Coraline (2009 Film)

    At first I found the blog project to be overwhelming and impossible. But as I researched and studied the blogs I mentioned above, I started to realize that blogs are not just casual travel updates or recipes that have lengthy prologues before finally giving the ingredients you need. Blogs can be anything you want them to be, and I have actually read more blogs on the internet than I realized. This assignment has particularly helped me to feel more confident in my ability to adapt. I look forward to sharing my knowledge and perspectives while writing on my own personal page. Being clear with my purpose, audience, and organization will be a major focus for me this semester, and I know that with practice, these skills will become second nature.