Blogs I follow/analysis
The first blog that I chose was for Comic Book Resources or CBR.com as it’s known online. Even though these could be consider as news pieces more so than blogs, I think their greatest strength is that it is maintained by multiple writers that work together to break news on the same industry. As a result of the multiple writers a greater scope and more coverage of stories is afforded, which allows CBR.com to deal with not just news regarding the physical books, but also the various other outlets of media the material is showcased in. Although the blogs through feedly don’t allow for user interaction, comments can be posted on the official website and upon visiting said website there is a visible flow in the posts, allowing the user to see far more on a single page. Comic fans are a generally loyal fanbase who tend to appreciate information offered on the subject and generally encourages new readers/viewers to get involved which allows CBR to appeal to both demographics of comics fans by including the aforementioned multimedia news coverage.
The second blog I chose was Bleacher Report. Bleacher Report deals in sports news and doesn’t discriminate in the sports it talks about or the issues surrounding them. Although predominately a news outlet the articles do have a degree of freedom for personal expression from the writers. In addition to this input the site encourages user polls to get people involved, thus transforming what could be ordinary sports writing into a community discussion with the writer presenting arguments and facts to get people invested. This connection is furthered through the use of comments and social media posting, which allows the writers and readers to share control of how the news is interpreted and shared. All of this combines to create a very human experience, one that makes the writers and readers feel like equals, with the access to raw details truly separating them.
The final blog I chose was Extra Punctuation from The Escapist Magazine and by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw. This blog is a companion piece to Croshaw’s weekly video series “Zero Punctuation” a show where Croshaw reviews video games (mostly new sometimes old). Extra Punctuation offers a more in-depth and serious analysis to issue in the video game industry (as opposed to Zero Punctuation’s more humorous tone). Croshaw has a reputation for being bluntly honest with his viewers to the point of nit-picking, but he is always opened to differing opinions. His ability to openly speak to the audience whilst introspecting has made him enduring to many gamers, and when his opinion comes out it’s often something he might be challenged on, but won’t bend. His forum is intelligent, provokes thought and encourages user input which are all marks of a great blog, and having be a companion piece to a popular video series of a similar nature has allowed Croshaw to have a firmly established audience who aware of his views and personality and how it compares to their own, creating an opportunity for more natural discourse.
Links:
CBR: http://feedly.com/i/subscription/feed/http://www.comicbookresources.com/feed.php?feed=all or http://www.cbr.com
Bleacher Report: http://feedly.com/i/subscription/feed/http://bleacherreport.com/articles/feed or http://bleacherreport.com/
Extra Punctuation: http://feedly.com/i/subscription/feed/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/rss/articles/columns/extra-punctuation or http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/extra-punctuation
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