Introduction to the Blogosphere

Introduction to the Blogosphere

Brien Redmon

COM480: Communication Studies Capstone

Instructor Kathleen Serra

Monday, September 2^nd, 2012

Blogs are created with intention and purpose from the individual who creates that blog. The author will have to encompass the vision of their blog before writing it, and be consistent with the content they post. Overall, good blogs contain a user-friendly layout, consistent topics, and an audience in mind. Bloggers need to appeal to readers through both visual backdrops as well as through text and postings. Functionality also an important thing for a blog, as a blog that cannot be navigated cannot be properly read by others. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the student blogs that have been written and come up with the traits of an effective or visually appealing blog.
            For starters, color coordination is a big way of drawing people into a page because it is aesthetically pleasing to most people. Most of the people here have used a few colors to match the background schemes, but Jeanine Burroughs managed to nail a color scheme that complements her background (Burroughs, 2012). This is good to see in popular blogs as she did not use too many colors but instead used a few shades of the same base color together (Burroughs, 2012). Pictures are helpful as well, but relevance to the story is important (Higbee, 2010). For instance, the picture that was used by Hillary Talks in the story for “Searching for a Career in Communications” conveys a general idea of closeness or connectivity without even reading the post ( Sumnicht, 2012). This is great for people who are more visual than others or sensitive to visual stimuli. While there are benefits to engaging in communication on a visual level, people will also need a well-written story within those blog pages.

Great stories used to be passed down through one great storyteller to another, passing down the knowledge of a culture. Stories are written down in digital space and they occasionally reach the ears of the people or the police depending on who you ask. In blogging, stories and postings need to use proper and readable text, establish if a post is formatted properly, and making sure that the text matches the overall theme of the page itself (Higbee, 2010). Readability means life or death to a blog, because the success of a blog depends on people reading it. No foot traffic would have been stimulated with substandard text coloration.  The other issue of proper text is because people have a tendency to use overly complicated or over the top alphabet font design. Fancy designs could work for titles or other large font items, but the overall detail of the font might get lost in translation when reading small print. Posting format is also important because it also affects readability. A sudden font change can take a person out of an article, and it looks sloppy on the part of the blogger.

However blogging a learning experience for all those involved in the activity of writing words for other people to read. Throughout the time we are actually have been actively blogging, we have learned a lot about creating a format that makes information easily accessible to other readers. Eugene Harrell had a blog that had a simplistic, no frills layout that was functional but did not draw in his readers very well. He has since added a background picture and adding a two-tone scheme to make his blog more colorful and appealing to the eye (Harrell, 2012). Denise had some issues with different text and colors but she has managed to find a font and reformat her pages (Waldrep, 2012). Her blog looks great and has a color scheme that is consistent. Emily’s layout has remained much the same, but her layout is great and there wasn’t really anything that needed to be changed (Marrs, 2011). My classmates also offered me some great advice as to how I can improve my own blog, and I have made sure to take all of their critiques seriously.

When going through the comments on my blog, a student mentioned that the background is monochromatic and didn’t have enough color. While I did like the picture, I did recognize that it was too black and white. Therefore, I changed the picture to one that incorporates a little more color and also shifted some of the color schemes as well. I’ve also learned that it is important to use visuals as well because they can help convey the message that a post is trying to relay. There are still some technical issues that need to be fixed at the time of writing this paper, but they should be corrected by the time this is reviewed. There were areas of assignments that were posted on the blog that became unformatted and changed text. Also, there are some assignments that I did not upload to the blog. In addition, I posted an additional posting that was not clearly marked as a creative piece of fiction. I have since posted a short introduction to the piece of writing. All of this feedback has made me a better blogger, and considering the popularity of blogging it is both a useful and essential skill for a writer to acquire.

In closing, blogging is not just a tool for writers, but also a tool people from all walks of life can use to express themselves. The wide variety of blogs featured in this course demonstrated the versatility of the communication platform, being used from anywhere from advice to social outlets. Blogs are something that can be used by anyone at any age to speak about any subject. From experts to enthusiasts, as long as you have an internet connection and an interest in a topic, you can create a blog that will entertain, inform, or just wow people. The important thing to remember is to make it readable and accessible to your target audience. As long as you have a blog containing a user-friendly layout, consistent topics, and an audience in mind, you are sure to have a successful blog. Practicing, research, and stepping outside of your own comfort zone will make your blog a great place that people will want to spend time and await your next post with anticipation.

References

Burroughs, J. (2012, August 13). One diva's point of view... Retrieved from http://onedivaspointofview.blogspot.com/

Harrell, E. (2012, August 14). Writer's block. Retrieved from http://permecaecivident.blogspot.com/

Higbee, T. (2010, December 17). 26 blog design tips for non-techies and non-designers. Retrieved from http://thebacklight.com/blog-design-tips-for-non-designers/

Sumnicht, H. (2012, August 19). Hilary talks. Retrieved from http://www.hilarytalks.blogspot.com/

Waldrep, D. (2012, August 13). 118 degrees: Hot tips on communication. Retrieved from http://hottalkfromthedesert.blogspot.com/