In high school I used to know a guy named Jesse who had a blog. He was very proud of it. He told everyone he met about it. We were all expected to read his daily journal and comment on the inane activities of his every day. If I read one sappy, poorly constructed and nonsensical "poem" I read them all. His jokes weren't funny, his writing wasn't creative and his news was boring. Of course I never told him this, but he left me with a lasting hatred of blogs and a reluctance to consider that reading them might be a worthwhile use of my time.
Before this class Jesse's blog was the only exposure I had to the medium. I hate to admit this after spending weeks in class learning about the new frontier of online journalism and the bloggers who are pushing forward journalistic progress, or rather pushing something, but I have never heard of gawker.com and I could not come up with the name of a single A-list blogger, even under threat of being pounded over the head with a laptop.
I spent some time reading through the postings on gawker.com and all the blogs that it linked to, like Wonkette, Defamer, and Lifehacker in an attempt to decipher exactly what I takes to become an A-list blogger. The subjects of posts were varied. On Gawker, I read about Peter Braunstein, a suspected stalker and physical assailant, and immediately moved on to a posting about pulling a prank on Lindsey Lohan. Every time I look at blogs I can't help but wonder who actually reads these postings regularly. The only blogs that I look at regularly are those of my J-694 classmates. I will admit that I did find some of the things I read on Gawker.com interesting, but nothing I saw would draw me back as a regular reader. Most of the information I learned on the site I would have gleaned from other sources eventually, and all the rest I didn't care about anyway.
From what I have read, it seems to me that a casual but professional writing style, the ability to find unique and timely information or viewpoints, humor, a willingness to explore topics that might not be discussed in traditional news outlets, and the ability to post varied and random information of interest are essential components to the success of A-list bloggers. In order to stay an A-list blogger I think it is probably essential to stay on top of technological innovations, pop-culture shifts, politics and breaking news. It is a constant struggle to remain relevant to readers' lives and offer unique perspectives.
To their credit, none of the blogs that I looked at featured nonsensical poems, attempts at philosophical ramblings about the meaning of life, or rants and tirades. That is a few thousand steps above Jesse. That earns an -€˜A' on my list.
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