Friday, October 24, 2014

Blogging Best Practices

The Huffington Post is a website that I visit each day.  I have the site book marked on my laptop and have the mobile app installed on my iPad and iPhone.  I guess the site would be considered a hybrid site because it has news information and also a considerable number of blogs as well.  When I started to view this site it was for news only.  I originally thought The Huffington Post was great because it gives headlines of major stories and links to the stories but it also provides a quick read feature, which is a synopsis of the story, so with limited time a person can catch up on a great deal of news.  I never used the site at first for the blog feature because at that point in time I was not really into reading blogs.  Overtime that has changed for me, now I read the blogs on the site more and scan the news headlines quick for any late-breaking news.

The Huffington Post categorizes the blogs and provides a bio on the author so the reader can get a feel for where the person stands politically and what angle they are approaching their post from.   Every subject is covered from politics, to food, to religion and even issues that students are facing on college campuses these days.  In other words the blogs on this site tend to be all inclusive of any and all issues a reader may be interested in.  The Huffington Post is smart with how and whom they choose to blog on their site.  It is not a traditional blog as I previously mentioned.  An author contributes work for their blog and if it is deemed worthy and credible it will be published on the site.  It takes some bloggers years of submitting work to be published on the site for the first time.   After a writer proves him or her self they tend to become a regular blogger on the site.  Many celebrities post blogs regularly including Alec Baldwin, certain political figures and other popular media journalists, which draws a reader in simply by who is writing the blog post. 

To me the blog portion of the Huffington Post is great because it covers every popular topic happening in the world today.  I can view each blog post, decide if I like the writer and the content and choose to read that writer’s posts in the future or not.  It also saves me time because I can read ten different blog posts on various topics and not have to skip from site to site to read the posts.   If I take a particular interest in a writer’s blog I can fan it in order to receive updates when the writer blogs again and allows me the ability to comment and provide feedback on the blog, which allows the blog to become interactive between reader and writer.  This is something that shows the true credibility of a writer, allowing the reader to provide feedback and comments.  Writer’s who do not give this option on their blogs makes me question their credibility.  In order to write on the Huffington Post this is a must for the writer.  

The fact that The Huffington Post takes the time to vet it's blog writers and makes them accept feedback from the readers are two of the best journalistic practices I think a site can choose to enforce.  Overall for me the ease, convenience and topics covered are what makes The Huffington Post amongst my most popular blog sites that I visit each day.  I do not have a lot of free time to indulge in blogs that often but when I do this site is my first choice each and every time.
   

1 comment:

  1. Hello Betsy,

    I think the Huff Post is a great site and I also visit it everyday as well. You talk about how they give a bio about the authors on their site. I feel this is very important and helps the reader to understand the background of the writer. That is truly a great practice of any good blog. Great post this week. Also here is the link to the blog a reviewed this week. http://www.everywhereist.com

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