For my capstone class, we're covering blogs. So here I am, on the ole' platform sharing my voice. This time it's for an assignment though. We were asked to evaluate three blogs that cover topics in which we're interested. I chose to cover Provo Insider, Mashable and Love Taza because I like them and they are different in format and content.
Here's what we're supposed to evaluate:
- The blog's biggest strength
- How the blog plays to that strength
- How the blog builds community through interaction with readers and links to other blogs/sources
- The biggest strength of Provo Insider is its hometown feel and relatability. Because it's run by Provo's mayor, John Curtis, there's a sense of transparency and a human factor. Some mayors remain behind a wall where it seems no one really knows their true character. While a blog doesn't instantly verify someone's goodwill, it does give a peek into their lives, their priorities and their interests. And it's easy to see from this blog that the interest is Provo. As a Provo resident, this is something I like to see and the reason I keep coming back.
- The blog plays to this strength by semi-regularly posting about all things Provo. It posts about what's happening in the community and Provo in the news, and it does citizen outreach. Through these types of posts, readers can see a hometown feel and love of Provo.
- The blog interacts with the community by encouraging participation through polls, comments and likes. The mayor also responds to comments. This gem made me smile:
And the blog does a weekly feature called Provo on Instagram where the mayor will gather images from Instagram that use the hashtag #Provo or #ProvoRocks. He then creates a post that features user-submitted images, making users part of the blog and community. 
- I would say Mashable's strength is its immediacy and connection to a younger generation. It portrays itself on the cutting edge of everything and aware of the next big thing before it happens.
- The website plays to this strength through formatting. It's front page has three main sections labeled, "What's hot," "The next big thing" and "The new stuff." Things that are hot, new and big are all going to draw in people attracted to knowing everything that is "in" or happening right now. The site also publishes in very plain view the number of shares the story has and uses the visual graph "Mashable Velocity" to show how quickly the story is being shared online.
- There are very few comments, even on stories that are doing well, making me think the interactivity isn't very strong even though the readers like the content. They do, however, utilize the publishing and online community by linking to lots of other sources and directing their readers to other content.
- I think this blog's biggest strength is definitely design, with content coming in second. The writing isn't necessarily the most compelling and definitely not the most thorough, but it's the bite-sized bits of human interest that make this blog successful. The seemingly perfect life of Naomi & Co. brings readers back. Oh, and giveaways.
- I think Love Taza plays to these strengths by regularly posting content that is visually appealing and interesting. Naomi will often post about what she did to keep her children entertained this week or what's happening in New York right now. The posts are always beautiful and engaging.
- I'm sure the reason this blog went from one girl's musing to the Internet to a full-blown business is community interaction. Readers fell in love with the Davies' life and wanted to be a part of it in some way. In the comments readers will address Naomi by name, knowing there's a chance she'll actually read the comment, and there are always plenty of likes. The blog also utilizes giveaways as incentives to peak reader involvement and advertise a product.
