Picture taken from www.perezhilton.com
I believe there is great potential in social news website, where people can view stories they feel are most interesting and read other peoples comments and leave back their own. An interesting take on such a social news website is the celebrity gossip columnist, Perez Hilton's website. Its interesting how he digs up dirt on celebrities and posts it on his blog, with readers being allowed to add comments, which they are no shortage of. Its all in the name of fun and is often hilarious, yet surprisingly, the website is a good source of up to date and speedy information on celebrity gossip.
I think some of the things he posts, can sometimes go a bit too far, and is just aimed at creating shock. However, you could say this is in line with the trashy celebrity gossip business and that he is satisfying the market.
In some way, Youtube could be another social news websites, since it allows people to post their own videos and you can see how popular a video might be. People search for whatever interests them, and the most talked about news, hot topic or media figure may get the most searches. For example, when Britney Spears did a poor performance on the VH1 Music Awards, I tried to search it on youtube because I missed the show.
Some social news sites may have more integrity and discuss more serious topics, while others are more for entertainment. However, they have provided a useful means of accessing information and provide greater interaction and feedback from readers.
3 comments:
I think Perez Hilton is a great example of a blog that has become a social news media website. If you navigate to the NYPost's Page 6 you can see on the side all the websites they obtain information from and Perez Hilton and Digg are two of the top websites.
I agree whole heartedly about Perez Hilton becoming a great example of social networking and speedy media coverage. Eventhough his news may be created only for shock value but, as most bloggers know, you have to have continuous and current news to keep readers entertained and happy. Otherwise, people will not be very interested in your site.
I agree that both Perez Hilton's blog and Youtube are great examples of social news sites in that they allow the users to post what ever they want to or feel necessary to. That is the nature of social sites and these examples show how simple posts like these can attract many readers and eventually evolve into a huge community of people with common interests and views. Both examples also keep up with current news through their updates of posts and this is what readers want. Readers want to read something that is interesting and that they can agree or even disagree to and they will only come back if the site is constantly bringing the reader back. Overall, these sites may have a purpose in the way they present information, the fact that they keep users coming back is what is important.
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