Blog Assignment #1: Distinguishing the Good from the Bad

On the internet, there are no boundaries to what one can write. Individuals create and consume information in vast amounts. One can seek out almost anything he or she desires through a simple Google search.  Any viewpoint, attitude, perspective can be expressed through the internet regardless of the subject matter.  Furthermore, online writing, as opposed to a physical newspaper article is more likely to be shared with individuals, whether it is through email, instant messaging platforms such as AIM or MSN or social network websites such as Facebook or Twitter. Thus, online writing and print content are not necessarily held to the same standards. It is not uncommon to see a Facebook "like" or "retweet" button at the end of a article or image.

   In an article titled How You Will Change The World With Social Networking the blogger, Deb addresses several topics that may be considered somewhat unconventional.  'Ambient awareness’ is a term utilized to signify the acknowledgement and comprehension of another individual's thought processes, personality and in essence, life, without necessarily ever meeting him or her in person. An example of this is the blog postsecret.com in which an individual creates a home-made postcard with a relevant image or artwork along with a secret that has never been shared with anyone. The individual remains anonymous and every Sunday, a new batch of postcards are uploaded to the site, for all postsecret.com viewers to see. The objective of this site is to lessen or relieve individuals of shame, embarrassment, or guilt associated with a long-kept secret without being judged. As a result, site-goers can discover they are not the only one with a painful or unusual secret and perhaps even harbor a similar one. This site creates a community, people who are aware of each other and more importantly, should not feel alone. The initial article suggests that online content is good when it is meaningful in significance, a line from the article that exemplifies this notion is "But having real people tell authentic, meaningful stories can infect us, and spark entire movements."  Online content that can be argued as not particularly noteworthy is this Cosmopolitan dating article which provides one-dimensional and superficial information that may or may not be helpful.  With the title of "Are you Dating the Right Guys?' it may draw young females for a mere five minutes.

            To move on to a more technical side of online content writing, according to How to Create Compelling Content that Ranks Well in Search Engines , searching is a major activity in internet users.  In searching, there lies a drive in the part of the in the part of the user. Connecting content to Google is simply one the most efficient methods to grain traffic. A perfect example of this is Monster.com. Google searches with phrases such as "Job hunting websites" "career finding sites" and "find a job" offer monster as part of the first five results. Utilizing Google on a daily basis, more often than not, I neglect to go beyond the initial page of a Google research. Monster.com's prevalent position in a search illustrates clear usage of "ranking" which the article states as essential to the basics of a search engine.  An example of a online content that is not particularly good is NowThatsTrailer.com. While not all celebrity gossip is presented in a wholly refined manner, this site can be considered on the lower end of gossip sites. It focuses on female celebrities and their flaws in a crude approach.  The content is not very reader-friendly and presents information in a somewhat mishmash layout.