It was the best of sites, it was the worst of sites

...it was the age of information, it was the age of foolishly waiting until the due date to complete my first ever Internet and Society Blog Assignment on good and bad web content. I was happy to see that the readings required by Professor Herman did not result in a epoch of constant "dictionary" use like the one that almost began in my lame attempt to mimic Dickens' writing style.

However, I believe that Deanna Zandt and Brian Clark would agree that the fact that their writing is quickly understood when read by a 19 year old American student is only part of what could make it successful web content. Both "Claremont McKenna College: How you will change the world with social networking" and "How to Create Compelling Content That Ranks Well in Search Engines," emphasize the importance of using web content to share a message with a desired audience.

Zandt's article focuses on politics and social networking. She seems most interested in creating virtual communities where like minded people can band together and submit compelling content for publication. I believe that the article would indicate that the TvTropes community is successful because it affects the way users view and discover many forms of media and its contributors and readers are diverse yet mostly belonging to similar demographics.

Clark's writing, clearly published in an effort to peddle his SEO writing software, focuses on search engine ranking, which is determined by user traffic, existence of popular search engine terms and citations in other blogs. I believe this article would indicate that Perez Hilton is successful because his site is amongst the most visited on the internet and it updates often with entries that include popular topics and breaking celebrity news that people will want to share and research. He cites and is cited in a great number of high traffic gossip sites.

Zandt's reference to print media columnist/ gay rights advocate Dan Savage's internet work and Clark's focus on Google's ranking formula gives me reason to suspect that both writers are familiar with the practice of Google Bombing. Click here to a example of Google Bombing relevant to the 2012 Republican Primary! Although it doesn't suit the tone of either writing, its important to remember that successful internet content can be deceptive, untrue, risque and hilarious.

Both http://www.deannazandt.com/presentations/claremont-mckenna-college-how-you-will-change-the-world-with-social-networking/ and http://scribeseo.com/downloads/How-to-Create-Compelling-Content.pdf are examples of successful web content because they discuss internet and society and are relevant to the interests of 20 bloggers who are in a "Internet and Society" class. I navigated from the links in my syllabus through other pages on the Deana Zandt and Scribes websites in the hopes of learning more about the writers. My classmates and I are also required to share our feelings about what we read with the world wide web.

I was reminded that while it should always attempt to engage viewers, good content is both publication platform specific and audience specific. A single strong tweet might not have what it takes to draw a blog following or guide someone through a flash video game.

I was also reminded that there will always be employable experts in web technologies like Deanna Zandt and Brian Clark. If I were attempting a major web campaign, it would make sense to hire someone. The virtual world has reached a point where it can yield real currency and real change.

Does new media make old media a less effective messenger? Is it possible for a web content to be weak simply because it is models itself off of a old media, like a historic novel? I ran a google search for "A Tale of Two Citys." The top ranked google search is Sparknotes, followed by Wikipedia, Cliffnotes and several booksellers and free public book archives. The Project Gutenberg site for "A Tale of Two Cities " is unattractive and not remotely as versitle as the Sparknotes No Fear Literature Edition but it serves its purpose in freely hosting a public domain novel in a variety of formats for easy access. Neither site has much in terms of user interactivity. These simple sites should be considered weak internet content and yet I do not wish to view them that way.

Although it is does not seem much like Revolutionary France or Victorian England, the period of the world wide web seems much like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.