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Is It Really Worth It To Read Blogs?

 Most people don’t take the time to read blogs in 2024. Social media allows people to share the same content in bite-size pieces with photos and captions, so why read a blog? In a way, blogs pioneered social media and paved the way for many content creators. Blogs were the starting point of expressing yourself on the world-wide web. They can be considerably useful and informative, while some may be encapturing and even difficult to stop reading. There are two blogs we will dissect and compare, The Rolling Stone and E!News. There are vast differences between the two, but they are surprisingly similar. 


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The Rolling Stone is highly rated among blogs, and for a good reason. The authors write about relevant topics in today's society. They discuss politics and the current climate in the election, releases of new music from award-winning artists, popular TV shows and movies, and several other interesting topics with insider details that many people would pay money to read about. It’s relatable, easy to digest and focuses more on facts than opinion. In fact, they require a small subscription fee to access their content. There are options to subscribe to their monthly magazine, or their online blog. E!News is completely free, but the content they publish is subpar and biased to say the least. They mainly spotlight celebrities and their drama, making it extremely unrelatable and not worth reading for most individuals. This would explain their shortcomings in ratings among readers. Another factor in relation to E!News’s lower ratings could be their excessive amount of pop-up advertisements and their lackluster formatting. The landing page of E!News is filled with ads and sponsored messages that follow you around their blog. 


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There is a large featured story, followed by rows of uninteresting and random sub-categories. None of which would really matter to an average person, unless they are obsessed with the Kardashians. On the other hand, The Rolling Stone has a large featured story with a very organized menu bar at the top and a further detailed menu bar listing the subcategories. 


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They keep one constant advertisement at the top that follows the reader down the page, but is very easy to look past and focus on the specific post the reader is viewing. This makes it very easy to navigate their site and access posts that interests the reader. The Rolling Stone has a “tip” box as well, where they welcome suggested topics or critiques of the blog. This is something you will not find on E!News, suggesting they don’t really care for their readers' opinions. 


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The biggest similarity between the two blogs is that they share a mutual goal and purpose when writing; to inform. While their topics and focus are widely different, they both intend to share information with their readers. The authors between both blogs conduct research on a subject and share their findings while including a portion of their expertise and opinion. Both blogs are sure to have experienced and well-versed writers, however in the interest of popularity and relevance, there is a clear winner. After being exposed to many different blogs, these two stand out the most as one is an example of an interesting blog worth reading, and the other is an example of what is not.


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