Vanity vs. Information Blogs

Continuing my research in blogs this week I had to find an informative blog and a vanity blog. Veganism has become a passion of mine, so again I used this subject as the nature of the blogs I would find.
For my informative blog I found an interesting piece on beandiet.blogspot.com from a vegan nutritionist. The author Bronwyn Scheigert discussed a recent study about osteoporosis. Apparently calcium deficiency does not cause osteoporosis, unlike what has been commonly believed. A study was done on post menopausal nuns who were both vegan and non vegan. Although the vegan women consumed a very small amount of calcium daily, the meat eating women who had much higher levels of calcium and protein had a more likely chance to develop osteoporosis. There was also no difference between the bone density of the two. The author concluded that minimizing the intake of meat and replacing it with plant protein is better for your bones. I found this fascinating considering it disproves most peoples common beliefs about calcium.
My second blog was pretty much a biography of a vegan man and his lifestyle. This was on thenaughtyvegan.com. It discussed the history of Jeff Rogers vegan lifestyle , his health, and how he made a difference in the vegan world. He promotes veganism and has created many food ideas and creations to make the lifestyle more appealing. This man wants people to experience the extraordinary health benefits of living this lifestyle.
It seems that blogging absolutely supports both types of journalism for many reasons. Their easy to read, easy to find, and they come from a more personal perspective. Although the informative blog looked like it could have very easily been in a nutrition magazine, it also offered the option of comments and input from readers which print media does not.The vanity blog seemed like something unlikely to b in any kind of print journalism. This strongly suppots my thesis with a 5.

Entreupreneur Blogs

The entreupreneur blog I found was by Tom Szaky in the Eco-Caplitalist(bloginc.com/ecocapitalist). He discussed methods of going green and how much people are willing to pay to go green. He concluded that while most sources claim that most people are willing to green regardless of cost, Tom Szaky has found this to not be true. He feels that people do not want to pay extra to go green, which can be a problem. Mr. Szaky is the CEO of TerraCycle which is a company that takes donated recyclable items and turns them into goods to sell. People get paid for the wrappers, boxes, bottles,cell phones and whatever else possible and these products are turned into products such as bags, folders, and boxes that contain gardening suppliess, all-natural cleaners, etc. Tom Szaky feels that you can drive the most profit out of business by breaking the typical business model by doing business of environmentally and socially responsible means.

I found an interesting source discussing the ways that blogging can be good for business. This source was on USAtoday.com. Rhonda Abhrams explains that in the 21st century blogging is the way to go to promote your business, big business and small business alike. She comes up with many strategies for both types of businesses. For big businesses she explains that blogging can be good way to give readers more insight into the business adding comments that wouldn't fit onto a normal page. She also explains that for small businesses that blogging can be a way to have quick free website to promote business. The convenience of blogging is that they are so easy and it helps create stronger more personal relationships with customers.

The second source I found was on a PR Communications website. (http/pr.typepad.com). A marketer John Cass explains the benefits of blogging for business. He explains that blogging is a less formal and a more open way to communicate with customers, and that the rapid easy format makes it very easy to publish large amounts of content on different pages. The convenience of blogs is the greatest point that John Cass makes.

Other forms of business promotion would include advertisements, articles, and websites that do not include blogs. It seems that in certain ways blogs can do so much more than the other business promotions listed because blogs have the ability to interconnect businesses and customers on a personal level, and can be reached to so may people on a broad spectrum. I absolutely feel that blogs are a good alternative to these methods because we are living in an increasingly digital world where businesses can thrive online, and blogging is a great way to reach out to customers and get feedback, unlike traditional ads. This strongly supports my thesis with a rating of 5 because of the point I made about blogging being the way of the future.

Ezines and Blogging

  This week I had to compare and contrast an ezine to a current events blog. The ezine I found was Veg- News, which is a vegan magazine that includes everything you need to know about vegan culture. From food to awareness to fashion, this ezine is all about veganism and how to live the vegan lifestyle. Being a vegan myself I found this to be very interesting and useful. It seemed very credible with validity and good sources. Many of the articles were vegan recipes and current events and news surrounding milestones in the vegan world. This ezine was very positive and didn't really discuss sad news surrounding slaughter or animal abuse. It just promoted the health and humanity of a vegan life.

I found a very interesting blog of the same nature discussing veganism. Although this was a more opinionated type blog with no real sources it was very well written. This blog discussed if using humane strategies for slaughter animals is really good enough for the animals, or if it still promoted animal cruelty. This person explained that some vegans feel that a black and white approach is the only way to go; being that you are either vegan or an animal cruelty supporter. The author also mentioned that having a black and white mentality can make you unpopular with many people. Because this was more of an opinion blog it wasn't entirely credible, however it did discuss some of the governments current actions in making factory farming more humane, which is really happening.

Overall I was impressed with both of my findings. They were both easy to find and easy to read. The ezine was probably more credible and trustworthy over the blog, although I still found the blog very interesting.I feel that a printed source would not necessarily be better or more credible than an ezine, because it was like the same thing. For the subject matter of veganism which has become more and more popular, seems to be way easier to access information about online than in print. This supports my thesis with a big 5, becauseof the fact that I could research way more information about veganism online through ezines and blogs much more than print media.

Online Newspaper Articles and News Blogs

In my research this week I had to compare a news blog and a news related online newspaper article and compare and contrast the two. The news blog I found did not have an authors name, but certainly sounded like it was coming from a reporter. The blog looked and sounded exactly like a regular newspaper article. The title was "Obama Administration Defends Pick for Ambassador to Iraq from GOP Critics". This blog discussed Obama's choice in picking Christopher Hill for Ambassador of Iraq, and the backlash of scrutiny from the republicans. This blog seemed to have come from a true journalist, and looked good enough to be on the front cover of a newspaper. The reporter or "blogger" didn't seem to have any bias in his writing either.

The online newspaper article I found came from the LA times. This article discussed President Obama's first trip to Southern California since becoming President. Micheal Muskal wrote this article entitled "Obama to Visit Southern California this Week". It was informative in explaining the events that are taking place while President Obama is visiting this week. One of the many appearances he will be making is on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and the article explained how people could try to get tickets.

I did not find very many differences in the content of the online newspaper article and the blog. they were both well written and informative, without any biased points of view. The only slight difference I found was that the blog was nationwide and the newspaper was only for Los Angeles. Both seemed very credible.

 I feel that a good news blog would be exactly like the one I read. No bias and very informative, with obvious credibility. A good online newspaper would also be like he one I read, informative with reports on events and pictures to help support the article.

In my previous blog I stated that it would be a good idea for print media to start utilizing blogs as a way to keep readers. Judging by my comparisons of the two articles, it looks like the media is already headed in that direction; writing blogs by true journalists s articles. I think that I could rate this as a 3 or a 4, because the research I did was relatively neutral to my original thesis. However, I think 4 would be better because it probably leans more towards the point I made before.

Has Blogging Affected the Media and Print Industry?

  My name is April MacPherson and I am a psychology student at College of the Canyons. I am blogging today to do a research assignment on what else, blogging! Blogging has become an increasingly popular tool to the masses for many reasons. Some people like to express opinions or feelings through personal blogs. Others use blogs to report certain issues or world affaires. This new trend has interconnected people on a more advanced level of social networking and could be having a major impact on media as we know it.

This leads me to the question of whether or not blogging can be a credible source of information. Many might believe that blogging is just as effective or credible as opening up your daily newspaper, or even tuning into news programs on television. According to wikipedia , "Some institutions see blogging as a way of getting around the filter" which means that blogging can be a more direct way of reporting information. Others fear that blogs are not a credible aspect of the media. While opinions differ, it is known that many journalists have started to utilize blogging instead of going through the print industry. 

   Is blogging effective? According to problogger.net "good writing is good writing" and composing a good blog brings in the readers. Our society has become very digital in the last several years and we have seen more and more often people turning on their computers to read the news or do everyday necessities like paying bills or booking hotels (anything, you name it).

 Furthermore, how much has blogging affected the media? It seems that blogging has in fact been a reason that the media industry is declining. According to onlinejournalismblog.com

blogging has not only affected the media itself, it has also had an impact on journalists careers.Many journalists have claimed that blogging has provided a great deal of opportunity for them, as well as a certain amount of freedom.  This has caused many journalists to lean more towards blogs than print media. Overall it really seems like blogging is taking the media by storm.

In my opinion I really do believe that blogging will become a regular aspect of the media as it continuously gains popularity. Being a college student, I'm always doing research online looking for articles to aid me in writing papers and if blogs become a valuable source it would make life much easier!