CASE STUDY #5: BlogHer
SUMMARY
BlogHer is publishing network that provides a platform for women bloggers to publish their content and a space for women readers to gain exposure to authentic information on issues and topics related to women. It is collaborative effort among a network of women to share their news and engage in dialogue between women online.
The about us section lists the various roles within this blog. You can participate as a writer, reader, viewer, and/or advertiser. To contribute to the site’s content, the creation of a profile is required. It does encourage users to join and contribute to be paid a share of revenue dollars from ads.
There are three co-founders and staff to curate the dialogue and content within the blog. Strong emphasis is placed on following the community guidelines. As it states on the website:
“We have just two rules: We embrace the spirit of civil disagreement, and we decline to publish unacceptable content.”
CRITIQUE/EVALUATION/ANALYSIS
This is a website of interest and related to my project because it captures the real authentic voices of women. I’m not that interested in what mainstream conglomerates have to say except for research purposes. However, my hope is to learn more about what the everyday women wants to know about.
As far as the organization and design, the website could use some improvements in this area. When I first arrived on the website, I was overwhelmed by the amount of information presented to me on the home page—not very user-friendly on my first encounter. In fact, I had to take a glance and them come back due to the amount of information being thrown at me in so many ways. There’s a vast array of tabs at the top, which should be grouped into themed categories so there’s not so many coming at you all at once. There’s busyness going on with the areas toward the side of the page. They are filled with ads, videos, most popular posts, and sometimes videos. It is setup like most social media websites, especially Facebook, where as long as you are signed in you can comment on post in real time.
Even though the website isn’t as glamorous as other women’s communities such as iVillage, the content is more related to the “true” voice of everyday women. It’s the “off the beaten path” source of news for women. For instance one of the articles highlighted under the editor’s pick section is entitled “On Not Being the Perfect Mom”. Whoa! Now that’s a “not-so-pretty-nor-wrapped-in-a-bow” title but it’s the truth and realistic depiction of what women may actually feel at times. There’s definitely a difference in the content between what you would see on BlogHer and iVillage.
This site is very applicable to my project on building an online women’s community. Despite the cluttered design, it’s still a great concept and after viewing the topics, I did identify with some of the content and chose to sign-up but I did have to sleep on this decision first before making it. I especially liked the feminism section.
{She} 