P5. NYTimes Vs Blogs

So far I have not found too many similarities between the blog I’m following and the New York Times. Every time I look at the NY Times I see pages of political talk, Obama and the deficit talk, and world news about countries in conflict. The blog I follow is quite the opposite. The Healthy Living blog on the Huffington Post is all about how to maintain good health and the science behind food or exercise or certain diseases.

            The main difference between theses two new sources is definitely the audience. The Healthy Living blog is much more specific and has a narrow topic so it attracts readers who are interested in health as well. People don’t just go browsing around the Healthy Living blog looking to stay informed and up to date on important worldwide news stories. However, the New York Times’ audience is much vaster and more diverse. It has more variety to offer, but sometimes you have to search through the entire paper to find a few articles that you find interesting. I agree that the New York Times offers more important and pressing information everyday but unfortunately, that’s not always what I’m looking for when I want to read about the news. For me, it is a lot more difficult to sit down and read articles in the Times rather than the Healthy Living blog.

            Besides personal interest, I find reading blogs easier to reading the newspaper because blogs are written more casually. Newspapers are written so formally and sort of dry; there’s nothing personal, with the exception of the opinion section I suppose. On the other hand, I think of blogs as a personal interaction with the author and reader. Bloggers talk about their won life experiences and opinions in addition to the facts. Reading blogs is just simply more fun!

            I think blogs are a perfect example of what Jeff Jarvis was saying with his new model of the press sphere. Blogs have multiple authors, people can comment on posts, people can check the credibility of references, and click on links that lead them to more information about a certain topic.