Coming from Detroit, Mitch Albom is a well known name in my household. Even know Albom is very well known; it seems that his name carries more meaning in the state of Michigan. Reading over his blog, livealbom.com, it brings me back home.
There are many things I love about this blog. Albom is an excellent writer. He uses clear, concise writing, that’s really easy to understand. This type of writing is great for web because readers skim-through their articles. Also, he uses short paragraphs. This style of writing is excellent because it keeps the reader interested. Finally, his blog is interactive and uses hyperlinks. This is really great for Albom because he drives a lot of traffic to not only his site MitchAlbom.com, but also other sports related topics he is talking about.
However, I think that the articles could have embedded links. Readers have to search and find the “tags” section of the article to find other links. I believe they would be much better off just embedded. In addition, because the posting are online, there could be a lot more interactivity. Albom needs to give the reader something they cannot get in print (as stated in class).
On the livealbom.com blog, he speaks about “sports, and sports only.” However, he does write about many diverse topics other than just sports, when reporting in the Detroit Free Press. Therefore, he has the other website. Albom says, “If you’re interested in my other stuff, thank you, bless you, but you’re in the wrong place.” Its interesting to see a writer with such passion on a topic. This give me great motivation to find something that I am truly interested in, so that I can feel free to express my opinions about it.
Albom’s blog did not have any comments. This is because he wanted the articles to be the main focus and not the ranting sports fans. I think that this is a great idea. Sports fans have a lot of heart can voice their opinions. Albom has every right to disable to comments (readers are there to read,right?).
Another interesting blog that I have found is the Rozenblog. This is a blog that I found from searching the Morning Sun’s website (blog tab) . This blog caught my eye because it has a lot of really interesting media aspects to it that Albom’s blog did not have.
The Rozenblog has multimedia including photos, video, and even embedded links. These pieces really added something extra to the story and I believe that all online writing pieces should include some kind of multimedia.
This blog also had short paragraphs however the words often get lost because paragraphs are not indented. I think that these sections need to be much clearer and then his writing will be much clearer as well.
Also, another thing that I would change on the Rozenblog is the image/style of the blog. I find that the colors are competing with each other and the reader needs to be focused on the writing and all the work the writer has accomplished and not say to themselves “wow this is difficult to read
Furthermore, the only way that I did see the Rozenblog interacting in comments was by removing a comment. Nevertheless, many comments are not made on these stories.
Finally, if this were my blog, I would make sure that all of the links properly work. This blog does not have an “about me”. However, it does have a link to the CMU faculty page that does not properly work. Therefore, readers do not have any information on this mystery writer.
meganbumgarner 