I’ve had some problems in the past with being too critical of others and myself, so I’ve been working at being more tolerant and compassionate. However, when it comes to reviewing blogs one has to put on the cap of the critic and tell the story of how you really think it goes. Thus far on Blogspoke I’ve mainly written quite positive reviews, choosing to steer away from negativity as I feel it usually does no good for the world. Today though, I wish to express my mixed feelings about a certain popular blog written by a movie/TV star named Zach Braff. Check out http://www.zachbraff.com/.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think Braff is quite a good actor. If you don’t know of his name offhand, he was in the popular film ‘Garden State’ (I liked the scene where his Grandma sews him a shirt out of excess material from her new curtains.), and plays a lead role in the TV series ‘Scrubs’ (My Mum watches it every week). The thing is, Zach Braff’s blog is quite popular, and to tell you the truth, I don’t think its popularity has anything to do with blogging.
When you go to Braff’s blog, right away you’re hit by the professional graphic design of his blog’s front page. Whoever designed it knew what they were doing. It’s even got cool little icons that move when you scroll your mouse over them, like an RSS blimp link that floats around and even has a shadow underneath it. Very inventive…but what are blogs about? I thought they were about content. Let’s look at Zach’s writing (I hope he doesn’t mind me talking about him on a first name basis). Well what have we got? Almost nothing. Yet each time he does splash a few words on the page telling readers how he’s sorry he hasn’t written in so long, or simply selling us on his new TV show or movie, he gets 500-1000 comments on each post. Why?
Braff was originally on the A-list at ‘Blogebrity’, that controversial list from a few years back that said ‘who was who’ in the Blogosphere. He currently ranks 2,720 out of over 55 million blogs on Technorati…Why is it so? He’s only posted 6 times (and a couple of them are 2-liners) since September 2006. I think I might’ve figured it out. I read some of the blog’s multitude of comments.
Unlike the ‘Dilbert Blog‘ whose creator Scott Adams-famous for his cartoon character, tells us what he thinks about the world, funny anecdotal stories, and never even mentions his work on the cartoon that made him famous, Braff’s blog seems to simply be a place for fans to tell him how great he is. He says a few lines about how awesome his new show will be, and literally bucket-loads of teenage sweethearts (I am assuming) tell him how much they like it, and how much they admire him. If you’re looking for interesting content and comments relating to it, this is definitely not the place to go.
So, is there anything wrong with this picture? I guess not. There aren’t any real rules to what a blog has to be like-it’s one of the newest forms of work/media/fun/hobby in the world today. No one said that blogs from famous people have to exhibit their personality. I just think it’s cool when they do. It’s nice to see the human face behind the red carpet façade.
Zach Braff may know how to act like a doctor on TV, but does that mean he can act like a blogger too?
Jesse S. Somer hasn’t got much of a pretty face or a fan base. However, the few comments on his blog have been related to the content.
Copyright MiContent.com.au
Read Full Post »
micontent 
Is Zach Braff’s popular blog really a blog at all?
Posted in Biographies and Reviews, Blogging Help, Commenting on Blogs, Why use social media?, tagged A-List bloggers, Australia, Blog comments, Blogebrity, Dilbert Blog, Jesse S. Somer, Melbourne, MiContent, RSS, Scott Adams, Technorati, Website Writer, Zach Braff on February 2, 2007| Leave a Comment »
I’ve had some problems in the past with being too critical of others and myself, so I’ve been working at being more tolerant and compassionate. However, when it comes to reviewing blogs one has to put on the cap of the critic and tell the story of how you really think it goes. Thus far on Blogspoke I’ve mainly written quite positive reviews, choosing to steer away from negativity as I feel it usually does no good for the world. Today though, I wish to express my mixed feelings about a certain popular blog written by a movie/TV star named Zach Braff. Check out http://www.zachbraff.com/.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think Braff is quite a good actor. If you don’t know of his name offhand, he was in the popular film ‘Garden State’ (I liked the scene where his Grandma sews him a shirt out of excess material from her new curtains.), and plays a lead role in the TV series ‘Scrubs’ (My Mum watches it every week). The thing is, Zach Braff’s blog is quite popular, and to tell you the truth, I don’t think its popularity has anything to do with blogging.
When you go to Braff’s blog, right away you’re hit by the professional graphic design of his blog’s front page. Whoever designed it knew what they were doing. It’s even got cool little icons that move when you scroll your mouse over them, like an RSS blimp link that floats around and even has a shadow underneath it. Very inventive…but what are blogs about? I thought they were about content. Let’s look at Zach’s writing (I hope he doesn’t mind me talking about him on a first name basis). Well what have we got? Almost nothing. Yet each time he does splash a few words on the page telling readers how he’s sorry he hasn’t written in so long, or simply selling us on his new TV show or movie, he gets 500-1000 comments on each post. Why?
Braff was originally on the A-list at ‘Blogebrity’, that controversial list from a few years back that said ‘who was who’ in the Blogosphere. He currently ranks 2,720 out of over 55 million blogs on Technorati…Why is it so? He’s only posted 6 times (and a couple of them are 2-liners) since September 2006. I think I might’ve figured it out. I read some of the blog’s multitude of comments.
Unlike the ‘Dilbert Blog‘ whose creator Scott Adams-famous for his cartoon character, tells us what he thinks about the world, funny anecdotal stories, and never even mentions his work on the cartoon that made him famous, Braff’s blog seems to simply be a place for fans to tell him how great he is. He says a few lines about how awesome his new show will be, and literally bucket-loads of teenage sweethearts (I am assuming) tell him how much they like it, and how much they admire him. If you’re looking for interesting content and comments relating to it, this is definitely not the place to go.
So, is there anything wrong with this picture? I guess not. There aren’t any real rules to what a blog has to be like-it’s one of the newest forms of work/media/fun/hobby in the world today. No one said that blogs from famous people have to exhibit their personality. I just think it’s cool when they do. It’s nice to see the human face behind the red carpet façade.
Zach Braff may know how to act like a doctor on TV, but does that mean he can act like a blogger too?
Jesse S. Somer hasn’t got much of a pretty face or a fan base. However, the few comments on his blog have been related to the content.
Copyright MiContent.com.au
Read Full Post »