Before I began using a blog, I decided to create a business Instagram, and started to upload #100daysofmakep, were I acquired some online presence. Then I had the opportunity to take PUB101, and I was not expecting to create a blog when Suzanne announced that we were allowed to use any topic, my head was spinning, and I was thinking of the topic that I could talk about. But I decided to write about something that I am passionate about, makeup. As Jesse Thorn enlist, the best way to success is to follow your passion, and it becomes thriving, and you enjoy it.
At the beginning I disagree with the topic I chose, I
felt ashamed of it, especially after the speed date, I liked the topic that other
of my peers chose, so I started to doubt my decision until I read an
observation that Stephanie made about my blog “own it.” Since then I started to
fall in love with my topic again, and then it when I decided to create a
different path on my website, I wanted to create a blog where I address makeup
differently from my social media, I wanted to create a space where I encouraged
people to learn about makeup and be critical about the products that they consume.
When I started to write, I felt like my writing could influence someone to discover why am I passionate about makeup. As a communication student, I must write long argumentative papers about any topic that may be a concern to society, but I felt like my writing was a “waste product (Glass, 2015),” as those papers are not going to be available to the public. I always liked discussion and influence perspectives from my readers, Erin Glass encourage students to create a voice to unleash to the public, and that is the reason I create the section “Storytelling,” this space is to create awareness of consumer choices or a critique to influencers. And it feels empowering to be able to educate and have a conversation with people.
Looking at Google Analytics and see how my audience behaves was strange and new for me. In the beginning, I thought that my audience was going to be mostly feminine and at the age of 15-30. But checking into my statistics, it showed something I was not expecting, I have a more male audience with 54% of views, and most of their hobbies include sports and nature. After learning this new data, I decided that I had to make some editorial changes. These changes include writing style and image incorporation.
I had to be aware of my writing style because I tend to be short but not explanatory enough. So I decided to be as throughout possible. Some of my peer reviews mentioned that the information posted on my blog was clear and concise, as Keveren and Eric reviewed my blog and mentioned that the information helped them understand what makeup is. But I receive some critics from them; they recommended me to use more images, as it could help a more visual topic greatly. So, after I decided that I cannot create a blog only based on text, Hossein Derakhshan, in the article “The Web We Have to Say,” he concerns that users prefer to read less, and images/videos are more important to capture an audience. And that was something I missed on my post at the beginning; so after looking for photos, but then I had another concern, copyright. Going into lecture and listening to Jon Festiger talking about citing and giving credit to the authors and what content can be used and what content we cannot use. After that, I incorporated a lot of images but always giving credit to the author and linking the website/author that I took the picture from.
In summary, creating my website and being responsible for maintaining it was a tiresome project, but in the end, I must say that was an enjoyable experience. I am proud of the content of my website, especially my storytelling section, because I can have a conversation with my readers and share information that could be helpful and remind them to be more critical about the products that they consume. After reading Jesse Thorne’s article, I came to realize that it is the importance of being proud of your passion and share it with the world. Reading Hossein Derakhshan, I realize that we must keep this form of art alive and encourage more people to write and join into this community. And after taking PUB 101, I realize the impact that we create within the online world, and I have decided to keep on writing and updating my blog until I get tired or my subscription expires.
Derakhashan, H. (2015, July 14) The Web We Have to
Save. Retrieved from https://medium.com/matter/the-web-we-have-to-save-2eb1fe15a426.
Glass, E. (2015, December 11) Why we
need Social Paper. Retrieved from https://commons.gc.cuny.edu/papers/45249/.
Thorn, J. (2012, April 11) Make your
thing: 12 point program for absolutely, positively 1000% no-fail guaranteed
success. Retrieved from https://transom.org/2012/jesse-thorn-make-your-thing/.
