First off, I would like to start off with my apology that this Peer Review #3 is posted late. I have been fighting a throat, ear, and skull infection the past 2 weeks. It has been hard to stay awake and focus on school work but I am here now for Amanda’s peer review!
Amanda’s home page is very welcoming. The title “Amanda’s Adventures” with the pale pink background and photo collage adds a beautiful start to the adventure we are about to have on her blog.
As she writes in a personal journal style, I believe her intended audience would be friends, family, classmates, and people who generally like to follow along with others lives and lear new things. Like me!
Audrey Watters states: “Having one’s own domain means that students have much more say over what they present to the world, in terms of their public profiles, professional portfolios, and digital identities. Students have control over the look and feel of their own sites, including what’s shared publicly.” (Watters, 2015).
This quote reflects with Amanda as she envisions her audience. Amanda is presenting her true authentic self through her posts and creating a digital identity that her viewers will see. She shares personal stories that can resonate with others.
Amanda definitely does not have the “You Don’t Know Me” effect in “The Online Disinhibition” John Suler describes. Amanda makes it clear who she is to her audience and opens herself up to them.
Some of Amanda’s tags include “adventure”, “democratic”, “awareness”, and “SFU.” These are great navigations when exploring her blog and finding exactly what we may be looking for.
This was all I have learned based on her home page alone. So let’s dive into her pages!
Her about me is also very welcoming as she lets her audience know she is an English major and potential REM minor. This relates back to my review of how her audience may potentially be other students looking for others to go through this journey of university.
A few of her hobbies include reading, writing, and listening to music and she also emphasis’ her passion to travel. These could reach a wider audience as the travel community is huge and people of all age groups are interested in music and reading.
“Follow me on my journey as I experience the ordinary, extraordinary and everything in between.”
I clicked on her article “Reflecting on a Year Gone By” and felt connected to her passion for travel. This feels like a true travel journal and could be marketed as such.
Her article “Girls Night Out!” and “Why Tuesday’s Are My Favourite Day” are so wholesome and reminded me a lot of what my former blog was all about and the adventures my friends and I had in the 11th and 12th grade. The simpler times, before university took over our lives.
I believe her marketing to her audience would include, as mentioned earlier, people interested in more personal and travel posts. If she posts pictures on her Instagram relating to her traveling posts, I feel she could get a lot of traffic from there!
She linked her Instagram and icons below to find her on social media and e-mail which helps when connecting to her audience.
I noticed through her loading page, the pink and purple stripe that sways back and forth, occasionally caused pages to load slower on a mobile device. Using the lab computers worked fine! I believe this was made with Elementor and potentially can be the cause; which is common. Overall, it adds a cute and friendly look! Just potentially changing something in terms of loading speed could help but that is only a minor critique.
Overall, my general impression of Amanda’s blog is that it reminded me a lot of why I started writing. I have to admit, I have been in a very big creative block lately and have not felt inspired to write. This blog was like a breath of fresh air and I cannot wait to continue reading in the future! And fangirl over Ariana Grande together!
♡♡♡
Audrey Watters. 2015. “The Web We Need to Give to Students.” https://medium.com/bright/the-web-we-need-to-give-students-311d97713713#.4d7j8rs6x
Suler, John. 2004. “The Online Disinhibition Effect.” Available from: Cyberpsychology & behavior 7.3 (2004): 321-326. http://truecenterpublishing.com/psycyber/disinhibit.html
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