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Blogosphere Trends + Thoroughness in Blogging

Posted By Kimberly Turner 27th of June 2010 Miscellaneous Blog Tips 0 Comments

This column is written by Kimberly Turner from Regator (a great tool that gathers and organizes the world’s best blog posts). – Darren

Thanks, as always, for stopping in for our weekly list of the ten most blogged-about stories, provided by Regator. This week, we’ll use posts about these hot topics to discuss thoroughness in blogging. “Thoroughness” can be a vague term, so I’ll define a thorough post as a post that tells the reader what they would want to know about a given topic and does not leave them with unanswered questions. Let’s take a look at some great examples:

  1. World CupFlavorwire’s “First Person: Scenes from England’s World Cup Fever” uses thirteen photos and accompanying text to paint a vivid and complete portrait of England’s World Cup fever.
  2. iPhone 4 ­– In “Word on TheStreet is that you shouldn’t buy an iPhone 4,” TUAW does a point-by-point rebuttal of a post from TheStreet.com. Posts or articles you disagree with can be a rich source of inspiration, just be sure to adequately address the points made in the original during the course of your rebuttal post.
  3. Stanley McChrystal – In “What Gen. McChrystal should have known about Rolling Stone’s reporter going in,” Slate’s Press Box blog spends more than 1,000 words elaborating on why McChrystal should not have agreed to take part in the Rolling Stone profile then adds a level of completeness by providing a dissenting opinion and asks readers to discuss the issue.
  4. Father’s Day – You need not be reporting on news to provide a thorough post. Miche G. Hill’s “My Dad: A Father’s Day Story” uses personal anecdotes and experiences to build a connection between her readers and her late father.
  5. Gulf of Mexico – Many blogs were quick to put up posts indicating that a federal judge had blocked Obama’s proposed drilling moratorium, but “Judge Strikes Down Obama’s Offshore Drilling Ban” from Treehugger went a step further by providing quotes from the judicial opinion and the White House press secretary, speculation on why the judgment was made, and a link to supporting documents. Providing these extra elements requires research, but the time spent is likely to strengthen your post and increase your credibility.
  6. Toy Story 3 – While many other posts on Toy Story 3 mentioned the tear-inducing nature of the film as part of a broader review, Cinematical’s “Why Does Pixar Make Growing Up Feel So Bad?” focuses in on that particular aspect of the blockbuster. If a topic seems too large to cover in a thorough manner, consider honing in on one particular aspect and covering that aspect well.
  7. Supreme Court – Like number 5 above, SLOG’s “R-71 Case: Supreme Court Rules Petitions Can Be Released” demonstrates that it is built upon solid research and was not just dashed off in haste.
  8. Miley CyrusSpeakeasy’s “Miley Cyrus’ ‘Can’t Be Tamed’: Review Revue” combines reviews from various sources to create a one-stop post for those interested in how this pop star’s latest album is being received. Pulling together information from various sources can be helpful to your readers—so long as you also provide them with ample original content.
  9. WimbledonThe Guardian’s “Wimbledon 2010 Live Blog: 23 June” may be one of the best examples of thoroughness ever to grace the Blogosphere. When Xan Brooks was assigned to the seemingly enjoyable task of live blogging Wimbledon, he almost certainly never expected the longest match in the history of tennis. Although he was, by the end of the 11+ hour match, rambling about zombie players and hearses, the champion never gave up.
  10. Kevin Rudd – Rather than simply linking to Kevin Rudd’s farewell speech video, Jack Marx’s “Kevin – too human, too late” analysed it, commenting on everything from the former Prime Minister’s eye contact and body language to the reaction of his son during the video.

Do you think about the thoroughness of the posts you write? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Kimberly Turner is a cofounder of Regator.com and Regator for iPhone as well as an award-winning print journalist. You can find her on Twitter @kimber_regator.

Comments
  1. Hello Kimberly.

    Thanks for sharing this because this topic is very close to my heart. When I’m creating/editing blog posts I try to make sure they provide a complete solution and the readers are not left hanging in a limbo. If there are multiple outcomes I try to cover them too.

    Thoroughness is very important, and this what differentiates you from non-serious bloggers.

    ~~ Sarah ~~

  2. Speaking of the Iphone 4,
    A great topic to discuss would be the debate on whether or not the glitches are as bad as some people say.

    The word is that when you hold your Iphone 4, your hand blocks the antennae and because of this, there are a lot of dropped calls.

    Apparently it was just a poor desgin, haha.

    CJ

  3. I hope this isn’t too far off topic, but I’d really like to learn more about Regator and how it can be of use to novice bloggers.

  4. I figured you would see the iPhone 4 up there. Glad to know though the upgrade is available for my iPod touch to run multiple apps simultaneously.

    I am sure many of us as well are enjoying the great world cup action that is going on, especially if YOU are a US fan. :-)

  5. Kimberly, always appreciate your weekly segment. Looks like the oil spill has lost a little steam, but will probably continue to be a headline for some time to come.

    Cheers!

  6. You forgot Shrek 4.

  7. Talking about World cup, it’s very hot these days, add that the US has lost!!!!

  8. Really interesting post. Great examples of content! Plus it really gives me something to think about when it comes to blogging on days when I don’t have anything to blog about.

  9. Yes, in try to do this as well. I recently wrote a post about Toy Story 3 and provided a differrent angle–I interviewed the Green Army Men about the movie.

  10. thanks goodness only one celeb was in the top 10! Hadn’t heard of Regator will be checking it out.

  11. Thanks for the weekly list of blogged about topics! It’s a terrific idea and gives us an opportunity to read about what others are writing about.
    Father’s Day was definitely a hot topic and the New York Times had a slew of fantastic pieces on the subject. I wrote about that topic and enjoyed reading other blog posts on same.
    I agree that thoroughness is a valuable factor in blogging; a clear overview of the topic at hand and the thrust of our position are important. Sometimes in a blog, an angle rather than the whole enchilada is covered and that’s fine too…Asking questions helps open the topic to the audience… :-)
    Here’s to a great week ahead!
    Cheers,
    Eliz

  12. Good stuff! But a little nit: It’s “homing in on,” not “honing it.” Honing is what you do to a knife to sharpen it.

  13. Reading this post, remind me of something on twitter called “trending topic”. I think we can use that too as our blogging inspiration. :)

  14. vjack, I’d love to tell you more about Regator but I don’t want to clutter up the comments with what could be construed as self-promotion. Drop me an email at kturner at the domain regator dot com and we’ll chat.

    Joshua, Thanks! Unfortunately, I doubt the oil spill (or posts about it) will be going away any time soon.

    Funkidivsgirl.com, That sounds like an interesting approach. Thanks for sharing!

    Linda, Thanks. Hope you enjoy it.

    Jean, Oopsie. Thanks for that.

  15. Thank you for sharing this, because this issue is very close to my heart. When I am creating / editing blog to try to ensure that they provide a complete and readers are not left hanging in limbo. If there are multiple results, try to cover too much.

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