Topic Blog Influencers
“Develop a list of at LEAST three other blogs or Web sites that meaningfully address your topic of interest. For professionals, a blog is often a “hub” for other social media activity occurring around the web. Summarize and evaluate some of the key features of each blog or site using bullet points on your journal blog.
Answer all of the following questions: What kind of problem do these websites/blogs help solve for their audience and/or what needs do they fulfill? What do they do well? What could they improve? Can you identify any gaps in their content or features that a competitor could fill, and how is what you could offer different or better? Look at their social media presence and the comments or interaction they get: Are they cultivating an active community around their site?”
My Topic Blog, TN Liberty, is a forum in which to share information about news, events, politics, and laws concerning our state. All conservative and liberty-minded activists, students, campus and community leaders, and voters, are encouraged to contribute. TN Liberty, is also a location for resources concerning bills up for approval, TN Congressional representative’s contact information, statewide and county events, activism advice, mentorship, and grassroots training, among other issues as needed and requested. TN Liberty serves as an extension of the TN and MS Leadership page on Facebook and may ultimately be followed with a MS Liberty blog. There are contributing writers on topics concerning the Liberty Movement in Tennessee, liberty-minded issues, and various opinion columns.
For this assignment I started by searching for other bloggers who are advancing the liberty movement. I found that many of these sites were highly specialized and a little on the fringe. That is not the type of blog that I want TN Liberty to be. I feel that it should be specialized by pertaining to the state of Tennessee, but it should also contain information about why the Liberty Movement is so important, how our government is violating the Constitution, and what actions a citizen, can take to advocate for Liberty and Freedom.
Next, I found an interesting site that ranked the top libertarian leaning (or liberty-minded so as not to be confused with the Libertarian Party) websites according to Alexa and Compete.
Here I settled on several top ranking and well-known liberty-minded sites to which I could make some comparisons.
They are as follows:
Let’s start with Reason.
- “Reason is the monthly print magazine of ‘free minds and free markets.'”
- “It covers politics, culture, and ideas through a provocative mix of news, analysis, commentary, and reviews.”
- “Reason provides a refreshing alternative to right-wing and left-wing opinion magazines by making a principled case for liberty and individual choice in all areas of human activity.”
- “Reason.com is updated daily with articles and columns on current developments in politics and culture. It also contains the full text of past issues of the print edition of Reason.”
- “Reason and Reason.com are editorially independent publications of the Reason Foundation, a national, non-profit research and educational organization.”
- At first glance, reason.com looks a little messy in terms of visual appearance. A little cluttered and although I understand that this is because the site’s home page is the first stop for ReasonTV, Reason24/7, the Hit & Run Blog, and stories from the printed magazine, as well as the location for Top News Stories (sortable by Featured and New) and a lot of advertisements.
- Reason is financially backed by a national non-profit and thus, has the ability to aggregate thousands of news stories as well as employ a staff of over 50 for the website. However, I believe they could significantly improve their website by maximizing the white space and uncluttering the articles. It could look much cleaner. Once you click on the headings for the different sites within the site, they pages get a bit cleaner and more visually appealing.
- TN Liberty is a more more localized blog/site and will not need to run every single news story and headline that potentially has anything to do with liberty or liberty politics.
- Reason does enjoy a fabulous social media presence with stories and photos shared through their Facebook page and on their Twitter each day. On Twitter, Reason has over 130K followers and on Facebook, over 125K likes.
Next, we examine The Liberty Paper:
- “The Liberty Paper is a web-based news site commentating and reporting on legislation and events, which affect the American peoples’ liberty domestic and abroad.”
- “The Liberty Paper was launched in the summer of 2012, by political commentator and legislative lobbyist, Michael Lotfi.”
- “To date, TheLibertyPaper.org has enjoyed an ever-growing, loyal fan base, which has generated hundreds of thousands of readers in more than 140 countries around the world.”
- TheLibertyPaper.org is updated only semi-regularly with articles and columns on current developments in politics and culture. If you look at the current home page, you will see that the most recent article posted is from January 27th, 2014.
- TheLibertyPaper.org is also riddled with advertisements and donate here boxes. I understand why Michael Lofti would choose to accept advertising and donations – hopefully, someday soon, the TN Liberty blog will also accept advertisements and donations. However, I feel the visual esthetics of the site could be cleaner and the ad placements more controlled.
- TheLibertyPaper.org is run by a friend of mine. He is a recent graduate of Belmont College in Nashville, TN and a well-known activist in the state. However, I have mixed opinions of his work, his self-promotion, and his ability as a journalist. Each story is riddled with grammatical errors to say the least. He was also given a column at the Washington Post. On his first article, there were complications and the post was ultimately removed due to his lack of due diligence and his reporting false information.
- TN Liberty is will certainly provide a more grammatically correct site as well as one that is more visually appealing. However, it will not focus as heavily on National stories and investigative muckracking. I hope to provide a forum in which concerned residents of the state can ask for advice as well as receive news – especially that which is most pertinent to their area.
- TheLibertyPaper.org does have a social media presence with stories and photos shared through their Facebook page and but no Twitter as far as I can find. On Facebook, it has just a little over 4K likes.
Finally, let’s take a look at The Liberty Crier:
- The Liberty Crier – “Breaking political news from the liberty perspective.”
- The Liberty Crier is updated daily with articles and columns on current developments in politics and culture. If you look at the current home page, you will see that the a rotating Top Story Box
- The Liberty Crier is a very visually appealing blog sites with a lot of features. The masthead is clean and displayed prominently.
- Some other interesting aspects that The Liberty Crier features are categories for:
1. Top Headlines
2. Member Blog Posts
3. Documentaries
4. Channels
- The Liberty Crier seems a bit lacking in their social media presence with their Twitter receiving only 1200 followers. Their Facebook page has only 8.9K likes. This seems rather odd to me because it is not being a new website.
- I envision the TN Liberty blog looking closer to this blog/site than any of the others in this review/comparison. I also plan to add a forum for discussions among Tennessee residents and allow for contributing writers as well. The main difference will be that TN Liberty will be localized plus – it will have a much bigger social media presence.
The World According to Robin 
Excellent analysis – I like that you looked at everything from content to visuals to engagement. Also excellent use of screenshots.
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