Module 4

The vanity blog I chose is of my soon to be ex-sister-in-law. I chose her blog because she does such a nice job of keeping up with it and giving information about herself and subjects/topics that interest her.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=9309152&MyToken=5b925ace-bf97-4c35-bad9-58c0ccd003b4


The informative blog I chose is about Houston, TX. This blog provides various information about Houston such as current events and places to eat.
http://htownblogs.com/

These blogs are similar and different in many ways. First, vanity and info blogs give information. The vanity blog gives personal information about the author of the blog and an information blog gives information about a particular subject one may be researching. A vanity blog will most likely be seen by people who are close to the author, but can of course be seen by strangers as well. The information blog will most likely be found by someone who is looking up information on that subject.
They also share the fact that the authors will most likely give their own opinion of what ever topic they are posting. The vanity blog is mainly about their opinion and why, while the information blog is mainly there to provide an opinion so that others can make a decision based on what they read.
These blogs are different in that the sole purpose of their being created is based on two different reasons. The vanity blog is the author putting forth an effort to share personal information about themselves and also post pictures of them and the people in their lives. The information blog is made to give, those in search of, that particular information a view that may not be available by ordinary journalism or for example to give tips on something you must do when you visit a city.
I think that what makes for a good vanity blog depends on who is reading it. I am not going to read vanity blogs that belong to someone I don't know. I think the vanity blog that I provided the link to is a successful vanity blog because it gives information about the author and posts are made regularly on what they are up to.
I believe a good information blog is good when there is an abundance of information and the information is correct.
I give this particular type of journalism a 5 for being in agreement with my original thesis. Again, I feel that any information acquired on any blog should be taken with a grain of salt and much research should be done before believing anything you read on the internet in general.

A blog article I thought I should share

This article was on my yahoo webpage and I thought I should share, it was quite touching.

http://potw.news.yahoo.com/s/potw/49321/the-invisible-war

Module 3

Below is the link to Time Magazines E-zine. I chose this particular e-zine because of it's reliability for current events and news.
http://www.time.com/time/

The following link is the "news" blog I chose.
http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/

I can see a dramatic difference in the e-zine and news blog. The e-zine is more professional looking, while the e-zine tends to be more opinion based. Though, the news blog gives current events and news, it also has the opinion of the blogger along with it.
Being able to post your opinion about current events is great, especially for those who have the same interests and opinions. I, myself, would rely more on the Time website verses the blog. Since they are so opinion based and anyone can post, reliability for a news blog will not compare to known sites as well.
I feel the Time site is a credible source of news and current events with the advantage of being to research past events as well.
They were both fairly easy to find on the Internet. Blogs are everywhere containing any kind of information you can imagine.
I feel my thesis is supported in my findings here as I still do not trust personal blogs without research of my own and in that it is a great opportunity for the "non-journalist" to express their views and opinions. I give it a 5.

The "Real' Module 2

I found an amazing entrepreneurial blog site. This site strongly supports my thesis in that it has reached an outstanding amount of people, I give it a 5. He is selling what he is advertising. I am tempted myself to buy a copy of his manifesto. The quotes left on his site show that his claims are most likely to be accurate. I have left links to his blog and the site at which you can sign up to receive his manifesto and also a site I found interesting as well; it is to a motivational speaker he mentions in one of his blog posts.

http://www.successmanifesto.com/
http://successmanifesto.com/blogs/young-entrepreneur/
http://www.saranokelley.com/beta/clients.php


The about website is a place to find an abundance of information blogging and in particular our subject of entrepreneurs. This is actually the site I found my young entrepreneur, Michael, who I have listed above.
http://entrepreneurs.about.com/b/a/213119.htm

Young entrepreneur.com is a great way to learn more ways to increase your chance of being successful in becoming an entrepreneur. This site offers many ways to stay on top of a new business and one of it's key uses is the us of the interent. "It’s virtually impossible to own a business today and not have a website". I absolutely agree with this statement from this website.
http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/blog/

Of course other options for marketing as an entrepreneur would be using a newspaper or magazine advertisements and also the radio and television. Besides the newspaper, these can be expensive alternitives to blogging and may not even be quite as effective. With blogging or website ownership, you can reach such a vast audience; including people in other countries. Blogging offers a more personal touch and can really show your audience what your individual purpose and goal is.

Research-Module 2

Blogging's Credibility http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2005/10/22/are_blogs_credible_news_sources.htm
Everyone has a different opinion on the credibility of blogging. For instance, for myself, I would of course trust the information on a CNN based blog; as much as one can trust mainstream news sources. The site I chose to do my research on exhibits the same feeling I have on the credibility of blogs.

Effectiveness of Blogs Reaching its Intended Audience
http://www.blogherald.com/2007/09/21/do-blogs-sell/
"The key is to use your blog as a vehicle to attract, inform, and build trust." As stated on this site, to attract and keep, you must build and keep the trust of your readers. As with any published or printed material, unless this happens to be the exact thoughts and opinions of certain readers, no matter how wrong, if it is not 100% accurate; they will find other sources and your blog will no longer have followers. If you can provide correct information, a blog is an excellent source of advertising whatever it is you're selling and has the potential to reach thousands and even millions.

Blogging's Influence on Journalism
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:efJjpX98S8sJ:blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/weblog_journalism.html+blog+affect+on+journalism&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
According to the site I chose to research the impact on journalism, blogging will become an integrated part of journalism. Something mentioned on this site was that blogs allow for a live feed, which is a great advantage of blogging. Like I mentioned earlier, if the information is coming from a "credible" source, I will trust it. If it is someone's opinion, I will take it with a grain of salt.