My name is Anne Lucke and I’m a sophomore communication major with a minor in AEM. I’m from Hudson, NY (near Albany). I’m completely addicted to reality television, and if you block the TV during The Hills, we’ll have major problems. I also spend way too much time reading celebrity gossip blogs. I check Perez Hilton, TMZ, D-Listed, and Pink is the New Blog more than a few times a day.
Judging by Perez Hilton’s celebrity status and the fact that TMZ will soon be on TV, I think it is safe to say that I am not alone in my obsession with celebrity gossip. These websites get millions of hits each day and a ton of advertisers on their websites. In fact, celebrity bloggers Mario Lavandeira (Perez Hilton’s real name) and Trent Venegas (Pink is the New Blog) generate enough income to make blogging their full-time job. Although the public’s (and my own) obsession with celebrity gossip goes far beyond the internet and is not very new, the immense popularity of gossip blogs is an entirely new phenomenon.
Gossip blogs may be too new of a phenomenon to have any concrete research on them yet (“blog” is nowhere to be found in the index of Wallace’s book), but this is defiantly a major movement that should not be ignored. I think the best internet environment to place gossip blogs in would be the asynchronous discussion forum. The writer of the blog posts a new topic, and readers can comment on it and reply to other readers’ comments. One could also place gossip blogs in the newsgroup environment, which is very similar to the discussion forum. Gossip blogs bring people with similar interests together, just like other discussion forums, which may be a factor in their success. But I have to go now, tmz.com was just updated!
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3 comments:
Anne, I think the popularity of celebrity gossip blogs is a very interesting topic to bring up. I believe the attraction to these blogs is not only due to the fact that we have free and easy access to them, but also since they are updated at real-time. You mentioned how these websites get millions of hits each day, and from personal experience I know that when exciting celebrity news (Paris Hilton jail fiasco, anyone?) is in the works the same individuals may be more likely to visit the site multiple times a day for the most recent updates. I would be interested in hearing some of the questions that you would like to see answered as this new phenomenon is researched over time. Two questions I would like to see answered are: Why are certain readers more motivated to post comments over others? Does the individual style of these blogs affect whether we classify this information as “news” or “rumors” (e.g. TMZ’s more traditional news article set-up vs. PerezHilton’s pink background and grafittied images)?
Hi Anne,
I really enjoyed reading your blog about celebrity gossip blogs. I find myself on these blogs all the time. Celebrity gossip blogs are definitely a major and current phenomenon on the Internet. I wonder why so many people read these blogs everyday, myself included. I know that I go on these celebrity blogs all the time because they are always up-to-date and more current than the celebrity gossip magazines. I know on PerezHilton there is even music included, something you do not get from a celebrity gossip magazine. I feel like online blogs are taking over celebrity gossip magazines. Along with being more up-to-date, the blogs are free. The blogs are not censored, like magazines, and can say or show information or pictures that magazines cannot publish. Those are some of my personal reasons as to why I go on celebrity gossip blogs all the time!
Hey Anne, seeing as how I suffer from a similar addiction to celebrity gossip blogs, I really enjoyed your post. I think you described the phenomenon and applied it to Wallace’s environments well. Maybe next time you could raise a few questions, just to give those of us reading an idea as to what exactly further interests you in the celebrity gossip blogs.
Personally speaking, I know I check Perez Hilton several times a day because I know I can count on funny commentary on the sordid celebrity stories he dishes. I think this is a major reason for the growing popularity of these celebrity gossip blogs. Rather than just reading Us Weekly or People, which give relatively straight news, there is now this factor of commentary. It’s almost like blogs are taking the place of the trashy tabloids that you’re too embarrassed to buy at the supermarket. Again, great post, and check out justjared.com and popsugar.com!
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