Jeremy Unit 1 Project

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In the modern day where information can be easily obtained, it has become more difficult to stand out from the crowd and make a name for yourself. Anyone can create a blog or website and post about anything, causing the industry to become over saturated with less reputable sources. Kotaku, a gaming blog, has prevailed in this competitive market by using credible sources and enticing their audience to come back for more. This reputation develops through the authors and the community that views the blog. Kotaku remains as the favorite source for all things gaming by providing the reader with quick articles and interesting topic points. Through clarity, significance, and fairness, the authors of Kotaku create an immersive blog that fills people in on news and other relevant topics their audience enjoys.

Kotaku uses clarity to simplify the processes of finding articles to read and making the reader feel comfortable while visiting the site. Kotaku’s interface provides users with a very plain simplistic site that focuses on their articles not ads or other distractions. For example, the entire background remains simplistic with a white shade while the post have large interesting titles with gifs or images with life and color. By designing the website like this, Kotaku makes the reader feel comfortable while viewing the site. The white shade adds to the reader’s sense of comfort and allows the reader to focus on the articles without worry about painful color schemes or annoying ads. By having a clean website, the reader’s attention will only be on the article and allows the reader to get the most out of each post. Another example for how Kotaku uses clarity to emphasize their post lies in how they show their posts. Kotaku only allows a title, an image, and about two sentences from each post to clutter up the home page. Because of this, the blog simplifies the searching process to find posts that interest people. It causes more people to enjoy their time on the blog because they skip the posts they do not like and quickly find posts that interest them. This strategy clearly shows the audience that the blog cares about multiple topics but specializes in the areas that people want to see. Because of Kotaku’s clarity, the blog has a simple interface that welcomes users into the world of Kotaku.

Kotaku continues to engage their audience by focusing on the significance of the topic to their audience. For example, Kotaku’s layout has two main categories, large posts and small posts. The larger posts contain a large picture with a bold title and multiple sentences of text underneath; however, the smaller posts contain a tiny picture and can fit in-between two large posts. By doing two types of posts, Kotaku chooses which topics more people care about in their audience. Kotaku usually chooses large announcements and updates on huge title releases for the large posts, while small indie games, game updates, and sales usually take up the smaller posts. The audience subconsciously recognizes the larger topics as more significant and most likely will click on those posts first. Another example of significance happens when Kotaku updates their blog. For example, Kotaku posts around eight posts a day that contribute to creating a community of discussion centering on each topic. By providing the community with relevant news on a consistent basis, one could easily lose hours of their days looking and discussing articles with the active community. The constant flow of significant information encourages the community to discuss topics and create relationships with the authors and the audience. Kotaku current strategy of bridging gaps between fan bases and news has create a melting pot for people to come together and grow.

Lastly, Kotaku creates an immersive blog through fairness and unbiased reports. For example, Kotaku usually posts about news and other reports without poisoning the well for the readers. By giving an unbiased opinion, Kotaku encourages the audience to make up their own mind about whether they should like something. Since Kotaku’s post stress fairness, the audience feels respected by the authors. Kotaku’s unbiased posts influence individual thought and critical thinking among their audience. Another example of fairness throughout Kotaku’s posts is the ability to comment on each post. By giving the audience the right to voice their opinion on each posts, Kotaku encourages everyone to get involved and discuss what they think about the posts. The comment section builds a community waiting to discuss and debate about each post. Through Kotaku’s community, Kotaku has built a place for great people to make friends and converse with people with similar interests. With the ability to reply to each post, everyone can take part in the community boosting Kotaku’s audience and credibility. A community cannot grow if they lack the ability to interact with the authors. Kotaku’s influence through community has pushed Kotaku into the forefront of game news outlets and has positioned itself for greater success.

Clearly, Kotaku provides readers with a great example of how a news blog should be written. Kotaku’s uses of clarity to reinforce comfort and simplicity, help new and old readers get comfortable with the website. The uses of pictures also makes the readers interested in clicking on articles and reading more. By having a simplistic website with significant unbiased posts, Kotaku has become a loud voice in the world of gaming news. This blog has influenced companies and has been a safe place for fans to communicate with the media. In conclusion, Kotaku uses clarity, significance, and fairness to create an immersive community where gamers can receive news and debate with fellow fans.