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Growth International Volunteer Excursions, or GIVE, is a student volunteer organization. My only knowledge of it comes from the website and a brief presentation a student organizer gave in one of my classes.
The blog on their website is very appealing in many respects. There are many photos and occasional videos to break up the text. The blog is also quite user friendly. It’s easy to navigate and read, and you can even filter posts by content.
Despite the positive aspects of GIVE’s blog, it has exceptionally low audience participation in the comments section. Most of the posts have no comments, so it’s clear this blog has not generated as thriving audience.
There are a few elements of this blog which I think may contribute to its low audience engagement.
Each post is written by a different student volunteer who gives a firsthand account of the experience. This is unfortunate because each post has essentially the same content, and reading through the posts becomes quite repetitive. Also, because the author is always changing, the blog’s audience never gets a chance to develop a connection with a particular individual.
The posts are essentially short essays. The paragraphs are a bit lengthy, and there are no lists (the bread and butter of blogging). Because the posts are personal accounts of volunteering with the organization, there is no really compelling information shared, or opinions forwarded.
The posts are not frequent enough or consistent enough to sustain an audience. In December 2013 there was only a single post, but in October of the same year there were 4. Most frequently there are only one or two posts a month, which is not enough to keep users coming back.
There are no links to outside content. Linking is the foundation of blogging. It’s how blogs began, as “web logs” of websites people found interesting. It’s essential to link to outside content that readers will find of value.
Lastly there is no call to action for readers to comment because no questions are asked. A good blogger engages with the reader by asking them a direct question.
How persuasive would this blog be in getting you to volunteer? Do you think an actively participating audience would increase volunteering?
The GIVE Blog
http://www.givevolunteers.org/blog.html
The blog on their website is very appealing in many respects. There are many photos and occasional videos to break up the text. The blog is also quite user friendly. It’s easy to navigate and read, and you can even filter posts by content.
Despite the positive aspects of GIVE’s blog, it has exceptionally low audience participation in the comments section. Most of the posts have no comments, so it’s clear this blog has not generated as thriving audience.
There are a few elements of this blog which I think may contribute to its low audience engagement.
- Each post is by one of the volunteers
- The posts are written like short essays
- Posts are infrequent and inconsistent
- No links
- No questions
Each post is written by a different student volunteer who gives a firsthand account of the experience. This is unfortunate because each post has essentially the same content, and reading through the posts becomes quite repetitive. Also, because the author is always changing, the blog’s audience never gets a chance to develop a connection with a particular individual.
The posts are essentially short essays. The paragraphs are a bit lengthy, and there are no lists (the bread and butter of blogging). Because the posts are personal accounts of volunteering with the organization, there is no really compelling information shared, or opinions forwarded.
The posts are not frequent enough or consistent enough to sustain an audience. In December 2013 there was only a single post, but in October of the same year there were 4. Most frequently there are only one or two posts a month, which is not enough to keep users coming back.
There are no links to outside content. Linking is the foundation of blogging. It’s how blogs began, as “web logs” of websites people found interesting. It’s essential to link to outside content that readers will find of value.
Lastly there is no call to action for readers to comment because no questions are asked. A good blogger engages with the reader by asking them a direct question.
How persuasive would this blog be in getting you to volunteer? Do you think an actively participating audience would increase volunteering?
The GIVE Blog
http://www.givevolunteers.org/blog.html