Let’s Get Personal: 3 Things I’ve Learned from Entertainment Blogging (So Far)

Finally writing on here again! It feels good to be back.
photo cred.: strawberrydrapes

At this point, I should stop making apologies before every post I make. This blog hasn’t been regularly updated as I had originally intended. Instead of apologizing, let’s make a deal: for every week that goes by that I DON’T make a blog post, I’m going to force myself to listen to five songs that I do not share an inkling of joy or respect for. I’ll post them on my Twitter if you want regular updates on my song torture. Now I can officially stop apologizing!

For this post, I wanted to talk in-depth about my experiences with blogging about the entertainment industry. Though I’m still very new to it, I feel that I’ve already learned so much. For the past month, I’ve been interning for a Korean entertainment news blog. For the sake of integrity, let’s refer to this website as “Kpop Newz”. My experiences with writing for Kpop Newz differ greatly from writing for this personal blog. Partly because it’s news-based, but also because its audience is considerably larger than The Gossip Mob’s. These experiences may be similar to blogging about other industries, so this post might be interesting for you. If not, well at least you might enjoy the pictures I put in my posts.

Like I've said before, I've got a whole file folder full of just reaction gifs.

3 THINGS I'VE LEARNED FROM ENTERTAINMENT BLOGGING (SO FAR)

1. Do not underestimate the power of listicles.

photo cred.: newszou

Listicles: can’t live with them, can’t live without them. In fact, you’re reading one right now! For some reason, they are incredibly polarizing. There are people who absolutely would not click on a link if the title suggests it's a list. They think listicles are a disease brought upon us by the BuzzFeed overlords, dumbing us down and turning us into dull, hive-minded drones. If you believe that, I’ll let you in on a not-so-secret secret: listicles have been around for a while—pretty much ever since magazine editors and bloggers realized that not enough people were actually reading their articles unless they were filled with eye candy. Journalists needed a way to make their content even more easily-digestible so that people will read them. “List + pictures = keeping one’s attention” is a tried and true formula that works…and one that I obviously use often. There’s a reason why the slang term “TL;DR” exists, folks.

What's a blog on the internet without a cat meme?
photo cred.: tldrsocial

Listicles have changed the way we publish content online whether we like it or not. One article I wrote for Kpop Newz was adapted from an existing article about a young, enterprising woman who designs and runs her own hanbok business. It was basically a wall of text with just one picture as the header. The editors saw this and decided to search images of the designer’s hanboks to insert between paragraphs. Who the heck wants to read a wall of text on the internet anyways?

This is what I try to avoid.
photo cred.: gameinformer

Sure, a lot of listicles can be very clickbait-y and filled to the brim with gifs from Mean Girls. But they can also be seen as an easy way to organize your arguments in what could otherwise be a long-winded, school essay-like article. Speaking of school, I wouldn’t be surprised if media-centric university courses today are making students write listicles for assignments. So before you knock them, try writing one for yourself. You’ll realize it takes a lot more planning and effort than you might've thought.

2. Sometimes you have to write something for the sake of writing something.

This also accurately shows how I feel after going on a Netflix binge.
photo cred.: We Write Together!

I never really ran into this issue when writing for this blog. This is my personal blog and I write at my own pace. Sometimes I’ll go months without writing on here, but I’m able to do that because I don’t have a dedicated audience that’s patiently waiting for every new post I make (I also don't make any money from this blog). Writing for Kpop Newz, however, is an entirely different story. At Kpop Newz, an article is supposed to be published at least once every half hour. Any longer than that and it's a slow news day, which means more opportunities wasted for money to be made (clicking articles = ad $$$). And though it’s a news-based blog, there are only so many newsworthy things happening every day. The writers at Kpop Newz are expected to write an average of about 6 articles during their designated hours on any given work day (and that's on a good day. I'm usually only able to get in 3-4 articles a day).

I feel you, Scott.
photo cred.: imgur

However, I and many other interns who aren’t fluent in Korean, need to find something to write about when there aren’t enough news topics that don’t require translation (e.g. music video teasers and releases, magazine pictorials, English content in general, etc.). A lot of the time we turn to (surprise!) writing amusing listicles (e.g. “5 Annoying Kdrama Clichés”) or reposting Instagram photos from kpop idols (e.g. “Suzy Posts a Gorgeous Selfie”).

I'll give you a hint as to where I'm interning at: it's not where I took this screenshot from.
photo cred.: allkpop

It’s not the most intellectually-stimulating kind of writing you’ll ever do, but our audience really seems to enjoy this kind of stuff. And hey, someone has to do it. If you’ve ever read Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami, he explains this well through the protagonist who makes a living by writing restaurant reviews for a magazine. The protagonist describes his work as “shoveling snow. You know, cultural snow.” Shoveling snow isn’t the most desired job out there, but there’s a need for it and, again, someone has to do it.

3. The comments section is a never-ending battlefield.

photo cred.: kaseyswords3

We all know this already, especially if you regularly frequent websites like YouTube and The Huffington Post. Going into this internship, I understood that my articles would reach a larger, more opinionated audience than this blog would (Kpop Newz’s 2 million Facebook followers versus my 800 Facebook friends—about 10-20 of whom read The Gossip Mob). What I didn’t know prior to interning for Kpop Newz was that no matter how innocent the article/listicle is, there is always going to be some sort of complaint about it. I’ll list a few examples that are obviously in jest, but adapted from the kind of comments I usually see on Kpop Newz’s Facebook page:

“This list sucks! [insert kpop idol] isn’t even on it!”

"I didn't even read the article yet, but I'm already misinterpreting the title and header image!"

“[insert kpop group] is better than this group, even though this article doesn’t concern them!”

“Everything you write about is so stupid. I don’t care about lists or Instagram pictures, I want REAL news!”

“All you write about are idols from [insert entertainment agency]. You’re so [insert entertainment agency]-biased!”

“[insert slut-shaming comment]” <-These are seen on nearly EVERY article written about a girl group or soloist.

How I imagine internet trolls when they type. Also, this is a fantastic anime.
photo cred.: vaguehope

I’m not going to point out the flaws in the arguments for these types of comments because that would require an entirely different article (maybe for the future?). The reason why I posted them is to show that you will never win in the comments section. People will find new things to complain about to stir up some drama. Don’t ever join in on these arguments to try and defend your work because it’ll go right over their heads. If you see a particularly vitriolic comment on an article you’ve written, RESIST TEMPTATION OF HITTING THE “Reply” BUTTON! DO. NOT. PRESS. THAT. BUTTON.

Better yet, just don't bother reading those comments at all.
(You'll thank me later after following this Twitter.)
photo cred.: AvoidComments

Instead, close that tab and do something else that will take your mind off of it. Make a cup of tea, take a short walk outside, do something that does not involve feeding into the negativity of the comments section. And I’m no saint, I’ve engaged in a few online wars that were completely unnecessary and regretted every single one. I never came out of them and felt like I’ve “won” or “learned something”. I’ve only ever felt a lingering feeling of annoyance that goes away when I realize I should care about more worthwhile problems.

...first world problems, that is.
photo cred.: qfcdesign

What’s disappointing about the nature of comments sections is that they hold so much wasted potential. They present the opportunity to be a place where constructive criticism can be relayed to the authors and discussions can be held (discussions that aren't laden with sophomoric insults and death threats). Unfortunately, you’ll never find a comments section like that on even the most “intelligent” website. Every industry has their fair share of internet trolls.

Aww, he looks so thoughtful about what he should comment on next.
photo cred.: Mashable

Thanks again to those who not only clicked on this, but also read the whole thing. Kudos to you! Despite what I said about item #3, I truly appreciate any sort of response my writing gets—whether it’s positive or negative, it’s still comforting to know that someone out there reads this blog. And like I said, I also appreciate any sort of constructive criticism because I’m still learning. Though if you’re just an internet troll, well, you already know my feelings towards your kind.

If you must reply to internet trolls, don't reply with carefully thought-out words.
Just Google "kpop buing buing gif" and reply with one of those.