As a follow-up to last week’s post on the scrutinizing of celebrity’s weight and skin tone on entertainment blogs, which were discussed by Lewis and Martinez (2008), I decided to visit three sites (excluding PerezHilton.com) which their research mentioned: http://socialitelife.com/, www.thesuperficial.com, and www.dlisted.com. I had never heard of these blogs before, so I was interested to compare my own opinions to those of the researchers.
According to Lewis and Martinez (2008), “A Socialite's Life (www.socialitelife.buzznet.com) debuted in August 2003 and is updated every weekday. The site is a ‘blend of gossip, Hollywood, fashion, entertainment, media, and snarky comments that leaves readers wanting more.’ According to their site, the site averages over 3,000,000 visitors a month, and over 9,000,000 page views a month.” Visiting the site for the first time, one of the first posts that caught my attention was the notification of the recent revamping of the site: Welcome To The New SocialiteLife.com! The blog claims to have undergone a complete makeover. One of the criticisms Lewis and Martinez had made about the site was the lack of room for counter-arguments. However, now the site says, “We’ve also improved our comments system so you’ll be able to chime in, trash talk or defend any of the people we hold up for ridicule on these here pages… With our new look comes a new perspective from our editors as well, looking to really give you more diverse content and being able to offer you certain features (and snark) that you can only get with Socialite Life.”
Pulling up the second gossip site, TheSuperficial.com, the format, content and advertisements look all too familiar. This site also claims the title of the “leading celebrity gossip blog” and “the perfect place to reach a massive audience of the culturally obsessed” (http://www.thesuperficial.com/advertise). Lewis and Martinez (2008) say that, “Generally, the topical subjects of the content in these gossip blogs has appeared to mirror that of print gossip magazines, namely and among other things the emphasis on fashion trends, relationship break-ups, celebrities’ cosmetic surgery (both suspected and confirmed), movie or television spoilers, and beauty ideals as they are embodied by celebrities.” I agree with this statement, as the majority of content I read focuses around these subjects.
And yet a third popular gossip site, Dlisted.co, includes the following legal disclaimer:
“Dlisted.com contains published rumors, speculation, assumptions, opinions as well as factual information. Information on this site may or may not be true and not meant to be taken as fact. Dlisted.com makes no warranty as to the validity of any claims.”
This statement is the site’s attempt to avoid any litigation issues that may arise. According to Lewis and Martinez (2008), “Most of these sites manage to avoid litigation because stars, their primary subject of interest, tend to be reluctant to take small-scale sites to court over rumors mainly because court action guarantees more publicity.” However, for sites such as PerezHilton.com, the title of “the world’s most popular gossip site” has come along with the pressures of legal scrutiny.
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