Somewhere in my interwebs rambling yesterday, I ran into a reference to Gwyneth Paltrow’s “blog” GOOP. I put the word blog in quotes because GOOP’s not a typical blog – readers can subscribe to Ms. Paltrow’s newsletter, but they can’t respond at all to any of the discussion. In my mind, GOOP is more of a web site.
I wanted to like it, I really did – but it just doesn’t work for me. I can’t relate to most of the things Paltrow talks about. I’ve never lived in New York or London. I never took a weekend trip to Paris with my father. And even though I know Martha and Oprah have similar out-of-this-world-to-me experiences, they still manage to make me connect with it and are able to make the experience relavant to me in some way. Most of things she discusses are monetarily out of my reach and just totally out of my realm of experience.
But if GOOP is supposed to be a blog, why isn’t a discussion mechanism in place so readers can participate? The “Be” section had some really good thoughts with responses from the “experts” but readers have no way to respond to what’s being said and that’s what blogging is about isn’t it – interaction between the writer and the reader(s)? Even Oprah and Martha Stewart get the fact letting your readers speak back to you on the Interwebs is necessary.
So gentle readers what are your thoughts on GOOP and blogging in general??
Tags: blogging, GOOP.com, Gwenyth Paltrow, Martha Stewart, Oprah, Reader and Writer Interaction
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