Review of Mashable

I had heard of the site Mashable  previously, but never really looked around long enough on it before. I surely would have gone down the route of thinking about it relating to Web 2.0. Now that I’ve been introduced to the points of the subject, I think it is a great example! Information is shared on various social media platforms and is aggregated how the site owner sees fit. Not only is it jam packed with articles and external links, but you can customize your experience for future browsing.

You’re able to follow specific topics of interests or authors to see more of the things you like. There is a small bar on every post to show how popular a post is. The more shares according to the time it was posted, the higher it will show up on the site's feed, which separates articles as new, rising, and hot. You are also given the opportunity to sign up for a daily e-mail, which contains content tailored to your preferences. Whether you are always on the look out for trending stories, social media guides, or just general information and opinion on a number of subjects, you should have no trouble finding something of interest here.

Further interaction is encouraged through commenting on the articles provided, but you are forced to connect through a Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google+ account, which may be the biggest negative factor about this site. Not everyone will want to connect either of these accounts just to interact on a story, which means the site could be losing out on valuable opinions.  This could be somewhat of a dilemma when it comes to children using the site as well. With the growth of social media and the increase of lower aged users, privacy and security may become a problem, as connected users can easily interact with each other publicly and privately. As with any internet browsing, we can only hope that children using such a site will be monitored by guardians.

One great feature to mention is the job board area of the site. Here you can build a resume, search for jobs, and sign up for alerts that meet your preferences. There are some pretty big name company’s listed as well. It was interesting to see both domestic, as well as international job listings. While this portion of the site does not have nearly as many job listings as actual job searching websites, there are close to 200 to browse.

I do have to note, the frequency in which the site refreshes its information is very frequent - about every 15 seconds, which can be a bother. The ads get replaced each time. They are not always even close to being the same size, which can alter the position of things you may be browsing on the main page. 

Overall, even though there are a couple of things that didn't appeal to me, I think it is a great interactive site to spend time on. I think perhaps I might stumble back to it in the future. The articles may not be professionally written, but they don't have the same tabloid type feel to them, as similar sites are loaded with. 

Source of post: Mashable. (2016). Mashable. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/