Celebrity Gossip Sites, A Brand War

This brand war is on celebrity gossip sites. Ah, the guilty pleasures so many of us succumb to.

Those poor celebs.

Anyway, here are the contenders because they’ve been the most frequent gossip sites I’ve visited in the past few years: X17online, Perez Hilton, I’m Not Obsessed, and TMZ.com. Who needs tabloid magazines when these sites are much more up to date!

X17Online

X17Online has been around for quite some time because I’ve been going to their site since at least 2005. I enjoy X17 because they seem to discuss a lot of the celebrities that I like to read about, such as Britney Spears. X17Online discusses Britney far more than the three other contenders. They also annoy the heck out of her I’m sure. X17Online is structured pretty simply, the content is displayed in the middle with ads to both the left and right. They used to have a list of celebrities at the top right margin, but it’s since changed and become a feed of popular posts and has moved far down under the ads. At the bottom there is a list of page numbers and the ‘next’ key. At the top of the page is a full menu that includes archives, videos, photo galleries and a search feature among other things. The search feature does not work very well at all. It seems to be buggy and gives error messages at times. I refrain from using it. X17 tries to promote themselves as being a ‘news’ source and not gossip. They are also quite opinionated when it comes to certain celebrities, and seem to have their favourites. They are at times quite mean. As far as service, X17 has given me viruses and problems in the past. They seem to have gotten it together more recently as I’ve not had any issues. The reason I’d usually go to X17  is to watch its video feeds. That’s what they’re good at providing. They’re also pretty good at UK coverage as well; I enjoy seeing Keira Knightly prance around London with very cool fashion choices, or Amy Winehouse talking to her rats with Blaaaaake.

Perez Hilton

Perez Hilton is actually the most frequently viewed Gossip site in Canada according to Alexa Web stats. His site has been around for years as well, and has garnered fans due to his teasing white penmanship. An openly gay feminine man with a hair color obsession has made millions with his site. Unfortunately for him, his site is failing to impress me anymore. I now find that he’s much too concerned with his celebrity ‘friends’ and continues to use his site for his political views. His site is for real dirt, I don’t enjoy his biased gossip, nor his political gossip. He used to be very funny with his white marker, and he told it like it was, even finding out things before any other news sources. He does things like draw ooze coming out of Beyoncé’s armpits, “drool” on many people’s mouths, and words written on photos that could kill. He likes to ‘out’ people too and is always guessing people’s orientations. He can be very mean, and is sometimes very rude, but that’s why people read his site. one thing I do still go there for is his music taste. Perez Hilton has a great ear for good indie music. In part thanks to him I get great new sounds in my playlist. His political posts and his praise for celebrities such as Lady Gaga in addition to his lawsuit posts that don’t seem to end leave me quite bored and so I scroll right through them. The commenters on his site seem to be quite illiterate and half the time do not even discuss the posts. The site is pink with sparse ads on both sides, a search feature with a drop down of all celebrity names, and an archive search by date.

I’m Not Obsessed

I’m Not Obsessed is a gossip site run by a housewife and a mother named Vera. Vera’s site offers ‘gossip without the guilt’. She’s kind and provides stories without being judgemental or rude. She compliments the stars and their appearances and I think that if they read her site they’d be pleased. Vera ensures that her commenters are on the same page as her in that they are entitled to their opinions but aren’t crude or derogatory. Vera provides fashion posts as well, and gives price tags to certain celebrity outfits. She also re-creates very similar outfits for people on a tighter budget. There are contests on her site, but I’m not sure if Canadians could ever win anything so I haven’t participated. She’s created a points system so that people are encouraged to post comments and to open discussions. The photos that Vera obtains are some of the best shots out there. I’ll often go to these gossip sites in the same day, and notice the different angles that Vera receives(or however she obtains them). The pictures seem to be of better quality too. The site only has ads on the right hand side, and the color scheme works well. At the bottom of the page six additional things that you can do on I’m Not Obsessed are promoted, including quizzes, polls, and even games. Vera also has a ‘buddy’ system where you can befriend fellow posters. She’ll befriend you too if you’ve got something interesting to say. Her posts read in a very friendly manner much as though you were reading what a friend is writing.

TMZ.com

TMZ is the most popular of the four sites according to Alexa stats. TMZ takes a longer time to load but they’re pretty good at providing live news. TMZ often veers away from the things I like to read about, such as their sports, politics, or Z-list celebrities posts, but they have the biggest supply of video stories. TMZ is a very busy site to look at, it’s almost hard on your eyes. The ads are in between posts in addition to being on the side and mouse-over pop-ups. I often get annoyed when visiting the site, and will usually stay only as long as there’s some video that looks interesting in the first 2 pages. What I dislike about the site is the fact that you have to be directed to a new window when you want to see pictures or videos. It would be better if they’d just display them on the front page. Their videos will usually also have advertisements first, something that X17online or Perez don’t seem to have as often. To go to their next page, you have to click on ‘Older posts’ if you can find it. The bottom of the site looks jumbled with different headlines and tags. I’m left not wanting to click on any of them. TMZ’s TV chow is much more interesting than their site. I usually visit it when I’ve seen everything that’s new on the three other sites.

It’s difficult to write a comparison without any favouritism. This is a brand war after all, and one has to win. The winner is quite clear based on the above, but it needs to be said that I’m Not Obsessed wins because it is increasingly up my alley. I do feel bad for the celebrities and the fast lives they live and so it’s nice to read about them in an unbiased positive light. If Vera isn’t fond of an outfit or person, she’ll go ‘thoughts anyone?’ and refrain from saying anything mean.

~Darleya~