Gossip Fans
Fans of Black celebrity gossip blogs have an extensive number of blogs from which to get their daily dose of gossip. Over the past three years, the Black Blogosphere has seen a rise in the number of blogs devoted to all things regarding Black entertainment. By catering to a niche audience, Black gossip blogs provide gossip fans with content that may be hard to find on other sites.
Angel Laws is now finding success with her own blog, "Concrete Loop." Angel, a fan of gossip blogs herself, says the target audience for Concrete Loop is "somebody like me...ecletic, likes music, likes gossip, likes politics..."According to Angel, her blog gets 90,000+ visitors a day. Gossip fans are in store for much more than just gossip at Concrete Loop. The Blog covers an array to topics ranging from Black entertainment to politics. "People love CL because it’s just a breath of fresh air. I started the site to bring something new to the net, and I think I did just that," says Angel on her blog. Understanding the importance of encouraging user interaction on her blog, Concrete Loop features such sections as "You Sent It In" and "Comment Spotlight." Both sections allow viewers to contribute to the blog's content, by featuring user-generated pictures and commentary.
Although "That's Not Hott!" includes some vulgar language, and by the creator's own admission, "strong opinions," Danielle aka "Hotsauce" says her blog targets "mostly school-age (i.e. high school and college) and the working young adult." Although she cites "young Black America" as her target, she also feels that her blog targets "anyone and everybody...anyone that can handle it." As an up-and-coming blogger, Danielle recognizes that building an audience can be the most difficult part of starting a gossip blog. "The hardest part about the whole things," she says," is marketing your blog to build traffic to it."
Natasha Eubanks of "The Young, Black, and Fabulous" blog admits that her readers are not the only ones she receives feedback from. In fact Eubanks says that many celebrities are also closeted fans of her site, telling Expressmag.com, "They might say they don't, but they do because their publicists and managers email me daily." According to Eubanks, Queen Latifah, Usher, and Kanye West are among some of her famous readers.