The Hypocrisy of LeBron James’ Blog on MSN Live
I read that NBA star LeBron James started his own web site and blog in cooperation with Microsoft (boo!) so I had to check it out after hearing about its launch. What do you see when you visit lebron.msn.com? You get a nicely animated Flash-based site of pure confusion!
Okay, okay, I’m not the target demographic of kids and teens so I may be missing something. First off, from a usability standpoint, I don’t know what I’m supposed to click on. Instead I wave my cursor around the screen waiting to see where it changes to a clickable finger. Humbug, although if you’re a youngster, you may not mind rummaging around and discovering what’s clickable.
The left (and right) arrows take you to different locations on LeBron’s site starting with the Athlete then to the History, the Icon, and finally the Challenge.
On the main Athlete page, there’s a sign to “check out the latest stuff on my BLOG!!!” so I click on the sign which takes me to the LeBron on MSN blog which is powered by Windows Live. What’s on this blog? Two entries. Two. One, two. This is better than the single blog entry launch of the Honolulu Advertisers’ Lost blog, but come on now. Launch a blog without any content? Who’s great idea was this?
What else is on this blog? There’s a Custom List section which is empty. There’s a book list which is empty, there’s a section for friends which is empty, but there are about 20 photos available.
And my biggest disappointment with this blog? It’s not written by King James himself. This LeBron on MSN blog is managed by a professional journalist named Emil Wilbekin. As a journalist, the entries are well written, but I was thinking I’d find authentic thoughts from LeBron on this blog, not the reporting of a professional. To make matters worse, look at this hypocrisy of the concept of this blog:
I ask him why he chose the Internet and an online website as a way to communicate with his fans, share himself with the world, and use this as a vehicle to inspire. LBJ’s answer is this:
It’s kinda of self explanatory. The world to today is based online. There’s a lot of kids out there who spend more time online than they do sleeping. You get an opportunity to get online and talk to kids and talk to grown-ups. Technology is taking over more than anything. It’s not TV as much anymore, it’s not radio as much anymore, it’s online. That’s my thinking.
LeBron, if that’s your thinking then why didn’t YOU write that in YOUR blog, your link to the online world you talk about? You’re a busy guy being an NBA superstar, I get that, but your message would be more meaningful and true coming from you. Many comments left on the blog are written to you and the public wants to know more about you, so why not make this your blog and not a Microsoft marketing machine?
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