Together Everyone Achieves More
In a time where Social Media and the Internet has connected the world together with its immensity; the integration of it in our daily lives has allowed us to do a plethora of things over the years. Some big as trying to sway votes for a Presidential Campaign to something as small as the miscellaneous advertisements on the side of websites. The Internet has allowed us to advertise and campaign much more efficiently through the use of the digital world than was ever possible through just physical means. So many digital spaces such as Facebook and Twitter work rhetorically to persuade people one way or the other on things like social movements or raising awareness of certain subjects that they feel are important and should be brought to light. With the use of the Internet we are able to reach out farther and faster than we were ever able to before. Two of my favorite websites that have rhetorical influence on me are NBA.com and hoopshype.com
NBA.comThe purpose of NBA.com is to basically sell the basketball brand and allow people to easily see what’s going on around the league. Not only does is it selling the brand through the website its affiliate NBAStore.com sells actual NBA and team merchandise. The website informs you about almost everything going on with the league from scores and stats of past and current games, information on all the teams, to trade rumors involving the players and management. It uses both videos and articles to make sure the viewer is up to speed with everything going on in the league. The logo of the website is the logo of the NBA itself, a white silhouette of the Laker legend Jerry West; he was the first player to be awarded the NBA Finals MVP and the only person to win the award even thought the team lost. The background image usually changes depending on the sponsors. There are many pictures all over the site relating to an article or video that can be reached by clicking that picture. The color package is mainly blue and white, colors taken from the logo itself, so it more simple but the many picture in the front of the site give it lots of vibrant colors making it more attractive and appealing. There are many authors on this site writing articles and giving their insight to let the fans know on what’s happening around the league, especially behind the scenes concerning things that the fans don’t get to see such as different moves that team managements are planning to do. The site has many features such as checking out stats in games and comparing different players and different teams. I would say that the people who regularly check the site are most probably NBA fans because if you really have no knowledge of what’s happening in the NBA than everything they are showing you would probably just look like a bunch of nonsense really. They give links to everything under their brand such as NBA D-League, WNBA, NBAStore, and all the links to the individual team websites. I like this website because I consider myself and NBA Fanatic and love to make sure I’m up to speed with everything that’s going on around the league.
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Hoopshype.comHoopshype.com is very similar to NBA.com in terms of what it offers and whom it’s intended for. The website is intended to the well informed NBA fan, unlike NBA.com whose also trying to grab the attention of new fans, this site is aimed more at people who already have very good knowledge about the game, and are just looking for more information to keep themselves on top of whats going on around the league in a much more in depth look. The purpose for Hoopshype.com is to give fans more information on rumors and more of whats going on behind the scenes, giving us more access and an inside look at things fan . It’s much layout and color scheme are much more simplistic than NBA.com. It doesn’t have many pictures or vibrant colors. The background color is a grayish beige color along with being much more linear, unlike NBA which has some sort of clickable media at almost every point. Some of the features of this site include things such as being able to see whose in free agency and what exact trades have been going on. They also include forums and give stats about the most bought sneakers for each brand. I like this website for basically the same reason I like NBA.com because of my love and passion for the game of basketball. I also like this site more than other basketball sites besides NBA.com because the ethos of writers. For example Jorge Sierra is one of the head writers who also runs the Hoopshype twitter page which has 145,000 followers and is followed by notable NBA athletes, insiders, and analysts such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Reggie Miller, David Aldridge, and Chris Broussard. Even co-owner of the Los Angeles Lakers Jeanie Buss follows them. Thats why I like going to hoopshype.com for all of my insider information because I know how credible and reputable they are.
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Both NBA.com and Hoopshype.com have many similarities and differences. In term terms of content and general intended audience, both sites are very similar with NBA.com trying to sell their brand to everybody whose generally interested in basketball and the NBA while Hoopshype.com is also targeted towards fans of the NBA, they appeal to the more informed and educated fan of the NBA. There are many differences in layout between the two websites. NBA.com is much more vibrant in color with lots of pictures and active links with many different widget type applications, almost everything you see on the website is clickable and will lead you to the appropriate location whether that be a corresponding article or video. Hoopshype.com is much more simpler than NBA.com. Hoopshype has less colors and is much more linear than NBA.com not making it as appealing as NBA.com visually but to the educated NBA fan, we don't need nice colors and good visuals to like a basketball website. We take into account the credibility and reputability of the site and its constituents. To the general public NBA.com would most probably be able to rhetorically persuade you more than Hoopshype.com because of its appealing visuals and engaging and interactive layout.