In John Tozzi’s “Bloggers Bring in the Big Bucks,” he discusses the viral blog I Can Has Cheezburger (http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2007-07-13/bloggers-bring-in-the-big-bucksbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice).

The blog started off small, soon exploding into a site that got up to half a million hits per day. The blog features photos of cats with funny captions. It’s not a hard news blog whatsoever. It explores a very specific niche and gives people brief laughter in the midst of a rough day, during the mornings or a lunch break. It’s not that people are so invested in cat memes, but it becomes a way for people to have a place where they can escape reality for a short while. Therefore, it appeals to most people. People are always looking to escape, and the internet provides a suitable outlet for this escape. It also encourages reader interaction. Tozzi states, “Part of it has to do with the nature of the medium: Blogging creates a direct connection between authors and readers, a conversation with distinct voices carried out in comments and e-mails and other blogs...” Tozzi describes the interactive nature of blogs. This is probably what makes them so successful. Readers like to be a part of something that allows for their participation. I think what also makes blogs so successful is that they cater to a specific audience. I just started following several fashion blogs on Instagram. Most of them revolve around an individual’s personal lifestyle, including fashion, food, and travel. I usually look for people who have similar style to me or people whose style I admire. I’ve always been really interested in fashion, but I have recently become more serious about making a career out of it. Recently I read a book called How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are by a group of female Parisian friends, including Caroline De Maigret, a well known Parisian style icon. The book acts more as a blog than a novel, suggesting that blogs can take countless formats. The book offers style advice, relationship advice, etc. It describes the Parisian woman as fearless, feminist, wild, and strong. It basically describes what every woman aspires to be like. One reads the book and marvels at the depiction of the perfect woman. The book has been advertised internationally and has gained an eclectic readership. Advertised at Marc Jacobs trendy bookstore in the West Village, celebrities and fashionistas in New York City gathered for a signed copy. It has an incredibly strong following, quickly becoming a must-read in the fashion community. Because the book describes several qualities of a Parisian woman, the reader will most likely identify with a few of themselves, projecting themselves onto the woman De Maigret describes. It would be interesting to see the book transform into an online blog. Right now the book  has an Instagram and a twitter, but both act as an advertising device for the book. The book has the potential to turn into a complete sensation if it created an outlet for readers to post their own photographs and writing to the page that correlated to the book’s subject matter. This would be a successful way to keep the conversation going between women everywhere.