Evaluating Blogs... Are they any good?

So for this assignment, I looked up two different blogs. One pertains to the theme of my blog and the other is one that I was just curious about. Using what we have learned in class, I looked over, evaluated and determined, in my opinion, if I think that these blogs fit the criteria to be a successful blog.

Blog #1: Training Peaks Blog:
       TrainingPeaks is the ultimate training log and food diary designed to help motivated individuals and professionals achieve health, fitness and peak performance. This was taken directly off of their blog. This sentence alone answers the follow criteria: 
1. Why it was developed
2. Who the intended users are
3. The AIM of the blog

Appearance: Very appealing to look at. It is clean, it has lots of photos and it is not distracting at all. It is organized in a very simple manner.
User Needs: In addition to the basic purpose of discussing how to train, there are many other resources on the blog that will benefit users. Such resources include: RSS feeds, additional websites, video clips, twitter and facebook links, apps for iphone and andriod, a link to apply for their newsletter , tags, An index to their blog that provides site information, support, contact info, educational resources, blogs, community forums, etc.
Links: Has several different links that are authentic
Navigation: VERY easy to use
Currency: The site is updated every day.
Authority: Gives a description as to who runs the website, who sponsors its, etc.
Format: Format is impeccable.

does it fit the C.A.R.S criteria?

C- redible? -- Absolutely. 100% all of their resources are accounted for, the information is reliable and absolutely believable.
A- ccurate? - Absolutely again! The information is factual, detailed, backed up with sources and is up to date
R- easonable? - I guess that is determined by the user. I think it is. I am a runner and I very much like the way the information is presented and I think it is very useful
S- upport- All of the information on the blog has additional resources to where the authors attained their info.

Final Grade: A++
so.. first blog checks out!
http://blog.trainingpeaks.com/

Blog #2: "Obsessed with Bones"

For my second choice, I wanted to find a blog about one of my favorite TV shows... Bones! The first one I found was a blog called "Obsessed with Bones" and my findings were quite different than what I found with Training Peaks

Did it answer any of these questions?
1. Why was it developed? It was developed to discuss about one girls love for her favorite tv show
2. Who are intender users: Anyone who likes the show
3. What is the AIM of the blog: Not necessarily clear.
4. Is the Aim realized?  Yes and no.

Appearance: Simple. Not too boring but not overdone.
User Needs: From what I got out of this blog,  the purpose of it is to simply discuss the show. Who is in it, what episodes are, promotions of the show, links about the show, etc. There is no RSS feed but it does have additional links about the show. The author does have a twitter account but because it hasnt been updated in almost 2 years, it doesnt really fit the users needs to current episodes.
Links: Has several links
Navigation: Simple to navigate. Its a blogger website so its pretty basic
Accuracy: Blog doesnt require for much accuracy being that it is mostly an opinion based blog.
Currency: No currency at all. If it were 2010, I would say it was very current. However, being that the author hasnt posted anything since 2010, it is not up-to-date.
Format: nice format

does it fit the C.A.R.S. criteria?

C- redible? : Yes. the information that it does provide is reliable and is backed up by photos, videos, and other info. Again, it is an opinion blog so being that it comes from her mouth, its pretty credible.
A- ccurate?: No. Last updated in 2010. Show is still running and its 2012
R- easonable?: Yea. Its a pretty consistent with the theme of the blog.
S- upport?: Yes and no. She has plenty of videos and photos to support her arguments and opinions, but not all of her info comes from sources that are "reliable" Again. Opinion piece.

Final grade: C+/B-