Metblogs is a large network of city specific blogs that aim to be an alternative source for news with a local focus. Each blog is authored by multiple people, and they cover everything from local music and art to politics. Minneapolis is among the cities with Metblogs coverage, and we wanted to see how people responded to the site.

This is what Minneapolis Metblogs looked like at the time of the test:

What Does This Website Do?

1. This is a metroblog about Minneapolis. It includes various posts (mostly by one author) about things going on in the Minneapolis area.
2. It is a blog with information about Minneapolis.
3. It’s a city focused blog that cover local issues.
4. It is a current event site for Minneapolis, Minnesota.
5. It’s a blog about the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. It covers the events and happenings of the two cities. For locals and visitors, it would provide useful information about the area, and let them know of events they may want to attend.
6. It’s a blog site with information related to the local area.
7. This site is a city blog for Minneapolis. This site is part of a bigger site called Metroblogs. Metroblogging covers all sorts of topics from local politics to city events.
8. This site has information about upcoming events.
9. City-based weblog. News and items from the metro area of Minneapolis.
10. It’s a blog in the series of Metroblogging sites in the US, but this sticks to Minneapolis. It deals with the local issues, public concerns and any other news coming out of the city. Also, politics, reviews of various restaurants, and events are covered.

Honestly, I would have been surprised if people found it difficult to figure it out. The name suggests the purpose, and the About link is close to the top, easy to find, and quick to read.

Best Current Feature

1. Seems like a good mix of interesting types of articles and videos, with a generally good overarching category of Minneapolis. Seems to be a good way to learn about the character of the city in an unconventional way.
2. The author links on the page.
3. At this point, the About link only because I didn’t know what metroblogging was up until now. I’m sure others who are also unaware would appreciate that.
4. I personally was interested in the video link of a local hip hop artist who was featured on MTV. The site has a wide variety of interesting topics.
5. It’s full of information. I know if I was living there, it would include information I would find useful. It includes the authors for those who want to follow a particular blogger.
6. The local focus.
7. The variety of the topics is endless.
8. Information about events is very extensive, which is helpful to out of town visitors looking for things to do in the city.
9. Nice retro design.
10. Best feature I liked is that various authors can collaborate together and bring out the news and issues and concerns from every nook and corner of the society in the city. I hope it grows to cover all the dimensions in society.

Most of the reviewers agree that the variety and amount of information to be found is a very good thing, and they’re right. That’s exactly the kind of impression this type of site should have on its visitors. What can be improved?

One Thing To Improve

1. While it’s clearly about the Minneapolis area, the organizing principle of the site is a little unclear. It’s hard to tell why certain stories are posted, or what classifies as relevant content. The site needs a little bit more explanation of how things are woven together.
2. All the links that are on the bottom of the page could be placed at the top.
3. I’m not a web page designer, but it looks plain to me. It doesn’t really grab my attention the way it should. There is a little blurb on your about page that explains what Metroblogging is. I think that blurb should be on the home page.
4. Site is looks to be very simple. I want to see some improvements in the layout and addition of trendy colors.
5. It’s a pretty standard blog format, so nothing stands out from that. The metblogs cityscape graphic is pretty cool-looking though. The one thing I would do is take advantage of all that white space on the right side that extends longer than half the page. I like Google ads, so I would put those there. Extra income too. I would also add a lot more pictures in the blog posts.
6. Being able to find the topics quickly would be helpful.
7. Due to the vastness of the topics, I would think that some sort of subject grouping or site map would make it easier to find what you are looking for.
8. I would definitely prefer some more color on the page and some of the posts don’t have sufficient writeup. I would love to read about various topics in detail, but didn’t find the posts very informative.
9. More collaboration. Front page items are mostly all from one poster.
10. I think news articles should be categorized, apart from the tags being available. So that, if I want to go across to the blogs on Politics, all the blogs should be enlisted on a single page.

Layout, structure and more detail are the suggestions sticking out to me. Additional colors, a more unique layout, and a much better categorization and archive system would be valuable changes to the site. Also, the categories and archives could stand to be a little more prominent. A small drop down list buried among the ads, blogroll and author list can easily be missed, and that is only a list of the categories. You will need to hunt even more to find a chronological list of archives.

There is a standard Metblogs layout and the individual cities can’t make any changes to that, but if the individual site contributors can make suggestions for the layout decisions, someone could pass along this feedback. If the feedback is applied to the layout, Metblogs could retest to find out how valuable the changes are.

What they can address locally, however, is the content related feedback; depth of coverage, photography and frequency of author contribution. A pretty layout will catch your attention, but the content is what keeps you coming back.