Review: The World of Modern Men

A few days ago I was thinking about how I haven't come across many independent news sites specifically targeted to men. I know, at least in magazines, women are typically the best target audience. But, there has to be some kind of news for guys, right? So, I Googled "modern men online magazine" and The World of Modern Men came up. And, to be honest, I was pretty unimpressed. But, I'm a woman and I felt like I shouldn't be the judge. This site is not geared towards me. So, I asked my boyfriend, a 20 year-old male who visits about four news sites at least once a day, what he thought about it:

First of all, he said he didn't like the overall design of the page. "The tabs are okay, but the overall look of it isn't that appealing to me. Features like the grey news icon doesn't look professional, it looks unfinished."

To get better acquainted with the site, he clicked on Men's Health and skimmed these articles — 5 Reasons Why You Should Start Running and Skincare: The 4 Dangers of Winter. He said he clicked on these particular articles because they pertain to his life. The only piece of information he remembered from these articles when he navigated away was a skincare tip: don't take hot showers, it dries out your skin.

After he was about 5 minutes deep into the website, he said he wasn't really that interested in it and wouldn't be coming back. Why?

"There are other sources that seem more reliable. I would rather go to Huffington Post or The New York Times. I've never heard or seen this site endorsed anywhere. I don't think he is the most reliable source and nothing shows me that the information he is writing about is credible. Typically I don't get my news from bloggers unless I have heard of them from someone I know or if the blogger is someone I know."

With my boyfriend's input, I think a huge problem with the website is home page appeal. Second, he needs to prove why he is an expert about these topics he is writing about or at least interview an expert. I didn't read any articles where he cited where he got his information from. Also, I went a little further and clicked on a few links in the articles on the page — all of the links send you to a weird search engine. I thought this was really unrelated to the story content and frustrates the reader. This also cuts down this bloggers credibility for me, because it makes me feel like he isn't trying to help the reader.

C'mon, help a guy out. Pull your news together!