Website Analysis 3 (including social media figures)

Website Analysis 3, The Big Issue: The Big issue is primarily targeted at middle-aged, middle-class, politically aware people who are left-wing voters. This website differs to other current affairs magazines and doesn’t follow the traditional codes and conventions of a current affairs website. The Big Issue is represented in this way due to it being very different to a regular current affairs magazine. The magazine is sold and purchased mainly on the streets, due to the homeless selling the product in the street to its consumers. Therefore, the product has a unique selling point which the target audience buy into, and it isn’t sold in regular newsagents and doesn’t have to compete with other magazines in its genre. Although the magazine features some traditional codes and conventions, The Big Issue still challenges these in some ways. At the bottom of the website there are links to all The Big Issue’s social media pages such as: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. This is an example of cross media synergy as it is linking other social media platforms to the website. This helps to boost followings on other platforms and grow the company. The colour scheme used throughout the website mainly persists of red and white. The combination of these two colours create a festive and friendly mood throughout the website, due to the time of year. There is a drop-down menu placed at the top of the page, which features subheadings including genres such as sports, culture etc. There are also sub-headings which take you to The Big Issue’s social media pages such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. This is an example of cross media synergy and will enhance the growth of The Big Issue. On their social media they have examples of magazines etc, which will further give the readers an insight into what they will get if they subscribe. In conclusion The Big Issue follow some traditional codes and conventions such as the colour scheme and the use of headings. However, The Big Issue do not follow all the traditional codes and conventions, which is similar to their magazine. This reinforces the idea that The Big Issue are different to other current affair companies. The Big Issues social media figures: Instagram: 13,400 followers Twitter: 26,000 followers Facebook 39,000 likes