Michelle Young

April 15, 2015

WP #1
Whats on Your Mind?

For many centuries, people have recorded their lives and have shared their ideas among

Commented [ZD1]: Youve got 2 indentations here. ?

other people. These forms of communications have never changed. Whether we tend to
communicate verbally or visually through pictures and writing, the one thing that separates the
type of communication is the matter of permanency. Sure, verbal communication can be
recorded, but for the most part, writings are timeless because it has stood against the test of time.
Today, media has made it easier for everyone to share and record their personal thoughts with
the world. By understanding who the audience is, what kind of context the social media uses, and
by being an active member of their community can allow the user to gain more popularity on the
internet.
In this modern era, we can capture our everyday lives like a diary on the internet. These
journal-like entries that people post on the web is considered a status. On Oxford Dictionaries,
a status is defined as a posting on a social networking website that indicates a users current

Commented [ZD2]: Based on what? What sources are

you going to be examining to make this claim? Right now, I
dont really know what youre talking aboutits super
vague.
Get as specific as possible. Always.
Also, why is this underlined? Thats not a common
convention of the academic research paper genre.

situation, state of mind, or opinion about something. ( Websites like Facebook, Twitter, and

Commented [ZD3]: So is this what your paper is

focusing on? (You dont want you reader to be wondering
thisyou want to make it crystal-clear for them).

Instagram have helped to preserve our current thoughts into the cyberspace. This genre of

Commented [ZD4]: ?? Is this paper a draft?

statuses have become a way of life for most people. Knowing how each genre works can only
benefit one by simply applying the common rules for its style of writing. Learning about
genres and how they function is more important than mastering one particular genre; it is this
knowledge that helps us to recognize and to determine appropriate responses to different
situations (Dirk 259). By allowing the users to express themselves freely, this has changed
the way we have kept records of our past.

Commented [ZD5]: OK, so it sounds like this is what

your basing your paper/argument onput this upfront so
your reader knows, for sure, this is whats on the line.

Facebook is a site where one connects with their friends and family. It is one of the many
ways to keep in touch with people and updating them on how one is doing directly or indirectly.
Facebook posts will notify the users close circle of friends and family and allows them to like
or even comment on the post.
Twitter is a simpler social media, where a user can publicly or in private share their
thoughts with other people. Most use it to update other people on what they are doing or what
they are thinking. If one likes what the other user tweeted, then they may choose to follow the
person. By following the person, this allows the user to receive feeds of anything they have
tweeted. One may also retweet the tweet to share with their followers or even favorite a
tweet to save it under their personal collection of tweets that they like.
Instagram is very much like Twitter. The concept is very similar, but this site focuses
more on the beauty of photography. The subject of these photos could be anything the user

Commented [ZD6]: Abso.

desires. It includes features like filters to alter the photo taken to look a certain way and to add an
artistic touch. Even though these two sites offer the same concept, Twitter is more free and
subjective for the user, while Instagram is geared toward a community, where they share and
appreciate photography.
All of these social media sites typically have their own type of context that tend to shape
how the user will express themselves through their posts and have common themes among them.
For example, the user has complete freedom over what they would like to post. One can create a
status about what they are currently doing or planning to do and/or their thoughts about music,
restaurant, politics, etc. While all of these examples of social media (Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram) can be restricted to close friends and family, some may decide to make some or all of
their lives completely public. If they decided to become public with their lives, then the types of

Commented [ZD7]: You might want to get more

nuance here. Over the topic? (They cant post movies or
albums or things like that, really parts/clips, sure)

Commented [ZD8]: Id steer clear of etc. and most

other abbreviationsnot usually a standard conventions of
this genre either.

posts would most likely be significantly different than the posts they would share with their
loved ones. Since these sites also allow people to feel as though they are entitled to their
freedom of speech through a protected username, some may go out of their way to state
something they normally wouldnt say or do in their everyday life. By doing so, this could affect
whether the user can gain or lose support by their fellow community.

Commented [ZD9]: These are heavy thoughts (a good

thing!), but right now, I feel like youre doing a lot of
armchair philosophizing.
Where your data? Your evidence? Whats all this based on?

Depending on how social media is utilized, this can also affect the target audience. The
tone of the status can determine what kind of community the user will attract. Most of the

Academic readers are won over by evidencein your case,

evidence within the status posts that support whatever it is
that youre arguing.

popular people on the internet, like celebrities, tend to be informal. This informality will make it
seem as if the user, themselves, are talking directly to the reader. The tone is usually friendly and
down to earth. By speaking in this manner, the fans will feel like they are treated like a close
companion. While celebrities tend to speak in a friendly tone, other public figures like
government officials will be more formal. The reason why these two kinds of people differ in
how they tweet, is because they are trying to reach a certain audience and because they want to
be seen a certain way. For instance, Barack Obama has a Twitter and he mostly uses it to make

Commented [ZD10]: Not a sentence.

comments of what he plans to do. On April 11, 2015, he tweeted, President Obama is working
with Caribbean leaders to make clean energy a priority (Obama). Then, lets compare him to
someone like Lady Gaga. Both of these public figures have a huge number of followers and they
who promote certain changes we should make in our society. Although they have different jobs,
where one is the president and the other is an entertainer, they both have won over many people
for what they have done. Not only does Lady Gaga promote the LGBTQ community and fights
for their rights, she also promotes what she is working on through her job as a singer. With the
hit of her newest album, she tweets, 'CHEEK TO CHEEK' is #1 on the WORLDWIDE iTunes
album chart! BUY HERE: (Lady Gaga) While both could post like the other, they do not,

Commented [ZD11]: OK, so its great that youre

bringing textual evidence into the paper here, but why
this?
Why compare him to Lady Gaga? Is there a good/specific
reason why youre doing this? Or is it just random??

because they are trying to express themselves in a way they would like to be seen and related
with their followers.
Some of the ways to indicate whether something is a status is to see if it follows some of
these guidelines. On these sites, there will always be a time stamp of noting when the post was
made. This indicates when the idea was created and how the post may be relevant in time. On
August 19, 2013, Beyonc posted on Twitter, Today is World Humanitarian Day. If someone
were to read this tweet at some point, they would assume August 19th is always World
Humanitarian Day. Another common pattern of a status is the use of a hashtag. Hashtags help

Commented [ZD12]: You started the paragraph (ie, the

topic sentence) with mentioning the following issue.

emphasize a certain point. By adding hashtags, this can be used to start or support a trend.

Now you brought hashtags into the discussion. Isnt this a

super-huge thing though? Worth devoting at least an
entire paragraph to as the main focus?

Hashtags allows other users to easily access certain topics or ideas within a website. There are

Commented [ZD13]: Two questions:

features where it allows the user to add pictures, videos and links to their status. If one wanted to
share a video they watched that they thought was funny, they can by providing a link to that
website on their status. Because status are written on the spur of the moment, the user may use

1, evidence for this claim?

2, so what? How does this fit into your overall/main
argument? (Sometimes you need to remind your reader of
where youre taking them.)

acronyms to shorten certain phrases. Acronyms also adds to the idea of how approachable the
user is trying to be with their followers. By using acronyms like LOL, one may feel as though
they were talking to their friends since acronyms are never formal. Lastly, statuses are created
through first-order thinking. It is common for people to put what they have in mind without

Commented [ZD14]: Nice tie-in.

reflecting about the post. First-order thinking is intuitive and creative and doesnt strive for
conscious direction or control. We use it when we get hunches or see gestalts. (Elbow 55).
Instantaneous posts requires first-order thinking. The use of first-order thinking captivates many
people, because the user is being completely open and vulnerable like any other people in real
life.

Commented [ZD15]: This could be its own paragraph

too
If/when you go back and re-read this paragraph, ask
yourself: what is the 1 major point/idea Im trying to get
across in this paragraph? And how does that enhance my
argument?

Some of the differences from other written material on the web are that they usually will
not have sources listed like a research paper or a news article. Statuses often do not talk about
facts or usually have a serious tone. Though it is possible, it is hardly seen or applied in this type
of genre.
People should learn genre so that they can understand when to utilize certain conventions
to communicate for a variety of purposes and to use them appropriately. There are many ways to
convey certain ideas. If one were to understand the differences and its rightful context, they can
only succeed because they are able to articulate their thoughts to influence others. By tending to
the needs of the audience, one can easily become popular in time.

Citations

https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/586585718492770304

https://twitter.com/Beyonce/status/237208467419578368

Dirk, Kerry. Navigating Genres. Print.

Elbow, Peter. Embracing Contraries: Explorations in Learning and Teaching. Oxford U Pess,
1986. Print

https://twitter.com/ladygaga/status/514214748670681088

"Status." Oxford Dictionaries. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/status>