Brandon Patterson

2-3-16
Engl. 1001

http://screencast.com/t/x4YahPIx
http://screencast.com/t/nBYYxdlFis
Preface
My audience the upcoming generation just starting to use social media. I need help with
structuring my intro/conclusion, transitioning to my body paragraphs, and trying to keep the
main idea clear and easy to understand. After the peer review I edited my introduction paragraph
by taking out a couple lines of unnecessary information. I also added two more paragraphs to the
end to flesh out my essay and wrap up nicely in the new conclusion. This has helped organize my
essay into a more coherent piece and stay true to its main focus, which will help the audience
readily grasp the message of my paper. I dont really question any revisions because I think they
can only benefit my essay. My three biggest concerns are my transition between my first and
second paragraph, the way I structured this as a letter being effective, and if my audience
will be able to understand my topics with the information presented.

A Letter to Myself

Dear Past Me,

1.This letter is to help you understand how to use social media, and who better to help
you than yourself? Just listen closely and follow along carefully. Youll probably start off with a
Facebook so you can impress your real friends with how many online friends you have, but
eventually youll move on to Twitter, and thats where the fun really begins. Now, you might end

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up ruining a relationship or two with a single tweet, but dont give up! During the space inbetween your romantic escapades youll also be introduced to plethora of new experiences, like
being involved in various pointless arguments over the internet and discovering the diamond in
the rough that is Weird Twitter. Lets get started, shall we?
2.In elementary school I always wanted a Facebook because my friends had one, but my
mom thought I was too young to have one. She was right, of course, but I didnt know that back
then, so I secretly made an account on my computer and started my digital journey. I sent out
countless friend requests to everyone at my school I could think of, wanting badly to join the
web of gossip and interactions that I heard took place on the site. In the first few weeks of having
a Facebook I learned that the popular kids always seemed to have more likes on their statuses
than me, even when they werent very interesting. This upset me, so I figured I had to space out
my posts more and improve the quality of what I was posting. Although I didnt know it at the
time, this was the first instance of me learning from my experiences and adapting to what people
wanted to see.
3.I used Facebook for a few more years, but I began to grow tired of it, along with the
rest of my peers. During my sophomore year in high school one of my friends showed me
Twitter, the new trend in social media. I thought Twitter was the most idiotic thing Id ever heard
of, because tweets seemed random and pointless, but I finally gave in and made one a few
months later. Twitter is a site that lets you create an account with very little customization, only
allowing for a short biography, location, profile picture and then a header picture, which shows
up at the top of your page. Your posts can only be up to 140 characters long, a massive difference
from Facebook, forcing you to condense your thoughts and preventing people from filling up
your entire newsfeed with a single post. There are no friends on Twitter, only people you follow,

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(those whos tweets you want to appear on your newsfeed) and those who follow you (those who
will see your tweets on their newsfeed). You can also retweet other peoples tweets, sharing them
on your page for all of your followers to view, which is considered the highest form of praise on
Twitter. Whereas Facebook is formal and grammatically correct, Twitter is obscene and
riddled with slang, and before long I was addicted. On Twitter it is acceptable to be active and
post numerous times throughout the day since each post is short, like a passing thought that you
reel in and scribble down so that you can share it with your followers.
4.I started off using Twitter like a diary, recording various funny events or thoughts I
had throughout the day, which received positive feedback from my followers. At first I tried to
keep my Twitter a secret so that people from my school wouldnt find out about it in case I
tweeted about them. Id also post angry thoughts I had too, occasionally going on rants about
people who really struck a nerve with me. I used it as a mechanism to vent my problems and
frustrations, which helped me to some extent, but its never a good idea to post negative thoughts
about people on the Internet for anyone to see. There was one instance on a band trip where two
guys lost a bet and had to pretend to kiss, and I thought it was absolutely hilarious, so naturally I
tweeted about it and immediately had people retweet and favorite it. A little while later in the day
I was walking up to the bleachers at the football stadium we were at when one of the guys
mentioned in the tweet stormed up to me and grabbed my chest, seething with rage. Whyd you
post that about me, huh? Why would you do that? He shook me when he spoke and I could tell
he was itching for a fight. Chill out dude, it was just something I thought was funny. I calmly
stated, smiling and trying to avoid confrontation. Thats not cool. Delete it right now. He
commanded, his anger fading. I deleted it and proceeded up the bleachers where the whole
school had been watching. Wow, I totally thought he was gonna beat you up! I heard my

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friends saying. I grinned sheepishly and shrugged, I couldve taken him anyway. From that
experience I learned that I need to think more carefully before I post online; I have to consider
how other people would feel when they read the post.
5.I tend to tweet at people that I follow/follow me frequently, making casual
conversation and telling jokes. Some of these people Ive never met in real life, but we like each
others posts so we get along like friends. There was an intense rivalry between my high school
and another one in my district, so it was common for us to take shots at each other on Twitter. I
happened to follow two sisters from that rival school, one who is a year younger than me and the
other who is 3 years younger than me. The youngest one tweeted something about how she was
tired of going to Creek (my rival school), so naturally I replied with Lifes better at the Lake,
which was my school. Her older sister then went off on me, calling me out for flirting with a
younger girl, and all her friends agreed with her. I was pretty embarrassed and a little angry
because I hadnt been trying to flirt in the first place. From this experience I learned that I should
be cautious of what I post online and think of how others might interpret my posts.
6.Perhaps my fondest accomplishment is discovering Weird Twitter. Weird Twitter is a
sect within Twitter where accounts, usually satirical and anonymous, post jokes. Their account
names usually make no sense and add to the kind of scatter-brained posts they write, such as
nice_mustard and KeetPotato. People use these anonymous accounts to test out jokes
without fear of judgement from their peers. There are some specific formats usually used in these
jokes that make them special, but its hard to put into words. The people running the accounts
dont have to worry about conforming to societys formats and can write as freely as the way
they think, sharing with their followers the way their mind works and making people laugh. One

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of my personal favorite accounts is named Jomny Sun, who tweets a mixture of deep, profound
thoughts and hilarious jokes. Here are some examples:
jomny sun @jonnysun Jan 30

wint @dril 27 Jul 2013

*sees a bee try to quietly sneak up on me*

if your grave doesnt say "rest in peace" on it

ME: is that bee subtle or dumb

you are automatically drafted into the

WIFE: what

skeleton war

ME: bc the bee

WIFE: please dont
ME: the bee is silent

People get extremely creative with these jokes and some of them are so complex they take a few
minutes to comprehend, but I enjoy them because they stimulate my mind and are usually quite
intelligent. These jokes have made me laugh many times when Ive felt down and I appreciate
them greatly for the positive impact theyve had on my life. Weird Twitter has also shaped the
way I think about some things and bleeds into some of my posts now.
7.Facebook and Twitter have each played a massive role in shaping my digital literacy
today and I will be forever grateful to the people who have contributed. Ive learned to look at
myself from different perspectives and properly compose my thoughts and feelings when using
social media. I now know my social media profiles are an extension of my identity that peers and
employers will use to judge me, so I have to properly reflect my best aspects online. Social
media is always evolving and adapting to societys whims, but this unwavering truth will remain.
Think before you post, because the whole world is watching,
Focus 2
Org. 3

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Devel. 2Audience 2-