WFOM 04 - Social Networks

Writing for Online Media

Professor Nicholas Leshi

Assignment Deadlines

Every Week – At least one new blog entry

Every Week – Read fellow classmates’ blogs and comment where appropriate

Every Week – Reading assignment listed in syllabus

February 22 – Mid-Term Paper (“Blog Reviews”) Due

Before April 5 – “Guest Post Assignment” Due(Guest entry on someone else’s blog or Web site)

On or before May 10– Final Paper Due (Your experience as an online writer and

your thoughts on the future of online writing)

3

Presentation of Blogs and Mission Statements

http://writingforonlinemedia-classwiki.wikispaces.com/

http://writingforonlinemedia-classwiki.wikispaces.com/

From Scroll to Screen

What is the author, Lev Grossman, saying?



How are scrolls and books different?




How are books and digital readers different?




How are books and digital readers different?

Do you agree with his conclusion?

Blogs are a Social Genre

“Up until the 15th century, reading generally meant reading aloud. Often a reader would read for an audience…With silent reading, reading changed from a communal to a personal act…The solitude of reading and writing is, perhaps, changing with blogs, which are more explicitly social forms of writing.”

– Jill Walker Rettberg, Blogging

Blogs are a Social Genre

“Instead of mass communication from a few producers to large, mostly passive audiences, blogs support a dense network of small audiences and many producers.

Software built to support such networks of social interactions is called social software.”


The Public Sphere – The Definition

The public sphere is an area in social life where people can get together and freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action.

The Public Sphere – The Ideal

The Public Sphere is a concept introduced by Jurgen Habermas to describe an ideal democratic space for rational debate among informed and engaged citizens, a space that would thus be an arena mediating between state and society. The open debates that occur in such a public sphere are seen as necessary to a true democracy.

The Public Sphere – The Decline

The emergence of Radio and Television have been blamed for the alleged decline in the Public Sphere. People no longer had to venture outside to gather information. The passive nature of the mass media decreased the need to discuss important topics or ideas with others.

The Flaw of Traditional Media

The one-way, mass broadcasting of radio and television made reasoning and debate between individuals almost impossible.

The Public Sphere – The Digital Transformation

The Internet and social media have created a new kind of Public Sphere. Chat rooms, online forums, interactive Web sites, comment-enabled blogs, social networks, etc., now function in the same way as outdoor spaces did. While not a perfect replacement for actual person-to-person conversation, the real-time nature of Cyberspace allows great conversation and debate to take place.

The Public Sphere – The Debate

Many scholars have discussed the relevance of the Web and online writing to the concept of the Public Sphere, while many people dispute the idea that the Public Sphere ever existed.

Are Traditional Media Anti-Social?

According to Richard Sennett, “The media have vastly increased the store of knowledge social groups have about each other, but have rendered actual contact unnecessary.”

Are Traditional Media Undemocratic?

According to Richard Sennett, building on the tendency started by stage theaters and concert halls, traditional electronic media (and even print media) intensify “crowd silence.”

“You’ve got to be silent to be spoken to. Passivity is the logic of this technology.”

New Media

“Today, audiences are anything but passive…It seems that the authority of blogs might not be tied simply to who can write them (anyone) but also to who can read them…Broad dissemination clearly worries many. Free dissemination means a lack of authority, and, ultimately, a lack of control.”


Are New Media Empowering?

Some people see the Internet as enabling new forms of community or democratic empowerment.

Are New Media Discriminatory?

Are New Media replacing one set of gatekeepers for another? Not everyone necessarily has equal access to the Internet. The battles over Net Neutrality, for example, are evidence that different factions are trying to gain control of the distribution of information through digital media. Commercial and political interests are already creeping into the social media landscape.

Net Neutrality

Net neutrality is the principle that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, and modes of communication.

Neutrality proponents claim that telecom companies seek to impose a prohibitively priced tiered service model in order to control the pipeline and thereby remove competition, create artificial scarcity, and oblige subscribers to buy their otherwise uncompetitive services.

Opponents of net neutrality claim that broadband service providers have no plans to block content or degrade network performance, and that they should have no limitations on the management of the flow of data through their infrastructure.

Net Neutrality

2010 – The Federal Communications Commission issued an order that imposed net neutrality regulations on wireline broadband services, declaring that Internet Service Providers ”shall not block lawful content, applications, services or non-harmful devices, subject to reasonable network management,” while also mandating that ISPs “shall not unreasonably discriminate in transmitting lawful traffic over a consumer’s broadband Internet access service.”

2014 – The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that net neutrality was not required, because “consumers have a choice in which ISP they use” and can seek out a competitor if they are not satisfied with their current ISP due to content throttling.

2015 – The FCC ruled in favor of net neutrality by reclassifying broadband access as a telecommunications service.

Centralized vs. Decentralized

Social software is often centralized on a single server.(Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.) Some blogging sites are also centralized in this way.(Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal, etc.)

Blogs are a relatively free-form type of social software, and are decentralized, often running on their author’s own domains and connecting haphazardly to other blogs.

Blogging Network Exoskeleton

Links between blogs can be read by computers. Search engines and more specialized services (such as Digg, Technorati, StumbleUpon, Google Analytics, etc.) use them to trace the patterns and connections between blogs, drawing a map that shows sites that are frequently linked to as closer and stronger than sites that are more rarely linked. These services provide an exoskeleton for blogs, displaying a community between blogs that is not necessarily visible to a casual visitor.

Blogging Network Intraskeleton

Other online communities are gathered on a single site (YouTube, Flickr, Flixster, OpenSalon, GoodReads, etc.) and can thus immediately provide suggestions as to where friends or potential connections might be. These sites can be said to provide an intraskeleton for the social network.

Social Network Theory

Mark Granovetter’s theory of weak ties:Weak ties between individuals are more important than strong ties for the broad dissemination of information.

Weak ties are also important because they work as bridges between social groups, giving them very early access to new information.

Social Network Theory

Stanley Milgram and others’ “small world” experiments:Theory that there are “six degrees of connection” or “six degrees of separation” between any two people in the world.

Examples of Social Network Ties

Relative

Neighbor

Friend

Co-Worker

Business Contact

Classmate

Acquaintance

Nationality or Ethnicity

Religion

Political Party

Club

Sport

Examples of Social Network Ties

“Social networks usually develop for other reasons than pure information gathering, such as family ties, a common job, or a shared neighborhood.

Blogs, on the other hand, may exist primarily as networks for sharing ideas, trends, and information. ”


Closed Networks

A closed network, where A, B, and C all know each other equally well, will have difficulty getting new information, unless there are weak links between some of the members of the network and a different network that has access to different information.

Protected but isolated

Open but less control

Distributed NetworksThe Internet was designed as a distributed network, where each computer is connected to a number of adjacent computers rather than to a single, central hub.

Such a network was thought to be more likely to remain functional in the case of an attack on it than a centralized network would be. In a centralized network, the entire network would go down if the central hub malfunctioned.

The Power of the Network of Blogs

While some individual blogs are more popular than others, the power of the network of blogs, or the blogosphere, is in their connections to each other (through links, blog rolls, viral videos and ideas).

The “long tail” of blogging = Most blogs only have a handful of blogs linking to them. Despite each of these blogs having only a handful of readers, all of them put together have more than the New York Times has readers or the BBC has viewers.

TraditionalMedia

Blogs

The Power of the Network of BlogsThe “long tail” of blogging

Blogs

TraditionalMedia

The Power of the Network of BlogsThe “power law” of blogging = Blogs that already have power will get more. In the blogosphere, power often translates to links (since it is easier for search engines to measure links than actual readers). If you have a lot of other bloggers linking to you, your blog will be more easily found, leading to more potential bloggers linking to your blog.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The power of links and keywords =

In addition to allowing human readers to see and follow it, a link is machine readable. Search engines will recognize a link as a connection between blogs and interpret it as a “recommendation.” Google sees links as a kind of “peer endorsement” – the more links, the better other Internet users must think the site is.

If a writer tags his or her blog entry with a keyword, others searching for that keyword can more easily find that post.

Characteristics of Online Social Spaces(Publicly Articulated Relationships)

Danah Boyd, sociologist and social networking researcher, identifies four characteristics of online social spaces that distinguish them from their offline counterparts.


Persistence – Information is recorded and can be accessed later(Even real-time conversations can leave an electronic footprint somewhere)


Searchability – People can find you


Replicability – Content can be copied and modified


Invisible Audiences – You may not know exactly who is viewing your content


Persistence – Information is recorded and can be accessed later

Searchability – People can find you

Replicability – Content can be copied and modified

Invisible Audiences – You may not know exactly who is viewing your content

Blogs as Social Media

“Blogs and the social publishing and communication forms that have developed on the Web are part of (a) larger picture of communication and publishing through the ages.”



Blogs allow more dialogue than the pre-digital written word.


Blogs allow even cheaper and more extensive distribution than print or broadcasting.


“Blogs can be seen as belonging to the post-Gutenberg era, a time after the dominance of print and of mass media. They use technologies first imagined by visionaries of hypertext, but are more social than even these visionaries imagined.”


History of Social Media

2010 - Present

Topic Specific

Geography-Based Check-Ins

Categorizing Social

Connections

Marketing to Specific Needs

A Little Bit of Everything

Visual Content on Pinterest,

Instagram

Video Content on Snapchat,

Periscope, Facebook Live

RhetoricRhetoric is the study of the effective use of language, the art of making persuasive speeches and influencing the thought and conduct of an audience, the method of all specialized literary uses of language in prose or verse

Be logical.

10 Tips from Aristotle’s Three Books of Rhetoric

Logic is a particular method of reasoning or argumentation, a “science” that investigates the principles governing correct or reliable inference.

Think clearly.


Focus on means and ends, without unnecessary distractions or digressions.

Reason cogently.


Consider cause and effect, and reach a convincing and believable conclusion.

Remember that argument is the heart and soul of persuasion.


A discussion involving different points of view is one of the best ways to discover if one side has a stronger case than the other.

Study human nature.


Understanding the distinguishing characteristics that all people share can help connect to them better.

Observe the character and emotions of your audience(as well as your own character and emotions.)


Know your audience, and know yourself. Make modifications as necessary.

Attend to delivery.


Often, it’s not just what you say, but how you say it (the difference between “story” and “plot”).

Use language rightly.


Remember the power of words!

Arrange your material well.


Structure and balance your words and ideas.

End crisply.


A good ending is just as important, if not more so, than everything that came before.

Be logical.Think clearly.

Reason cogently.Remember that argument is the heart and soul of persuasion.

Study human nature.Observe the character and emotions of your audience

(as well as your own character and emotions.)Attend to delivery.

Use language rightly.Arrange your material well.

End crisply.


People make decisions emotionally based on feelings and needs. Intangible benefits are the keys to persuasion.

The Psychology of Rhetoric

People justify decisions with facts, so provide rational justifications to support your message.


People are egocentric and see the world as how it relates to them personally, so let them know “what’s in it for them.”


People look for value, so demonstrate why something is better or worse than something else.


People think in terms of people. Real-life situations are easier to conceptualize and absorb than abstract ideas.


People don’t want to be forced to do anything. You can urge, you can push, you can entice, but people do what they want to do. The key is to convince them that your message is worth receiving, for whatever reason.


People love to “buy” either physical products and services or intangible ideas. They do not like to be cheated or tricked. If what you’re “selling” is good, or you can make it appealing, and you’re not being deceptive, you can find an audience for your message.


People are naturally suspicious, so assume that your audience will be skeptical of any claim or opinion you have. Back it all up with evidence and examples whenever you can. Anticipate any negative arguments and be ready with positive responses.


People are always looking for something, so there will always be an audience for what you have to say. Find a way to say it that will get their attention.


People want convenience. Make your message as simple and easy as possible.


People want exclusivity, and if they feel that you are providing them with something that they can’t easily get somewhere else, they’ll come back to you for more.


People like sensory experiences. They want to see something, hear it, smell it, taste it, feel it. Even if only through words, do everything you can to satisfy your audience’s imaginations.


People follow the crowd. While the majority is not always right, it never hurts to support your message with testimonials from others, examples of others who agree with you, etc.


Rhetorical Strategies for Writing

Exemplification – provide examples to help support the purpose of your message.


Description – detail sensory perceptions of the person, place, or thing you are writing about.


Narration – recount an event you are describing, making it an interesting story.


Process Analysis – explain how to do something or how something happens.

Comparison and Contrast – discuss similarities and differences.


Division and Classification – divide a whole into easy-to-digest parts or sort related items into easy-to-understand categories.


Definition – provide the meaning of obscure terms you use.


Cause and Effect Analysis – examine why something happens and describe the consequences of a string of events


Argumentation – convince others through reasoning


Alliteration – repetition of the same sound beginning several words in a sequence.

Rhetorical Techniques

Veni, vidi, vici.

Julius Caesar

Anadiplosis – (“doubling back”) the intentional repetition of one or several words.


Men in great place are thrice

servants: servants of the sovereign state; servants of

fame; and servants of business.

Francis Bacon

Antithesis – opposition or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction.


Not that I loved Caesar less, but

that I loved Rome more.

Brutus in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

Apostrophe – a sudden turn from the general audience to address a specific group or person or personified abstraction (absent or present).


For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar’s angel. Judge,

oh you gods, how dearly Caesar

loved him.

Mark Antony in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

Assonance – repetition of the same sound in words close together.


Hear the mellow wedding bells.

Edgar Allan Poe

Cacophony – harsh joining of sounds


We want no parlay with you and your grisly gang who work

your wicked will.

Winston Churchill

Climax – arrangement of words, phrases, or clauses in an order of ascending power.


Edward Kennedy

My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in

death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered

simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and

tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war

and tried to stop it.

Euphemism – substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression for one whose plainer meaning might be harsh or unpleasant


Ronald Reagan

We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw

them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and

'slipped the surly bonds of Earth' to 'touch the face of

God. ’

Hyperbole – exaggeration for emphasis or rhetorical effect.


Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here once the embattled farmers

stood, and fired the shot heard

round the world.

Irony – expression of something which is contrary to the intended meaning.


Mark Antony in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

Yet Brutus says he was

ambitious; And Brutus is an

honorable man.

Metaphor – implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words.


William Shakespeare’s Macbeth

Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor

player, that struts and frets his hour

upon the stage and then is heard no

more.

Onomotopoeia – use of words to imitate natural sounds


Robert Browning

A tap at the pane, the quick

sharp scratch and blue spurt of a lighted match.

Oxymoron – apparent paradox achieved by the juxtaposition of words which seem to contradict one another


William Shakespeare’s Hamlet

I must be cruel only to be kind.

Paradox – an assertion seemingly opposed to common sense, but that may yet have some truth in it


George Bernard Shaw

What pity that youth must be wasted on the

young.

Personification – attribution of personality to an impersonal thing


Lord Nelson

England expects every man to do

his duty.

Simile – an explicit comparison between two things using 'like' or 'as'.


Robert Burns

O my love is like a red, red rose.

Assignments Due Next Class

Post at least one new entry in your blog EACH WEEK.

Read your classmates’ blogs and comment where/when appropriate.

Read Chapter 4 of the required text, Blogging by Jill Walker Rettberg.

Read the handout and the two selected texts from the class wiki.

Net Neutrality

https://youtu.be/zASHI9qdB0U?list=FL_DAG-yK7JThyUZ2LqqQ52g

https://youtu.be/zASHI9qdB0U?list=FL_DAG-yK7JThyUZ2LqqQ52g

Education

WFOM 04 - Social Networks