WP #1-Revised

Maria Leal

Z. De Piero

MW 3-4:50 PM

WP1: Identifying, Describing, & Analyzing a Genre Across Multiple Sources

There is something peculiar about humans that shows just how much more evolutionary advanced we are as a species. Perhaps it is our ability to group and find similarities or differences between numerous things. Or maybe it is our skill to detect subtle nuances and patterns in different textual genres, which are now commonly “viewed as even more than repeating rhetorical situations” (Dirk Pg. 17) When examing social media outlets, Facebook, Instagram, and Yik Yak specifically, as a writer, it is vital to accurately identify a text’s genre in order to become self-aware of the conventions and rhetorical features that contribute to a genre’s identity, as well as the value and effect they may possess over a reader.

Where other textual genres have a specific purpose, such as a newspaper’s duty to report on current events, or a textbook’s job to provide legitimate information on a certain subject, finding the specific purpose of the social media genre is a bit more strenuous. Older generations, who already critique today’s generation, may argue that the sole purpose of social media and all that comes with it, such as posts, is to promote narcissism among an already self-engulfed generation. However, the purpose of social media goes far beyond that. Nowadays, the versatility of this medium of communication allows for its purpose to be expanded, making social media far more similar to genre than ever before in that it also has the “power to help or hurt human interaction, to ease communication” and can even “enable someone to speak” (Dirk Pg. 17). Networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Yik Yak open the doors to entertainment, friendships, fashion, gastronomy, and even social and political movements. Spreading the word, or “trending”, about an upcoming event whether it may be a concert, sports game, or even a crucial yet last-minute protest, such as the protests that ocurred nationwide in response to the Trayvon Martin case. Those protests were made possible because of social media. Groups on college campuses, and also outside, realized just how controversial the verdict was and decided to act upon it. They began to rally organizations together, work out scheduling, and created events that they promoted through newspapers, word of mouth, but their biggest push came in the form of social networking. Facebook events were created, Instagram posts were posted, and people “yakked”, in present time, about their thoughts on the verdict and the ongoing protests without the fear of being attacked in person. The purpose of this example is to show that there are countless purposes to social media. Most users may use it for what it was created, to socialize and stay updated on what their friends or favorite celebrities are doing, but the potential for this medium, as well as its purpose, is endless. These national demonstrations had successful turnout rates and helped event organizers and activists “accomplish their goals” because they were fully aware of what the specific genre of social media “is used for” (Dirk Pg. 18).

The astounding thing about online social networking, as opposed to the common face-to-face contact, is the audience potential; however, before I can go on to discuss the available audience for social networking, it is important for me to consider the audience of this paper, who may or may not be familiar with the three aforementioned social networks. A quick debrief: Facebook is an almost universal social network that has connections in the majority of the world. Facebook users range from celebrities, to teenagers, to parents, and in some rare cases, even grandparents. Users can post status updates, upload pictures, “like” pages, and “share” pages, events, and articles with their friends. Instagram, now also owned by Facebook, is a less cluttered version of its “step-parent website”. It is a Smartphone application that allows account users to share and upload life events and moments through pictures with captions. The demographic for Instagram is very similar to that of Facebook, with the exception of the parent and grandparent group being far smaller. Lastly, Yik Yak is more of a college campus Smartphone application that solely allows text statuses to be published without any pictures. It can be accesible in other places besides college campuses, however, its usage and activity is highest on campuses nationwide, and even abroad in some places. It is a relatively new social networking platform which aids in its popularity among college students between the ages of 18-25. It is important to know that in order to use Yik Yak, one does not need to create an account, as with Facebook and Instagram, because everything is posted anonymously.

Before social networks were introduced to the public, communicating with a mass group of people seemed practically impossible, unless of course, one had access to other sources of major media such as the radio, television, and publishing companies. As a result, audience is a very important rhetorical feature of social media.

In terms of Facebook and Instagram, there are two available audiences, one being more extensive and broader than the other. Depending on the user, an account on either of these two networks can be made “public” or “private”. Under “private”, the audience of a post or profile is limited to solely pre-approved followers or friends of said account. However, when an account posts under “public”, its content can reach a much bigger audience. Virtually, anyone can see that account and its posts should it already be a “follower”/friend  or happen to simply stumble upon it. Furthermore, unlike an account on “private”, a “public” account can also be publically listed under any hashtags or key words found in a post, and essentially, be seen by anyone with computer access.

Yik Yak, while still a social network, has a much different audience than the aforementioned networks. Yik Yak still has the potential of reaching hundreds, if not thousands, of users, however, the range is far more limited. On Yik Yak, there is a set radius, of 1.5 miles, as to who can view and vote on “yaks”, or posts, within that region. For instance, someone can post on Yik Yak while being on the UCSB campus, and people who live in nearby Isla Vista can see these “yaks”, and upvote/downvote them, however, someone in North Carolina cannot do that to a post coming from UCSB. Yik Yak does give the option of “peeking” on “yaks” in another region, but one cannot interact and vote on them. Yik Yak, compared to Facebook and Instagram, is also very different when it comes to its users. It is a completely different social networking atmosphere where anyone can post and the votes they rack up (or don’t) is not affected by who they are, such as a celebrity who21 gets thousands of likes on their Instagram post, but by how well others relate to that post or were entertained by it. It is unbiased.

            Social media, although still a textual genre, has far more versatility, when it comes to rhetorical features, than most other writing outlets, with context being no exception. The context of a status update, post, or yak varies from post to post and user to user. If it’s a personal account, posts will revolve around that person’s lifestyle, in other words, what they do for fun, the people they surround themselves with, and in some cases, even their beliefs and ideas/organizations they support. If the account belongs to a company or organization, their posts will revolve around their upcoming sales or events. As a result, there is no one set context for all of social media because the lives of account users are constantly changing and something new is always going on. In order to better understand the context of a post, one would need to be familiar with the original poster.

            In terms of the style/tone of these social networks, once again, it greatly fluctuates for these rhetorical features are easily and consistently influenced by outside factors. The tone of posts on these media outlets is affected by the time of day, the people online, as well as what is going on in present time around them locally or in the world, and the individual account. For instance, posts on Yik Yak during the day are vastly different to those that are posted during the night. In the daytime, “yaks” focus on classes, professors, and events going on on campus. Come night time, there is a great change as Yik Yak becomes bombarded with posts of loneliness, parties, or even procrastination. The same can be applied to Facebook. Realistically speaking, Facebook, while still greatly active with millions of users, is not as active or popular as it was a couple of years ago. However, say an earthquake were to hit southern California, virtually everyone would log on to create a post relating in one way or another to the earthquake that everyone experienced, creating a tone of urgency and worry with the occasional status update poking fun at their “fat friend who fell off the bed” and thus, was the cause of the earthquake. The style and tone of most Instagram posts are easy-going from “Celebrating Joe’s Birthday at #Disneyland” to “Beach day with the gang. #SantaBarbara”. However, I say most because some accounts may choose to post about raising awareness for a cause and create an urgent and sympathetic tone, or a business may use their account to advertise an on-going sale at their store for a more encouraging tone. Evidently, there are endless factors that affect all the rhetorical features of social media posts.

            While it seems that absolutely everything about social media is completely vague and ambiguous and therefore impossible to figure out, when it comes to conventions, although they may not be set in stone, the guidelines are a bit more evident. Posts on all three networks, Facebook, Instagram, and Yik Yak, are mostly never extremely lengthy. Of course, there will always be those handful of people who feel that documenting and letting everyone know every aspect of their life is essential, but for the most part, users follow the widely accepted  conventions of social media. In fact, Yik Yak, in order to avoid such lenghty posts, has made it so that “yaks” cannot be longer than two hundred characters. Instagram and Facebook do not have a character limit, but the majority of users have acknowledged to keep posts and updates short, often quirky, and perhaps embedded with an emoji, or five, in order to make posts more eye catching and appealing to their followers, friends, or other nearby fellow “posters”.

            Social media can be used for so many positive things, but truth of the matter, is that older generations are at least somewhat correct when they say that today’s generation is self-involved, to a certain extent. The reason users follow these conventions, is more often than not, for the online social approval. People on Facebook update their “status”, perhaps consciously or perhaps “without even thinking about it”, yet hoping that their status might “generate comments from [their] online friends”, Instagram users post for the Instagram likes and follows, and those found on Yik Yak, “yak” for the upvotes (Dirk Pg. 18). It’s a side of social media that can never be erased.

            The need of approval and popularity that a vast amount of users experience may seem off topic, however, it is extremely relevant to the importance of genre identification. If a user wants the likes/upvotes/followers, an “outcome [users] desire”, then they need to know what other social media users want (Dirk Pg. 18). Knowing and having the ability to identify a genre is like identifying and knowing one’s audience. It allows for one to know what information is expected, as well as not expected, of a genre.

Furthermore, it aids in proving a point if a writer is choosing to do so. Circumstantially, a teenager would not email their grandmother to wish her a “Happy Birthday” if she did not know how to email. In that case, mailing a birthday card would be far more acceptable. Also, a teenager would not ask their grandmother for money in a birthday card. That is not part of the conventions of a birthday card. Learning about genre is vital in order to become better readers and writers so that “we can see how specific choices that writers make result in specific actions on the part of readers” (Dirk Pg. 19). Practically everything that humans come in contact with on a daily basis is some form of “purposefully written” textual genre: an academic essay, a newspaper, a love note, a textbook, social media, the list is endless (Dirk Pg. 19).

            Ultimately, the rhetorical features and conventions of textual genres, like social media, and the importance of genre identification are often overlooked despite its value. Other times, they are overlooked because people are so accustomed to including these things in whatever text it is they may be creating, that they do not stop to think about it; it is almost second nature. However, should someone not be familiar with the rhetorical features and conventions of a specific genre, being able to distinguish and identify different genres is extremely beneficial as to knowing when the appropriate time is to use said genre.