[Untitled]

Technology is becoming increasingly more prominent in rhetoric and is, slowly but surely, becoming one of the biggest platforms for people to post their own pieces of writing, photography, and thoughts. But what I want to explore is how social media affects this idea we have of everyday writing that if we can see what someone is doing in a single image and know what they are thinking in a 150 character tweet, why would one read an entire book or article about it? Is social media actively shortening the length of our everyday writing and does this change the impact behind the messages we are trying to convey? Do magazines and newspapers have to work harder to adapt to this new platform, and version of everyday speech? These are all questions that I will explore in my exhibit with the aid of artifacts I have compiled that show different ways our version of ordinary writing has changed due to social media.
Within my exhibit, the artifacts drawn are mainly from the platform Instagram, this is due to the fact that Instagram is a main platform that combines imagery with everyday text, and allows contributions from other users. I highlight the way news platforms, blogs, and newspapers now use instagram to reach a newer and larger audience. For example, National Geographic consistently posts world events on their Instagram, including events related to the current COVID-19 pandemic. In this short caption the magazine managed to tell of an elderly woman battling COVID-19 and the United Kingdom's struggle throughout the pandemic. While the message is summed up to grab the attention of more viewers on the platform, this does not take away from the effect it has on consumers. The comment section under this post is flooded with thoughts, prayers, and opinions that all work in collaboration to form new ideas and evaluate the current topic at hand. This reminds me of the reading “Writing is a Knowledge-Making Activity” by Heidi Estrem, where she elaborates on the idea that writing is the action of thinking and creating new ideas. The comment section is a perfect example of the ideas that Estrem discusses, users simply comment to get their ideas out into the social sphere and allow their thoughts and voices to be heard. They write to think through and evaluate situations and topics, just as done under this National Geographic post.
While this use of social media in everyday writing is definitely something to note in the way it has shifted the structure and formality of ordinary writing, it also should be noted that, like in “Why Technology Matters to Writing” by Jim Porter, it is not the computer that is revolutionary it is the social sphere behind it that has revolutionized writing. Although ideas are shortened with a character limit, like in the artifact of a tweet asking followers to share celebrities they dislike, it does not change the impact that the message has. The tweet reached thousands of people, who not only viewed it but instead commented and collaborated on the thought process, bringing more ideas to the table and expanding upon this one ordinary thought. The magazine Vogue utilized Instagram to post Chanel's new stylish collection amidst the pandemic and how the designer got creative in shooting a COVID friendly campaign. This creativity was achieved through the process of writing down thoughts and ideas for the brand, and Vogues attention for the line boosted the audience for the brand. This is how most things go viral and gain significant attention from audiences on social media, by posting something controversial or comedic. With this introduction of an online platform as the new publishing hotspot for people, newspapers, magazines, and even blog websites must adapt in order to maintain an audience. For example, this artifact of Cosmopolitan Magazines Instagram post of Jennifer Lopez, showing her in a bathtub with a soapy hairdo, while the caption is comedical in an attempt to turn the post into a meme for users to comment and interact with. But is this still considered everyday writing? If we look at the writing “Writing as Everyday Practice” by Lillis, she explains that everyday writing can be completely transactional, no matter the length or intent it can simply be a means of exchanging thoughts or leaving a message. This Instagram post was clearly meant to be a means of leaving a message for viewers to interact with and laugh at, it was not meant to create theories about or change the world. But to simply maintain an audience through the use of a familiar face and comedic caption. The popular award show “The Grammy’s” has also transitioned to social media to allow a larger audience access to content and the ability to share opinions of the academy’s nominees.
Rapper Megan Thee Stallion is shown in a small video holding her three Grammy awards, and the comments are flooded with ordinary thoughts and writing of individuals who consume pop culture media. This not only allows the award show more publicity and attention, but also gains the artist the same attention from the public sphere as well through this everyday writing.
But this overall idea of everyday writing has definitely changed, we would normally view this concept as one's grocery list or note to self. But instead it can now be a short but plentiful post on a social platform that not only speaks to a couple of people but thousands of people within the public social sphere. In one artifact, NASA shares a rovers touchdown on Mars, which is considered to be life altering and yet it is posted on the same platform that the account “Humansofny '' posts content of people from New York's life stories on. On a grand scale, this content is not as life changing as NASA’s but still both are considered ordinary writing. This new way of writing not only alters the means in which we write but also changes the reasons for why we write. Jacob W. Craig notes, in his text “The Technologies, Environments, and Materials of Everyday Writing”, that people can write now and utilize certain languages to gain attention from large numbers of people, but can also gain recognition much easier now when posting work than before. While a message's effect does not seem to be altered by this use of social media in conveying ordinary writing, the impact and audience reachable seems to have notably increased. The use of the social sphere not only allows for ordinary writing to be easily accessible, but also to be collaborated with, and globally spread.