I Tweet Therefore I Am Summary

According to communications.tufts.edu, “Social Media refers to the means of interaction in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.” Early major Social Media platforms include MySpace and Facebook, but have grown to include apps and websites like Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter. All of these can be a “scrapbook” of sorts, a way of storing photos, videos and stories that will stay on the internet one way or another. In fact, even if a user deletes their account, it is very possible to still access what they shared. However, Social Media isn’t just used by the common folk, it is also used by the leaders of our world. For example, many current news headlines like to focus on Donald Trump’s use of Twitter, but it is a great way to easily communicate with his country. For example, at 6:33 p.m. on March 22nd, he tweeted “Spoke to U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May today to offer condolences on the terrorist attack in London. She is strong and doing very well.” Although Trump tweeted this to show that the UK Prime Minister is feeling okay after the attack at her country, it also shows the diplomatic connection between the two. Trump would not tweet a message like this about Kim Jong-un, because the US and North Korea don’t have a good diplomatic connection. Donald Trump also uses Twitter to update what he is working on. Examples include: “Big day for healthcare. Working hard!”, “Honored to sign S442 today...” “My representatives had a great meeting w/ Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at the WH today. Look forward to tremendous growth & future mtgs!” Donald Trump isn’t the only world leader to use Twitter. Other current and past users include Pope Francis, Queen Elizabeth and the Royal Family, Cristina Kirchner and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. It is difficult to ignore the growth of Social Media for not just common people, but for world leaders.

How often do we use social media? Teenagers spend at least nine hours a day on social networking sites. That’s thirty percent of all time spent online dedicated to social media. These numbers are constantly increasing every day. Many of the tweets and posts that we see on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter use arguments and we don’t even realize it. All of these arguments use ethos, pathos, and logos to make a point. Let’s examine how these three concepts are used on social media.

“Those who seek comfort in the idea that the tweeting of childhood is merely a matter of fashion—who maybe even find their lip-synching, hip-swaying little boy or girl kind of cute—might want to think twice” (11).

Moving forward, social media has been a major convenience and reward to virtually everyone. On an individual basis, social media allows friends and family both near and far to communicate with one another. Also, businesses are flourishing through the use of social media. Advertising has never been easier. Horn (2013) states, “Our profession, unlike any time before, is demanding we become social media (…) experts” (1). Horn (2013) also states, “More than half of reporters (55 percent) use Twitter and Facebook to source stories” (1). Social media has greatly benefited business life and personal life.

In the article “I Tweet, Therefore I Am,” author Peggy Orenstein criticizes the problems associated to the distractions of social media sites such as Twitter. The author introduces her article by describing her relaxing Sunday morning with her daughter. The author then quickly recounts her sense of urge to compress her beautiful day into a tweet, acknowledging that her “consciousness had spin off and was observing the scene from the outside… [her] perfect oppurtunity to tweet.” Living in a fast-paced world like today, many people can agree that what we decide to share is ultimately determined by our fantasies of what we think people should see, know and hear for the

In the article, “Get Over It”, by Jeff Jarvis, he discusses the importance of social media and being public about certain actions. Some people do not realize the benefits of social media and how it can bring a community together. For example, “We are sharing because it brings benefit. We meet people, make friends and stay connected. We spread ideas. We get attention. We gather information. We gain trust through transparency” (431). Jarvis is attempting to convey a message alerting the public that through the sharing of knowledge and moments in one’s life can evoke relationships among people and build a

In 2011, New York Times executive editor, Bill Keller, wrote an article entitled, “The Twitter Trap” in which he uses the social media site to discuss its’ impact on society, and the negative ramifications. The article attempts to illustrate the potential dangers of social media on relationships, the functioning of the brain, as well as the education and intelligence of current and future generations. He claims that social media can be dangerous because “innovation comes at a price” and Keller’s concern is that “the price is a piece of ourselves”, which becomes the basis of his argument throughout the article (Keller). Keller’s is directing his article, and consequently his argument towards the New York Times readership, and even more specifically those who are parents of children on social media, as well as general Twitter and social media users.

Twitter has allowed us to connect and share our thoughts through social networking across the globe, where we are restricted to a 140 word count limit; this inability provokes for

As Devin Coldewey had quoted in his blog post "Why I Don't Use Twitter", he stated: "What can be said in 140 characters is either trivial or abridged; in the first case it would be better not to say it at all, and in the second case it would be better to give it the space it deserves." It is hard to imagine what could possibly be held of value when tweeting something with such a confined amount of space but it lessens even more when posting videos and/or pictures. Your character limit becomes increasingly small and you are left with barely any room to say exactly what you had planned. Most tweets consist of emojis and nothing but complete nonsense that have little to no effect on what occurs in someone's everyday life.

One of the most difficult questions to answer is whether that role is positive or negative. For instance, social media sites such as Facebook enhance advertisement opportunities by allowing companies to reach out to the public. On the other hand, they can lead to negative complications such as cyber bullying, leaking of private information, and the destruction of relationships. Rhetoric is used widely in social media. For instance, in order to catch a viewer’s attention, a Facebook status must be short, to the point, and intensely interesting. When someone is posting a picture they add a caption and filter which attracts the audience they intended it for. People choose who to follow on who’s the most attractive or who takes the best pictures. People may decide to create their own profiles, share their accomplishments, beliefs, opinions, and culture. However, even if you aren’t into social media you still see rhetoric all around you, in the news, advertisements, and the workplace. Even in today’s technological age rhetoric is still used which proves that William is again

Social networking sites such as Twitter has made a tremendous change, in the aspects of how people network and communicate with each other over the past couple of years. Remarkably, Twitter was created in March 2006. By February 2010, the hype of this self-styled “New Twitter Experience,” Twitter users were sending out over 50 million tweets per day. In Peggy Orenstein’s article “I Tweet, Therefore I Am,” she exploits the argument that people should tweet for themselves, and not for the pleasing of their followers. Even though, since the article was featured in the The New Your Times. The relevance of this article was intended to be read by the readers of The Times, which most of them were businessmen and politicians between ages of 30-35. Nevertheless, this article was written on July 30th 2010, printed, and published in the book, The

“People can take their time when posting information about themselves, carefully selecting what aspects they would like to emphasize (Gonzales 80).” By controlling what information and self-attributes to share with the online world, an individual may present an idealized version of self that would not align with societal perceptions in the face-to-face interactions. Furthermore, Gonzales notes that recent research in computer-mediated communications suggests that online self-presentations can alter self-perceptions (80). As Orenstein says, “I tweet, therefore I am.” The online presentations of self can become the reality, or idealized reality, of the

In “I Tweet, Therefore I Am” author Peggy Orenstein writes about her addiction to Twitter. At the beginning of the text Orenstein describes a lazy afternoon with her daughter and what it consisted of but she felt this need to tweet about it. Orenstein goes into depth on how social media sites for example Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter is changing our identities and that they are shaping us. With these sites like Twitter you try to express who you are but because of the audience you try to make it more interesting than need be. That’s where your “psychology becomes a performance”(Orenstein 6). Orenstein's over all view of Twitter is that it’s fun but there should be lines between person and persona what is

Relevance to audience: As users of social media you may not think that it can have a bad effect on your life or the lives of those around you. After listening to what I have to say today, will give you a new perspective on social media and the huge control that it can have peoples’ lives.

In our society, social networking has become very popular over the last 5 years. Twitter is a social networking site that allows users to become “followers” of other people and stay informed about current events and social trends. Many argue whether or not these social websites such as Twitter, are good for society. In two articles about Twitter, the authors present different arguments about why Twitter is good or bad for society. The author of “Heading off disaster, one Tweet at a time” by Jim Spellman, states that Twitter is a good way of communicating current events happening around the world. The other article, “Is Twitter Bad for National Security?” by Tony Bradley, argues that Twitter could have dangerous effects on our nation’s