Introduction
The article, which is titled “Brave, New Social World”, is the focus of this rhetorical analysis, is written by Dennis MCCafferty. Its main focus is on the growing role of social media in the modern world and its impact on important historical occasions, businesses, and other social causes. The author of the article, Dennis McCafferty, emphasized on the notion that the social media is playing a potentially pivotal role in the modern society and experiencing increasing use as a weapon of choice by creative individuals, as they strived to contribute to the society via their opinions, experiences, news, and businesses. The author, in this article, successfully managed to emphasize on how individuals have begun to take matters into their hands by aiding their businesses and other social issues through the use of online social media. . There is an appropriate use of ethos, pathos and logos modes of persuasion in the article.
Summary
The article begins by highlighting the growing role of social media in the modern world. It has been suggested that nearly two-thirds of the world use social media in some form or another. Such social media includes Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc. Online social media websites are catering to the diverse international market by proving them with translated pages and other services. Regarding global usage, Twitter ranks at number 11 in the world social media usage ranking. The intended usage of the social media also alters with each country. For instance, the United States users use the websites for income purposes or agenda promotion. In the U.K., it is mostly used for professional advancement purposes and citizen journalism. Three main individuals are discussed in the article namely Mari Kanazawa’s Blog, who lives in Tokyo, Japan, Lygya Maya of Salvador, Brazil, who promotes her life coaching business, and Amr Hassanein, who is a citizen journalist in Egypt. Mari Kanazawa discusses her life and experiences in Tokyo through her blog. She enables the readers to connect with the subcultures of Tokyo and gain an in-depth insight into the social lives and issues and situation that exist in Tokyo. Maya of Brazil utilizes multiple social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, and an online address book to promote and market her business and ideas. The success she has achieved through this strategy has enabled to her to expand to other social media sites and increased the scope of her business. Meanwhile, Hassanein in Egypt utilizes his impartial and unbiased observations of the revolution in the Middle East to transmit news and insight into the situation. Since social media has every possible kind of opinion, therefore it depends on the reader’s preference and cognitive skills to understand biased and unbiased opinions.
Construction of Text
The text is constructed in a simple and clarified manner. The format follows a standard introductory text and also the main concept of the article. The remaining article is divided into three separate headings to narrate the lives and the usage of social media by the different individuals. Direct quotes have also been utilized as each new individual is introduced and their usage of social media. The rhetorical approaches of ethos, pathos, and logos can all be spotted within the text with varying frequency.
Analysis of the Logos, Ethos, and Pathos
If analyzed thoroughly, then there is a small use of pathos in the article as well as the author narrates the individual lives of the people he has discussed and the impact that social media might have had in their lives. For instance, he narrates that Mari Kanazawa from Tokyo, although used to maintain a personal and humorous blog, the natural disaster in Tokyo, cause her to reflect on the society as well. To transmit the emotional feeling of the person focused, directly to the reader, the author has used direct quotes. For example, he quoted her statement “I was in the Mid-town Tower when it happenedSome people screamed, and some hid under their desks” in order to create an emotional connection between the reader and the subject of the article (McCafferty 20). Similarly, the author has also quoted other subjects in order to drive the importance of social media as he quoted Hassanein from Egypt, who stated: “It made me think about the consequences of blocking people from information” (McCafferty 21). In this manner, in addition to providing factual information to the reader, the views of the subjects of the article are also used to contribute to the central idea of the essay.
Regarding ethos, while the author makes no mention of himself or his credentials in the article, he frequently relies on the credibility of the subjects that have been discussed within the text. After introducing the individual as an average individual by stating facts like “Amr Hassanein lists Babel, Fantasia, and The Last Temptation of the Christ as his favorite movies on his Facebook page” (McCafferty 20). The author impresses the reader with the achievement of the subject “Now working as a freelance producer for the ABC News” (McCafferty 21). Thus, in this manner, the author can emphasize on the fact that average individuals like the reader of the article can utilize social media creatively and make a significant contribution to the society via sharing their opinions, news and businesses with the world. The author utilized a smart strategy to strengthen the case of increasing influence of social media on the lives of individuals by presenting facts, direct quotes, indirect quotes, real situations, statistics, and opinions of the subjects of the article regarding their use of social media to gain a prominent position in the society.
The most prominent mode of persuasion that is utilized in the concerned article is that of Logos. If analyzed from the logos perspective it can be observed that the text makes perfect logical sense as all the individuals described and their use of social media is consistent with the main point of the article, which is that the individuals can embrace the role of social media in their lives and use it as a positive influence I their lives by aiding their businesses and social issues. The supporting stories of the three individuals that are presented in the article validate the author’s main point. There is no contradiction in the article as all the stories provide logical and relevant evidence. The numerical data further increases the article’s appeal to the reader’s logic. The author, Dennis McCafferty, frequently cites facts and statistics in order to establish logical reasoning with the reader by stating sentences such as “Consider these numbers: Facebook is poised to hit 700 million users and, as seven of 10 Facebook members reside outside the U.S., more than 70 global-language translations” (McCafferty 19). The author also relies heavily on external sources of information. He cites the importance of the social media usage in different countries as he states “The top five nations in terms of social media usage are the U.S., Poland, Great Britain, South Korea, and France, according to the Pew Research Center” (McCafferty 19). Visual representation is also an important aspect of the article, as the author presents a chart regarding blog sites. The chart enlists the motivations for writings and readership levels of blogs by region (McCafferty 20). The utilization of all such facts and figures appeals to the logical side of the reader. If, in case, the reader does not agree with or accept the emotional information presented in the article, then the facts and figures and logical conformity of the text appeal to the logical side of the reader, thus, making the article highly convincing.
Perspective of the Audience
He engages the reader by placing facts and figures and presenting the central idea near the beginning of the article. In fact, the introductory sentence sets the tone for the rest of the article by stating “Today, social media is emerging as a dominant form of global communication” (McCafferty 19). A direct and to the point introductory sentence such as this prepares the reader for an idea of what possible notions may follow after the introduction. The direct introductory note of the article is an attraction for the reader, who wishes to read clear and concise documents. After catching the attention of the reader, the author can convince the audience or readers of the main idea via the presentation of facts and figures and the opinions of the subjects of the article. The presentation of charts and the role of social media in the lives of the subjects convince the reader of the main idea of the article.
I also found the article convincing and persuasive due to the apparent absence of personal opinions. Since I rely heavily on facts and figures and am an avid user of social media, I find the article highly insightful and relatable, as the subjects seemed like average human beings, just like me. The facts, figures, and direct quotes were perhaps the most convincing and crucial aspects of the article. The absence of the personal opinions of the author increased my chances of accepting the central idea of the article, as it hinted that the article had a comparatively lower chance of being biased or prejudiced towards the main issue.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be observed that the article “Brave, New Social World” is written very well by Dennis McCafferty. While the author did not present any opposing opinions, he did, present facts and figures. The relatable potential of the subjects of the article was also a convincing factor for the reader. The author, in this article, successfully managed to emphasize on how individuals have begun to take matters into their hands by aiding their businesses and other social issues through the use of online social media. Therefore, the importance of social media in the modern world and its creative uses by everyday individuals is very aptly highlighted within the article.
Work Cited
McCafferty, Dennis. "Brave, New Social World." Communications of the ACM 54.7 (2011): 19-21. Print
