For the analysis I have chosen a news article from the CNN website, it is called “Cute or creepy? This toy lets babies post selfies on Facebook”.
The article is about Laura Cornet – an Eindhoven Design Academy graduate, who is annoyed by the constant posts with pictures of babies and newborns in her Facebook news feed. Thus, she puts forward an idea that parents do not consult with their kids before posting their photos; there is no agreement between them, and actually, they have no right to do this. As a result, Laura Cornet creates a toy that gives an opportunity for children to take selfies and post them online. The toy is called ‘New Born Fame’. It is a mobile phone inserted in a soft toy that is shaped as a Twitter bird and Facebook logotype. The camera makes snapshots or records a video as a kid stretches his arm for the toy that hangs above the crib. Now the Dutch designer is working on the other project – she wants the taken photos to be sent directly on the parents’ mobile phones.
The headline of an article attracts attention of a reader immediately. It contains a question that intrigues. The article begins with the examples of the comments to the photos of newborn babies that were really taken from Facebook or Twitter: “Little Bob says hi!”, “Bob sneezes! So cute!”, “Bob's first ice--cream!” (Kottasova, 2014) I consider such an introduction as effective, because these captions are well-chosen as they can remind the reader of the similar comments they come across in their own news feed in any social network every day. These examples are followed by a question: “Annoyed by proud parents constantly spamming your Facebook with pictures of their wrinkly newborns?” (Kottasova, 2014) It helps to involve the reader into a dialogue and requires a sort of response.
So in my opinion, choosing an example or a question, as an introduction, is very apposite. In the example, the reader can recognize an illustration or a description of a familiar situation or person. And the question always cries to be answered, intrigues the reader and makes him to finish the article in order to find out the answer.
References
Kottasova, I. (2014). Cute or creepy? This toy lets babies post selfies on Facebook. CNN. Retrieved 7 November 2014, from http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/04/tech/innovation/cute-or-creepy-babies-facebook/index.html?hpt=ieu_mid
