Rhetoric in Our Social Media

In our modern society, social media plays a big role. One of the most hard questions to answer is whether that role is negative or positive. For example, social media websites like Facebook  increase advertisement opportunities by giving companies to stretch out to the public. In the other side, they can reach to negative consequence such as leaking private information, cyber bullying, and wrecking relationships. When it comes to the rhetorical way, once again it is hard to decide the nature of the concept of social media.

            We studied that rhetoric is the art using language to impact and persuade other people. And it is often overlooked this art when is comes to social media. However, the rhetoric involved in engaging to other people through websites such as Facebook can’t be analyzed in the same way as rhetoric used in our daily life and peaceful argumentation. For example, in order to get a viewer’s attention, a Facebook status have to be short, intently interesting, and to the point. Therefore, rhetoric on Facebook is not as detailed, elegant, or developed as the rhetoric used in face-to-face setting. Nonetheless, rhetoric can still be used more successfully than it presently is in the world of social media.

            One of the rhetorical benefits of social media is the chance it gives to build one’s own ethos. However, this doesn’t mean bragging about one’s achievements through egotistic statuses. Instead, ethos can be built efficiently by creating humble yet gratuitous profiles and statuses that concentrate on the positive impacts on society. Too often, social media gives a negative image of the users because they don’t monitor or watch what material they post over the Internet.

            Another component of rhetoric that we can take advantage of through social media is pathos. For instance, many charitable campaigns started through Facebook using emotional persuading to get more support. Those campaigns gather on personal experiences with empathy, sympathy, and the cause to impact Facebook users to join the campaign through status updates.

            While rhetoric is adjusting on and one as communication methods develop in modern society, it is often hard to find rhetoric within these new methods of contact. Rhetoric is often incorrectly utilized or underutilized within social media. If the users of social media learn how to take advantage of rhetoric within Facebook for example, they will build their truthfulness through ethos and will be able to make more impact. People will also get the ability to use pathos to get more support for causes they believe in. social media can be a podium upon which improve an effective position in the society, but only if rhetoric is used effectively.