Blog Post 2
The first article I read was, “Writers Of Color Flock To Social Media For A New Way To Use Language,” this article mainly focused on social media being an outlet for people of color who want to write. Twitter offers a way for colored writers to be seen, because sometimes the sad truth is, they might not be taken as seriously as Caucasian writers are. Thankfully, with the help of social media, both people of color, and those who don’t necessarily feel like poets or writers, can now share their works via Twitter. The second article assigned was, “Fakebooking: Why I Didn't Post This Photo to Facebook,” this article was about a mother, who decided not to post an adorable family picture on facebook. She didn’t post it because, the events leading up the actual photo, weren’t so adorable. She felt that if she were to post it, she would be a phoney. The last article was actually my favorite, it was “Hashtag Activism In 2014: Tweeting 'Why I Stayed,” this article went in depth on the reasons why women stay in abusive relationships. The hashtag “#WhyIStayed” went viral in 2014, answering the media’s question to why it’s so hard for abused women to leave.
All of these readings gave me insight on a better use of social media. Twitter and Facebook can be used for more than just posting pictures of food and talking about your day. In each of these cases, social media was used for the better. Each of these articles were examples of discourse communities, much like I learned about in last week’s reading, “"The Idea of Community in the Study of Writing". As Harris explains it, discourse communities are built on a common goal. In the first article, the goal is to shine more light on writers of color. Every person mentioned in the first article is a part of a discourse community that shares that goal. The author of the second article aims to convince people to use social media not to brag and show unrealistic posts, but to be true to yourself. She is a part of a discourse community with the goal of being who you are, and not being afraid of what others think. The last article, obviously, is a discourse community. The goal is to let the world know the story of the women in abusive relationships, how sometimes the circumstances aren’t what the general public would suspect. These goals or discourses shape these communities because that’s why they were formed to begin with. Another point that Harris made was that although you might be in a discourse community, you aren't ever wholly in or not in a community. For instance, I am in a community of students, because we all live in Sandoz Hall. But, just because I'm in that community doesn't mean that we share all the same discourses.
Being a college student comes with the cliché that I am obsessed with social media. However, that is not really my situation. The only form of social media I use is Facebook, and I actually don’t use it all that often. I suppose that I’m in a community on facebook with my family and friends, but I’m also in a closed group online, because I’m going on a volunteer trip abroad this summer. I would call that a discourse group because we all communicate and share a common goal.