Thursday, April 23, 2015

Small change, Big impact


In Small change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted by Malcolm Gladwell, he mainly discusses how social media has impacted the why many individual and organizations interact with each other. Many people around the world depend on the social media because it’s an easier way to know more detailed news or events rather than reading the news paper. While author Malcolm Gladwell discusses a little bit more on how social media changes the outlook of a society, I absolutely agree that the media is good at spreading awareness, which is something that many people should not overlook. While reading this chapter, I started to notice that the author uses two out the three categories of the means of persuasion. Ethos shows how credible the author is and pathos expresses the emotions the reader feels while reading a story. Gladwell uses ethos and pathos mainly in this section to describe how individuals feel about the social media. Though the use of ethos, Gladwell uses many scholarly and knowledgeable individuals to help back up his point about the aspects of social media. For example he uses Aaker and Smith who say “Social networks are effective at increasing motivation”(321). In other words, Gladwell shows what other people believe about social media and this shows how credible he is. Overall, I must agree that the first step to making an impact on society is making your voice heard thorough any type of media. This can help change the on going things that is destroying our society.

7 comments:

  1. I agree with what you said about having to spread awareness by any means possible and that it shouldn't be overlooked. Social Media is the new way to spread ideas. It is easier and quicker for people to get access to social media. Social Media is very popular today and although the main people using it is the young generation, other older people are adapting to it as well. So it would only make sense to use twitter or facebook to spread awareness because a huge population uses it. Malcom Gladwell uses a lot of logos and incorporates several examples of social issues that have happened throughout history whether they used social media to spread awareness or not. The point is, that no matter what, each era has had a way of its own to reach people and spread ideas. Everyone has their own way to make their voice be heard. But now, social media has come into place, so why not take advantage of it and use it for good cause?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I pretty much agree with everything that you have said regarding the use of ethos and pathos. Malcolm Gladwell does an excellent job of using his resources and coming off as a very well researched and educated man. Not only does he use plenty of examples, he ties them into his explanations seamlessly, making it easier to read and understand what he is trying to say. In "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not be Tweeted", a look into our past regarding different events in history is brought to light, will the idea of social media is explained and challenged. Gladwell explains the idea of social media used to spark or help a revolution and the downside of that as well. I understood it as saying, social media is an outlet where people can show their support, or beliefs for certain ideas and events, but very rarely do people actually go out into the world and act on these beliefs. It is a revolution that lacks actual action, which in turn isn't really a revolution at all

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with all that you are saying. especially saying that Gladwell describes the feelings of the individuals. I think that having a younger generation of people who are hungry for developing technology is a great thing to have in our society. The fact that it influences people of all ages. Gladwell uses an example of a diner sit-in to describe the differences between having your voice heard in the past and future. When all you have to do nowadays is exactly what we are doing for al these blogs and type your experiences into a computer. People rarely do things to show how they feel, while instead if you stand for something its a simple "liked" button. But overall, I do believe social media is a great way to spread ideas, but then eventually we will get lazy and not want to act on anything and just try to change things from behind a computer screen. But then again, by that time we probably will be able to.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's hard to find anything to disagree with in your essay when it comes to how Malcolm Gladwell uses ethos and pathos in his article and his thoughts and opinions about social media networks. Without question he asserts his credibility like you said using many different sources that range from scholars from respectable schools, to historians to sociologists government workers. Gladwell explains that "social networks are effective in increasing participation by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires" (321). I completely agree with the points he is making about how times are changing because these days instead of doing a sit in protest, people would start a protest online using hashtags. I also think that the best way that Gladwell uses pathos in his writing is by using real life stories that happened, some of which involve people our age. To me that is the best way to appeal to a readers emotions, because we could sort of put ourselves in their shoes and relate to what is being said better.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree with you that Malcolm Gladwell uses both ethos and pathos in his article “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted.” He uses pathos through the emotion of his stories, for example, he quoted a young boy who first sat down at the lunch counter saying, “I suppose if anyone had come up behind me and yelled boo I think I would have fallen off my seat.” Using this quote portrays to the reader just how much was on the line for the kids and to what extent they risked their safety. Gladwell also uses ethos by using examples of different protests/revolutions where high authority people and companies were involved like Facebook, Twitter, even the government. Gladwell used many examples to convey his point which I think can make his article a little confusing and not completely clear all the way throughout, however, I also believe his examples are what made his essay so intriguing and impactful. Even though Gladwell used different ways to get his point across I think he used pathos most effectively because I thought it was the emotion and dedication from his words and others that really made his point loud and clear. By using emotion Gladwell was able to portray to the reader how much passion he has for this topic which makes me believe that he knows what he is talking about. All of his examples used also helped show that he has done his research so it shows that he is not just writing about his personal opinion, which also ties in to showing ethos.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I agree that social media has become a more interactive way to spread currents events and also a way for social activist to make their issue known. I feel as though the use of social media not only gets adults involved with important issues in the world but also teens. Given that the younger generation is more likely to read about current event on a mobile device or computer than watching the actually new, we become more interested in the topic at hand and go into further research about it. In the reading Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not be Tweeted, Malcolm Gladwell uses logos, pathos, and ethos effectively to get his point across to his audience. At the beginning of Gladwell’s story ethos is seen by specific details about the history of sit-ins and how they spread like wildfire. By stating facts from history, Gladwell shows his credibility and that he has done research on the topic. Pathos is also used as Gladwell restates some of the racial comment being made and detailed wording on how people fought back at the protesters. With all this being said I think our generation should use social media more actively to really get involved with what’s going on today and find an issue that relates to us and fight for it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I agree that the author of, Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, Malcolm Gladwell, heavily relies on pathos and ethos to effectively construct his argument that social media is not a real means of empowering social change. He carefully selects stories, such as the lunch counter sit in, that readers will have an emotional reaction to. This use of pathos is used to influence the audience to view traditional forms of revolution as impassioned and revolution through social media involving the least amount of care possible. Gladwell employs a great deal of ethos in this passage as well. He provides historical facts about the civil rights movement, and reveals details about more recent revolutions. Gladwell informs the audience that social media spurred revolutions were not alll they seemed. For example, during the "Twitter Revolution," most people actually actively involved in the revolution were not tweeting. This may be shocking and new information for the audience, which then puts Gladwell in a position of power. Because Gladwell has presented new evidence, he has established sound credibility and the audience wants to hear more of what he has to say. Gladwell effectively makes himself a credible source and proceeds to use pathos anecdotes to get emotion from the audience. Even though Gladwell's audience may not want to hear that what they do through social media is not truly helping change the world, because he makes himself seems credible and the evokes the right emotions about past great revolutions, the audience listens.

    ReplyDelete