Wednesday, April 22, 2015

"Social Network Revolution"


After reading Malcom Gladwell’s Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted, I believe that he uses logos to effectively establish his argument.This article essay was first published in the New Yorker, and is a note-worthy write publishing three best-sellers and being featured as Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2005. To define what logos is and how Gladwell uses it: logos is a rhetorical device that uses facts and statistics, historical and literal analogies, and other author’s expertise on the situation. He uses many examples of real-word movements, most specifically the Greensboro sit-ins and how they are in relation to the spread of an idea on social networks like Twitter or Facebook. Logos is used when describing exactly what the Greensboro sit in was, and how the protest spread from North Carolina to a lot of southern states. He uses Michael Walzer’s words to describe the spread of this movement, “It was like a fever. Everyone wanted to go” (314). He also uses a lot of people who are knowledgeable in the aspect of a revolution through the internet, to discredit their opinions and make a platform for his argument. For instance, Gladwell uses the writings of Aaker and Smith, who said “Social Networks are particularly effective at increasing motivation” (321) and shows the problems with their way of thinking and transforms their ideas into one of his own. This idea included that “Social networks are effective at increasing participation--- by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires” (321). He basically introduces that even though are social networking sites are allowing us to easily spread a message, we are lacking the drive to go out in to the real world, instead we choose to stay behind the computer screen, and change or help out a situation that needs hands-on work. The use of social networks puts an ease to this process, but it is not allowing the camaraderie a movement produces, and is built with weak ties, meaning not strong enough to withstand any situation.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with Krystiane's idea that in "Small Changes: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted," Malcolm Gladwell uses Logos most effectively. This short-work debates social media's reinvention of social activism. He uses logos to compare real stories and examples of how social media effects peoples participation in social activism. Social media sites "make it easier for the powerless to collaborate, coordinate, and give voice to their concerns" of the world (320). He critically analyses the contrasting structures of social media and social activism. Many public actions like civil rights movements had a structure similar to that of military campaigns with discipline and strategy, two characteristics that social media acts lack (322). By using these many different forms of evidence, he adds an effective amount of logos to his argument. This, in turn, provides a great foundation for his theory and shows the authenticity and truth of this so called "revolution."

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