Find me on Twitter, Facebook, and even MySpace, because we are here to change the world so “follow” me. I have read the writings of Malcolm Gladwell and Dennis Baron to analyze and write about. They have both presented different points and ideas on the significance of social media and how it has affected our world past and present. Gladwell’s essay, “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted” is focused on the sit-in of 1960, an event started by four African American college students who went to a local diner for service, but were denied because of their race. This turned into a historic protest, stretching across the Deep South from North Carolina to as far as Texas, involving as many as 600 other protesters in a time when there was no internet or social media; not including the amount of police force and other organizations called in to try and stop the whole thing. He also feels that social media is not associated with strong activism such as this. While Dennis Baron’s story, “Reforming Egypt in 140 Characters?” is focused on the uprisings in the Middle East and how natives have organized and used social media and other lines of communication to spread their views to overthrow political powers. Although that is true he also points out that the government can manipulate the sites by putting up firewalls, and filtering the news that is spread; thus making it hard for social media to make a hug impact on revolutions that take place. Although Gladwell and Baron both address the role social media may or may not play in activism with a well-thought- out argument, I find Baron’s argument most persuasive because he presents current facts about how the Twitter Revolution was credited with fostering the ousting of former Middle Eastern presidents and the support it has provided for other protest over the last year. I am also living in a technology driven world, so I see firsthand the job that social media is doing – it is much easier to relate. Gladwell makes clear to the reader why his topic matters. For instance he presents “the platforms built around social media are built around weak ties, giving you the tools to gain a thousand “friends” that you could never have in real
life.” Basically “following” or “befriending” people you will never meet which is a significant issue in the current conversation about false friendship or internet safety in our culture today. Students who joined the sit-ins across the South in the 60’s described the movement as a “fever”; one that was irresistible.
These writers also skillfully confront the opposition in their writings, but they handle their opponents ’possible objections in different ways. Gladwell somewhat agrees with the use of social media sites like Baron, but uses important numbers to further support his reasoning – acknowledging the members of Facebook groups. Noting that “there are 22,073 members of the Help Save Darfur group who on average donate fifteen cents, Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice.” Baron himself, states that some Middle Eastern countries may cut the internet lines, so that the people can’t use it. It almost seemed like he was contradicting himself and beginning to agree with Gladwell, but later gave other examples of communication tools such as sneakernet to get the message out. Both of these talented authors employ the incorporation of powerful anecdotes and statistics. Their use of numbers to represent the members that took part in the Facebook groups or sit-ins makes their points very clear. The statistics convince me more powerfully because I am a firm believer in numbers and numbers never lie; can be worked with sort of like math to always get the same answer every time proving to be nothing but truth.
I found that Baron didn’t use as many quotations as Gladwell. Gladwell gained a lot of my attention with those supporting quotes, because in a way it showed that others agreed with his thoughts. He had several quote sandwiches in his essay – a writing skill that I just learned in these past three weeks; they help provide further information and reasoning and make everything understandable. Baron’s essay is much shorter than Gladwell’s and he didn’t incorporate any useful quotes in it. I don’t feel that he needed any though, I’ve read it several times and have a clear understanding of the point that he was trying to make out with his essay. He uses more
personal information that he has previously researched in he writing.
Finally, the writers’ intended audiences affect the unfolding of both their arguments. To me I never found an intended audience to either one of the author’s essays. This may be because I am not that much of an experienced reader or I haven’t perfected the skill of reading in depth or knowing what I should specifically be looking for in each reading. I feel that both authors wrote informative essays and that something can be learned or taken away from both of them. Gladwell’s essay may affect a larger audience because it deals with an event that happened during a historical time; it also took place in America and it affected a broader range of people. It happened over fifty years ago, but there is still a statue up of the four men who started the sit- in, so a younger person of my age to unborn children today can stumble across any reading about the event and see physical representation of it during their lifetime. Baron’s essay may only affect an older audience or those who may keep up with world events or even the people in the Middle East. The issue he wrote about is more of a current one that a younger audience is not concerned about and as American’s it is one that probably won’t affect us directly so many of us won’t think twice about it.
As I have illustrated throughout my essay, based on the analysis of these writers’ similar and contrasting strategies, Baron’s argument is the most persuasive one for me because I see first-hand how social media sites are used to organize events, rallies, protests, parties, etc. It is so easy to share thoughts and beliefs about anything you wish to by taking advantage of the technology we have at our disposal. You find others who share the same belief and interest and are willing to join you in any organization to plan to put together. Both essays resonate with me and convey a high level of skill in both authors, but Gladwell’s style appeals to me the most and teaches me a few useful skills that I will likely incorporate in to my own writing, such as the use of quotes, and learning how to properly put together quote sandwiches, as well as including historical facts and interesting statistics to support my writing and prove it to be true incase readers would like to research it. I have gained from both authors, Baron’s
short and to the point style keeps my attention and I have no questions or doubts about the reading, at this point I believe that my personal style is more similar to his than Gladwell’s. I would like for my writing to increase so that I incorporate the different tools like Gladwell does, I believe it will add length to my essays – making me a better writer.
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