Social Media Article Analysis Assignment Paper (Essay Sample)

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Social Media Article Analysis
The author of the article, The Impact of Social Media on Interpersonal Communication Patterns, Velga Vevere, begins his article by a quote by philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. “Anonymity in our age has a far more pregnant significance than is perhaps realized; it has an almost epigrammatic significance. Not only do people write anonymously, but they write anonymously over their signature, yes, even speak anonymously”CITATION Vel15 \p "P. 125" \l 1033 (Velga P. 125). Velga uses the opening statement to draw his audience to what he is going to talk about in the article, the impact of social media on communication. The introductory statement also informs the leader that the writer is going to emphasize on three main areas that social media influences on; how we write, and how people speak.
One of the things that can be noted about the article is that it uses the views of the various philosophers towards communication as a basis to make his argument. After referring to the different philosophers and highlighting what they said about communication, the author decides to use the view of philosopher Soren Kierkegaard about communication. In analyzing social media and its effects on an individual, the author explains that when you are a public figure, members of the public will always attack you including the members of the press. The above statement relates to the opening statement where the writer associates social media to the issue of anonymity. Most of the people who use social media platforms always want to become anonymous so that they cannot be easily identified in case they make negative comments about someone on their social media accounts. Velga also uses the instance of Kierkegaard as an illustration when he was under regular attack by the members of the press, but he appeared to be unconcerned about the issue. You can also realize that Velga has used the instance of Kierkegaard to illustrate how an attack on social media is not something that one can say is new or just arose the other day. As such, the author helps the reader to develop reflection while going through the article so that he/ she can relate the influence of social media in their daily lives.
Velga also points out how social media has affected the communication patterns among the students in various schools. In a survey that they conducted, they realized that the students acknowledged that social media was influencing their lives in one way or the other especially about their classworkCITATION Vel15 \p "P. 131" \l 1033 (Velga P. 131). The author also argues that text speak is one of the things that became widespread over a long period before the new communication patterns which refers to social media. By referring to use of text messages, the author is trying to create a rapport between the use of written vocabulary in the previous times and also in the social media era. He also tries to establish whether the common communication patterns on social media began after the invention of the internet or it was before the invention of the internet.
The author of the article also relies on the findings from the other researchers before making their argument about the use of social media especially Facebook and also its influence on communication and thinking. At the end of each of the research that the author mentions, he informs us about the conclusions that were made from the research. The conclusions enable the reader of the article to create an interrelationship from the conclusions, and one can be able to arrive at their own decisions after looking at the available conclusions. As such, the author tries in a way not to directly point out or give his opinion about the issue.
Velga argues that Facebook as a social network is always becoming more than simple communication due to the various tools and environment in which it is used as a means of communicating with each other. He also points out that it has become a community that has its particular rules of behavior which mostly are unwritten while others are written. The nature of the language and symbols that are used on Facebook cannot be easily understood by the people who are in the pre-Facebook era. In this context, Velga is referring to people who are new to Facebook, or they have not previously used Facebook or any other...