Blog #2

            Social media is often thought of as recreational and fictional. The three articles give rise to a new purpose for social media.  The article by Erin Zammett describes how social media often misrepresents things. People never know the “behind-the-scenes” moments behind a post on Facebook. Zammett encourages truth and honesty with her social media and believes that more people should do the same. The NPR article with the interview with Bev Gooden also describes a sense of truth and honesty. Bev created the hashtag #WhyIStayed for hashtag activism. This hashtag activism encourages women to answer the all-time question of why they say in an abusive relationship. She is creating a more honest and open social media community. Kima Jones in “Writers of Color Flock to Social Media for A New Way to Use Language” describes how writers of color use social media in order to get their literature and poetry out to the public. In the article, Teju Cole states, “A lot of the people I want to be read by… are not people who have subscriptions to The New Yorker or The New York Times, so it’s important for me to speak to them in this way also”.  This is a strong reason behind the new social movement of using the social media websites to bring about change and honesty. What better way to get information out to the public than to use an outlet that is growing and expanding everyday by everyday people? All of these articles describe how social media reflects social movement and change, all involving honesty. They make up a “social media bringing about change” community, if you will.

            In Harris’s article, he states, “Community thus becomes for Bartholomae a kind of stabilizing term, used to give a sense of shared purpose and effort to our dealings with the various discourses that make up the university” (14). This ties into the social community because they all have a shared purpose of creating a more honest community of change. They see themselves all as dealing with a bigger purpose of creating a movement. Talking about the “discourse community”, Harris states, “Abstracted as they are from almost all other kinds of social and material relations, only an affinity of beliefs and purposes, consensus, is left to hold such communities together” (15). Although it is probable that none of these writers know each other, they all share the common goal of brining about change within our community.  They make up an "interpretive community", as they all have a shared desired interest in changing the future and bringing about change. As they do so, they are bonded with the belief and purpose, which leaves behind their own community.

            I believe that these writers are in a community of their own because they share purpose, agenda, and meaning. I would not be counted as being within this community. I do use Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, but I do not actively write or use my social media toward creating a change within the world. Being a part of Twitter, Facebook, and/or Instagram puts anyone in a community. The Social Media community is one that has flourished, as many people download and find various uses for these apps. These social media sites themselves are a community that houses many other communities. There are communities within each site that are specific in what they talk about, post about, etc. One may use political discourse, activist discourse, etc. People who have a passion and interest in that particular area make these specific communities. The way individuals speak and use their language within these communities shape its purpose and ultimately, its entire meaning. Language determines whether it is thought of as professional, amateur, democratic, liberal, conservative, or any other label.  Social media is definitely becoming a growing community with multiple mini-communities, all with different ideas and meanings.