TED Talk: Adventures in Twitter fiction by Andrew Fitzgerald
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Twitter has become essential to people's lives and is a mechanism of broadcasting.
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Fitzgerald's main point is that new mediums create new formats of story telling which create new and evolved stories. Twitter and the Internet are both new mediums that connect many authors to many readers. Twitter is now being used as both a distribution medium but also a production medium. Short stories are split into tweets that are serialized where audiences can tune in daily at a certain time. This builds suspense because the reader no longer controls the speed of reading. Through Twitter there are parody accounts with fictional characters engaging in the real world providing a social commentary as well as non fiction real time story telling from historical accounts (eg. on this day 60 years ago...). Some historical examples of new mediums creating new stories is short stories in the digital marketplace becoming longer and longer because of reader requests. The digital format allowed for a quick feedback system. Also radio evolved from broadcasting reading of books to broadcasting live play of a story in a serialized manner.
Fitzgerald's purpose is to prove that new mediums (specifically Twitter) are creating new formats and new stories. He uses ethos when he begins the presentation "in my job at Twitter..." by showing that he is employed by Twitter he is thus knowledgeable on what users utilize Twitter for. He uses logos when he uses specific authors names and their Twitter accounts to prove his point. He is biased to believe that Twitter is revolutionary and impacts all users. The authors and accounts he mentions include Hugh Howey, Jennifer Egan, The New Yorker, Elliot Holt, West Wing, Mayor Emanuel- parody account, Dan Sinker, Crimer Show, RealTimeWWII, and Teju Cole. Fitzgerald uses pathos when he uses leading words. For example, when referring to the account RealTimeWWII he says: "you're beginning to see ways in which people are telling stories with nonfiction content that can be built into new types of fictional storytelling." Particularly, the word "new" is very leading because similar formats have been published such as in daily newspapers or emails having a "on this day in history" section. The word: "new" causes an emotional excited reaction in readers as they feel an advancement has been made but it is possible that the reality of the newness of the idea is not truly accurate. Fitzgerald kept most of his words scientific in nature which helped to build ethos but some leading words can still be found.
I chose this TED Talk because I am interested in the use of social media. I use social media to spread information pertaining to Millbrook and DECA events. I also have researched using social media to advertise to users. I was very interested to see how writers have creatively used Twitter to tell fictional stories. Using evolving mediums to tell stories is something very important to consider as it possibly (as Fitzgerald says) will impact the plot and message of the stories themselves. This relates to last year's theme of mass media. Author's change how they write and what they write if there is instant feedback from the audience. Author's may change their message to appease their audience if they get negative feedback and need to "boost" ratings.
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This GIF is just an example of the use of Twitter to get instant feedback. Even it is from yourself :P
Overall, great post, Jenna - I enjoyed reading it! I think that your rhetorical analysis was really strong, but you could have elaborated a little more/gone one step further. For example, when you identify the purpose of this TED Talk, you mention that the speaker's purpose is "to prove," but do you think there might be something deeper that he wants to achieve through his Talk - maybe he wants to persuade his audience members to try this out themselves? Just a thought :) But I really like some of the points you addressed, especially the connection you made to our theme of mass media from last year (fits perfectly with this!)
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the idea of making readers anticipate the next segment of any kind of narrative through the use of social media; it is very similar to how Stevenson published a chapter of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde every week to ensure readers would remain interested! Even though Western society is constantly evolving, things like this are a constant throughout time. I also really liked how detailed you were in your evidence and justifications as well as the connection you made to your own life. Social media is an important aspect for people in our generation, so it is good to see that you and other Twitter users are using this for a productive cause!
ReplyDeleteI never would have thought about different mediums changing the way that stories are told. I think that is an interesting concept since the reader no longer has control of when they find out the information and the suspense that comes with that. I think that like Anarupa said authors are trying to find new ways to keep things interesting for readers. The benefit of the author controlling when the story is released allows the audience to stay interested but also in the case of twitter the author can change the story seeing how people respond to what is posted and when.
ReplyDeleteMore analysis needed- start with the structure of the talk itself and move into the speaker's intentions to end with an understanding of the overall purpose, intention, and effect. Think of this in the same way you think about a paper one response- a textual analysis
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