For the social media project, I focused on integrating my sources better to create a paper that pieced together more smoothly. I used Barclay’s formula to formulate the paragraph listed below. When this method was introduced, I didn’t think that I would have enough examples to write such a large and well-formed paragraph. But once I practiced with it and found solid examples to strengthen my claims, this method helped me to form a solid paragraph with specific examples that added a lot of substance and key ideas to my paper. This structure of paragraph in particular makes in obvious where my “they” say parts are because of the way it is set up. Overall this paragraph structure worked really well and I think that by using it in other papers that it could help to change up my writing style.
Anonymity online, particularly social media profiles, allows for people of targeted groups to communicate and relate with each other. As danah boyd described in her book It’s Complicated: The Social Life of Networked Teens, teenagers often use false identities to connect with other teens who have similar interests:
I met a teen girl who was obsessed with a popular boy band called One Direction even though her friends at school were not. She didn’t bother talking about her crush on one of the band’s members in the lunchroom because she know her friends wouldn’t find the topic interesting…Instead she turned to Twitter, where she was able to gush about the band with other fans. (boyd 40)
This example points to the idea that teens use social media to interact with people or groups who have similar interests that align with their own. The girl described above turned to Twitter to express her true feelings about the band because she knew her friends in the 3D or physical world wouldn’t care. She most likely had an anonymous name to help hide her identity, but she didn’t fabricate how she felt about her boy band passion. Similarly, this scenario occurs frequently with targeted groups; a prime example of this is the LBGTQ community. People who are insecure or unsure about their gender or sexuality often resort to social media to find other like-minded individuals. boyd highlights this point in her book:
I ended up chatting with a teen girl who was working through her sexuality. She had found a community of other queer girls in a chatroom online, and even though she believed that some of them weren’t who they said they were, she found their anonymous advice to be helpful. (boyd 52)
People who question their sexuality or gender often feel that they cannot be forthcoming about their situation with the people they know. Oftentimes this causes them to reach out to others who are in the same situation as them; they accomplish this by creating profiles with pseudo names to hide their true identity. By hiding their real identity, they are able to speak freely with less fear of judgement. The girl described above was afraid to come out to her parents, but found comfort by chatting online with other LGBTQ individuals. So, by remaining anonymous, she was able to find her authentic self and the self that she wanted to be.
