Essay writing is an indispensable component of the school and college curriculum. Though it morphs into a slightly different avatar (known as report-writing) when we enter our careers, there is no doubt that it remains an essential skill to possess. Social media essay represents a well-thought-out, structured method of presenting your views on a topic in an interesting, balanced and logical way.
With the all-pervasive role of social media in our lives, we are more connected than ever. However, attention spans are shrinking and unless you’re able to effectively “hook” the reader in the first few seconds, no matter how well-researched, well-presented and important the ideas of your social media essay, your reader may move on.
Apart from personal social media networks, regular mainstream media has social networks and the difference between the two is getting increasingly blurred. As Peter Cashmore, founder of mashable.com put it, “We are living in a time when attention is the new currency. Those who insert themselves into as many channels as possible look set to capture the most value.”
Facts To Help You To Write A Social Media Essay
The term “social media” refers to a group of interactive, computer-mediated technologies that enable the sharing of information, ideas, and opinions through networks and virtual communities. It includes user-generated content like text, video, images that are shared via various platforms and devices like laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc. Writing a social media essay you need to keep in mind that social media is being used increasingly as a marketing tool by corporations, businesses, individuals, governments, not-for-profit advocacy groups etc. Popular services include Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, YouTube, Skype, Pinterest, SnapChat, Instagram, Reddit and more.
Because of the pervasive nature of social media, it has become a topic of interest for academics, marketing professionals, industry and technology watchers, social psychologists, educationists, and the general public. Writing long-form content like an essay on the ever-changing landscape of social media helps writers to stay relevant, authoritative and interesting to readers.
Tips On Writing Essays On Social Media
When the topic is social media itself, the essay writer has to keep several important factors in mind while writing a social media essay:
- Target audience
- Social media platform being used
- Citing credible research and facts
- Taking a position: Either for, against or a balanced presentation of both points of view
Getting Started
Research studies conducted by a Toronto-based marketing firm McLuhan and Davies shows that whatever the nature of content, the most successful writers use their time judiciously: Planning: 40%, Writing: 25% and Revising: 35%. The planning aspect involves analyzing the target audience and purpose of the communication, deciding the tone and tenor, identifying suitable and credible resources and mapping out the structure.
Social Media Essay: Ideas And Topics
It’s important to adopt a clear position when writing an essay on social media. For instance, the possible aspects can be explored in social media essay topics such as:
- Pros and cons of social media
- Negative effects of social media
- Positive effects of social media
- Impact of social media
- Social media addiction
- Social media argumentative essay
- Persuasive essay about social media
- Satire essay on social media
- Cause and effect of social media
- Social media isolation
- Is social media good or bad?
- Environmental and health impact of social media
- Social media and online education programs
- Time management for Instagram addicts
- Problems of cyber-bullying and trolling on the social media
- Legislation and government rules for social media
- Will Twitter and Instagram make traditional media obsolete?
- Can employment and career opportunities be improved via social media?
- Safety and privacy issues on social media
- How much government control should there be on the social media essay?
- Negative effects of social media on society
- Positive and negative effects of social media
Apart from these examples, there are many other points of view and social media essay topics that you can adopt. Contact professional essay writers to get quick assistance.
Most Common Types Of Writing
The social media essay introduction and the style and type of essay that you choose to write depend largely on your own unique needs, preferences, experience, personal style of expression and writing skills. Typical types of essays about social media include the following
Persuasive Essay About Social Media
This form is also known as a “position paper” where the primary aim is to present your point of view and persuade the reader to share it. This is achieved by presenting credible information, facts and figures, clear delineation of evidence that support your position. Keep the Greek ideals of debate in mind while writing: Logos, Pathos and Ethos – logical reasoning, an appeal to the emotions and passion, and finally, taking an ethical position. This means no fake facts, unreliable figures, fallacies, misinformation, alarmist tactics or misleading arguments. This form requires:
- An interesting introduction
- Awareness of target audience
- Logical flow of information in a coherent way
- Display of commitment and passion
- Credible, authentic research to build trust, support and clarify
- Remember opinions are not facts, but you can support an opinion with relevant facts
Narrative Essay On Social Media
The narrative form is a traditional position adopted in essay writing. In this context, many blogs and opinion pieces would fall into this category as they focus primarily on telling a story, whether one’s own or someone else’s, to support a particular point of view. Stylistic elements include:
- Use of first-person, names, places, dates (can be changed to protect privacy)
- Vivid, attractive style
- Deep reader engagement
- Well-crafted, sequential and coherent narrative
- Conclusion constructed towards a personal statement
- Invites responses and comments
Expository Essay On Social Media
This type of essay concentrates on presenting a non-biased, bare statement of facts and figures. Opinions, arguments and first-person references don’t find a place in this form. It can also include the compare-and-contrast, pros-and-cons, cause-and-effect, how-to types of expression. There is no room for personal judgments and arguments here. Instead, relevant statistics, research, reports etc can be quoted. This essay requires:
- Bland and matter-of-fact style
- Focus on explaining, illustrating, clarifying and providing information
- It could include processes, comparisons and problem solving
- Objectivity and neutrality are maintained throughout
Selecting a topic that deeply interests you as a writer is a way to invite readers to access the available information on a topic and to share your ideas and opinions. A structured approach can help you to write an effective, readable and authoritative social media essay and help you to maintain visibility and relevance. Apart from this, it gives readers value for the time they spend while going through your essay.
