Rhetoric and Facebook

Rhetoric is essentially communication. Its purpose is to convince and influence other people. In utilizes pathos, ethos, logos, body language, speaking style, audience and many other aspects to draw forth from others a particular idea. The idea is to get the audience to agree with what is being argued; the idea is to be liked.

With that in mind, ninety percent of Facebook status updates are a rhetorical failure.

Statuses on Facebook have great potential to influence others. They have the ability to reach a large audience and warrant the ability to perfect exactly what you want to say. With the help of commenting and “liking” a status, they also allow for discussion and to show support from fellow Facebook friends.

But, few people utilize this.

When scrolling through my Facebook news feed, I often see status updates that show no progression of thought and are essentially a waste of space.

A “successful” status isn’t an inside joke between friends, or a statement like “going out with friends,” and it certainly isn’t someone who takes the prompt question “what are you doing?” far too literally.

Facebook provides potential for great rhetoric with statuses though and it’s time the majority of people realize this.

If there is a cause worth fighting for a status can provide the means to spread the word. If there is a message about yourself you want to get out, Facebook provides the means to do it. Yet people should use it sparingly. No one wants to read about how you are “sad.. :(“ every other day.

What I’m saying is, yes, it’s your Facebook and you can post whatever you want, but if we focus more on what and how we post a status, it has the means to be a real rhetoric force in society today.