Communication

ASSIGNMENT 3: Online Writing

Learning Target (Curricular Competencies):

  • Use digital media to collaborate and communicate both within the classroom and beyond its walls
  • Recognize and appreciate how different forms, formats, structures, and features
    of texts enhance and shape meaning and impact

 

Social Media requires concise writing.  Always consider your main communication goals when developing social media activities.  The keys to an effective social media presence are to 

  • Identify your target audience.
  • Determine your objective.
  • Select the appropriate channel for your message.
  • Write the message concisely.

Check out this site on how to write for social media.  Consider the basic tenets of concise writing.

  1. Understand your audience.
  2. Be clear on the message
  3. Use active voice.
  4. Get rid of extra words.  Less is more.
  5. Proofread.

Although a wide variety of social media tools exist, we will discuss tips for three specific channels: Facebook, Twitter, and Blogs with a little extra help with Twitter.

"Twitter is an online social networking tool in which users post 280 character updates (tweets) of what is going on in their lives along with links to things they think are interesting, funny, or useful to their followers (“following” being essentially what “friending” is on other sites). People use twitter in many ways, some as a newsfeed by following prominent people or networks, some as a pseudo-chatroom by limiting their followers and whom they follow to close friends and family, and some as a microblog for updating people about the work they are doing and their personal lives.Tweets generally fall into one of the following categories."

Source:  Mom, This is how Twitter Works

Other uses of Twitter include:

  1. to share a link to something useful/helpful
  2. to drive traffic to one's site, such as a headline and link to a new post
  3. to spread breaking news
  4. to provide commentary
  5. to chat or respond to someone else
  6. to pose a question or ask for help
  7. to update status, a la Facebook
  8. to entertain
  9. to weigh in on a popular conversation, usually referred to as a trending topic
  10. to promote an event

TEACHABLE MOMENT:  Sidebar: Notice how each of the 10 items in the list all begin with an infinitive verb (in bold)?  to share; to drive; to spread, etc. etc.  This is called parallel structure.  Review this rhetorical device.

When planning your Twitter presence, it's important to determine your focus.  What will YOUR tweets do?  There are different elements to consider when posting on social media as opposed to text media.  It is important to be aware of your audience and the restrictions of the social media site you use.

TWITTER

  • Link the content
  • Give credit to where you found the article, video, etc. and who wrote or published it, preferably with an @mention
  • Use a link shortener like bit.ly, tinyurl, goo.gl
  • Keep it short and sweet, but still engage the audience - 280 characters

FACEBOOK

  • Link the content
  • Give credit to where you found the article, video, etc. and who wrote or published it
  • Have more room but should still only be 1-3 sentences
  • Encourage engagement; ask a question at the end to encourage comments

BLOG

  • Link the content
  • Give credit to where you found the article, video, etc. and who wrote or published it
  • Organize your writing into paragraphs
  • Encourage engagement with comments
  • Keep the writing focused and not too lengthy.  200 words might be a good average point
  • Summarize the content but still express your opinion.

Source:  Sarah Nichols, MJE/Whitney High School, Rocklin Calif. 

Task: 

1.  Read the article Facebook takes a Stand Against Employers Who Require Passwords.  

You could find and provide your own article if you wanted.

2.  Construct a post for Twitter, Facebook, and a blog to summarize the article.  Follow the guidelines for each site. Note: the posts do not have to be actually posted on these sites. 

Feel free to do further research on writing for these social media platforms.  There is much advice available.

Assessment:  Below you will find the exemplary criteria used to assess the assignment.  

Learning Target: (Exemplary 6/6): Exemplary comprehension of the task and clear accomplishment of the objective. The posts for each social media site are accurately formatted and clearly summarize the article. 

Written Expression:  Exemplary (6/6):  Posts are formatted correctly for each type of social media. Work has been proofread and there are few or no errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar.  Content contributes to the central idea and makes insightful connections with logical organization.

Submission: 

Use the "2.3 Online Writing" link on the main page of this section of the course to upload your assignment to your teacher for marking.