Analyzing Rhetorical Strategies in "Social media is reinventing how business is done"

Analyzing Rhetorical Strategies in "Social media is reinventing how business is done"

Litterio, Anthony. "Stipula fountain pen". https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stipula_fountain_pen.jpg. 5/26/2011 via Wikimedia. Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

In this blog post I will be analyzing the rhetorical strategies employed by author Tim Mullaney in the article is I have chosen for my project.

Appeals to Creditability or Character (Ethos)

• References to credible sources- He links certain keywords to relating articles on USA today, a reliable source.
•  Word Choice- by using words like "reaped" and "mull", Mullaney adds character to his work.
• Information about the author's expertise- Mullaney's specialty's are economics and technology which makes him credible on this topic.
• Appeals to values or belief shared by the audience- He appeals to those that agree that social media is beneficial in the business world.

1. Mullaney uses these strategies to connect with his reader while proving that he is credible on the subject. Without making himself credible on the subject, readers have no reason to read his pieces.
2. These strategies are meant to give the author credibility and to give the writer his or her own voice. Using his sources and his background give him the credibility needed to hold the attention of a reader. The word choice he employs makes him seem like he is not just a robot and gives him more of a character.
3. The strategies make his article more effective. His credibility backs his message and his character makes it easier to relate to him. He makes himself more appealing to the audience.
4. Mullaney does not make any assumptions or have any biases. He provides statistics or examples to back his ideas versus assuming.

Appeals to Emotion (Pathos)

• Tone of voice- Mullaney employs a informing tone as he informs his readers on the topic.
• Level of formality- this article is kept formal, allowing for Mullaney to present the information he wants in a formal article.

1. Given this is not the most emotional subject, there are not many uses of emotional appeals in this article. He keeps this an article that does not employ emotional tactics.
2. The result of this is that he writes an article that focuses on giving statistics and examples rather than trying to make the readers feel a certain way.
3. Mullaney's choice to not use much emotional appeal is effective because this is not an unemotional subject.
4. The lack of emotional appeals cements Mullaney's credibility because it allows him to focus on the factual details of the topics.

Appeals to Logic (Logos)

• Historical records- provides statistics from the past for example, "use of internal social networks up 50% since 2008".
• Statistics-  provides current statistics such as "the sales of software to run corporate social networks will grow 61% a year and be a $6.4 billion business by 2016". 
• Interviews- He includes quotes from people involved in the topic.
• Effect organization- Mullaney uses subtitles to organize his information.
• Clear transitions between sections of text- There is space between each subtitle, which introduces a new idea. 

1. Mullaney is attempting to create a very strong backing for his ideas with his evidence. This leaves little room from those in opposition to argue. Mullaney wants the response from readers to be that they respect his argument, and that is why he provides so many details.
2. The result is just as he wanted. He provides multiple examples and statistics and this makes for a strong argument.
3. These strategies are extremely effective for this topic. This is a topic that relies on facts versus emotions. The audience is looking for statistics on how social media is involved in business and that is what Mullaney provides.  

Reflection

I read the analysis blogs of Katherine and Annelise, and their analysis were similar to mine. Seeing the work of my peers was helpful in that it showed me how other wrote this blog. I think that after reading the blogs of my classmates I feel that my blog post was well developed. My blog was similar to theirs in that I felt that all three of our authors used logos most effectively. Annelise's article differed my mine in that her author utilized all three techniques.