Article of the Week 22: It’s Not About You, Facebook. It’s About Us.

Jenna Wortham of the New York Times wrote on the nature of Facebook in her article It’s Not About You, Facebook. It’s About Us. This article was particularly interesting because it showed the more personal views on a monopolistic social media. This article was written from a more personal point of view, so the author's experiences make her point valid. In a time of dubious online privacy, this article was written for anxious Facebook users, about 1/3 of the world.

This article was written well because it incorporates pathos in a logical argument. Many people can remember a time when they got into an argument with a friend online. Most of those times, this was just over a misunderstanding that could have been solved in person. She also quotes many experts online in order to increase her ethos. The author simplifies many complex ideas with statements such as, “As our social life migrates to the Web, our emotions move online, too.” The author takes this view while also balancing her love for the internet, therefore keeping herself out of the category of people who just hate technology. The author sees Facebook as a positive innovation because it makes the consumer feel like they are in more of a relationship with companies. Jenna contributes the success of this online site to its passive interaction with users, something other internet sites are just now trying to form.