Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Salma Cruz
Eng 5
17 Oct 2020
In today's society, it’s no question that social media has become a fundamental part of
our day to day lives. A great percentage of the population has opened up accounts or “profiles”
with different sites that allows us to share life events or even just thoughts amongst our loved
ones. Posts on social media can range from pregnancy announcements to a post about
somebody's current jobless situation. Of course some people have more time and are more
invested into keeping up with updates shown on these sites compared to others. Some people
also are completely against social media, not having any profiles on these sites. They often refer
to the negative effect that can come with spending time on these sites. The first article in
comparison is from NMEDIAC, by Lee Farquhar and Theresa Davidson. The second article
being from scienceblog.com. The first article is more formal: using a more professional
terminology, longer page wise, and a more specific use of statistics. The second article however,
is shorter, straight to the point, not as detailed, and doesn’t refer to research as much.
Overall, these articles both have a similar overall purpose, which is to reveal the negative
emotional effects that can come from social media use, as well as the happiness it can bring.
Within the more “blog” style article, the purpose is more to communicate what others feel when
it comes to their social media use. The unknown author of this article states how “It is not simply
the amount of social comparison one does that matters, but the type of comparison that predicts
happiness and life satisfaction” (scienceblog.com). What I took from this part of the writing was
that social media does not always bring negative and degrading thoughts about oneself. Rather
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so, some people let certain content affect them and their self esteem. For example, there’s two
social media users. One may be a bachelor that feels stable in life, without any desire to settle
down and get married, have kids, buy a house, etc. Another person may be a man who is also
single, but feels lost in regards to their current path in their life journey. Let’s say they both see
their mutual friend’s photo post about their new house, with a ring on their finger while holding
two children. The bachelor is more likely to go on about their day after seeing the post than the
other man. In fact, they might even feel BETTER about themselves and their current life that
does not include the same responsibilities as others. This is because the bachelor currently feels
at ease, happy, and satisfied with their life. The other man may get upset after seeing the post,
maybe have a self conflicting moment, and begin to have dramatic thoughts in their head. He
may begin to think what is he doing wrong, and if he will be alone forever. The first article
though is more research based, including different cases. Regarding the percentage of Facebook
use to one’s life satisfaction and overall happiness. This writing piece is more centered around
numbers, and these statistics are to be used more in a professional conversation. In general, these
both have the same purpose to further state that social media does not only have cons and brings
negative emotions as assumed, but it also can bring happiness to others. The difference between
the way these two communicate this idea is that one goes more into depth than the other, and
serves different purposes. The blog post being more for entertainment value within normal
citizens, and the other article that is more likely used in a professional setting and shared
It is safe to say the biggest difference between the two articles is their genres. Without
even reading both pieces, the audience can automatically tell which one is more formal, and
which would be more appealing to a regular person. The blog post is obviously set up in a more
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eye appealing way, it is spaced out well, not too overwhelming at first sight. The text is laid out
reasonably, while still containing interesting information. This is because people who write blogs
do so with the hope of having a bigger audience. They need to keep their posts at a reasonable
length that seems appealing to the eye. Layout is very important in a genre like a blog post.
However, the other article in comparison has a more crowded look at first sight. Apart from
being longer in page length, it automatically looks more formal. The layout is simple yet
contains an extensive amount of information. This is because it’s purpose is different, it is not for
entertainment. It is intended for a more professional use, and for exclusive educational purposes.
With each article and their different genre, comes a difference in their audience. After
analyzing both articles, it is clear who the authors were intending to communicate their message
with. Because of the second article’s informality, we can instantly tell it was written for an
average person to read. Someone such as a person who feels that their use of social media is
beginning to affect their mental health. “It is not the amount of Facebook use that matters, but
rather, how one feels they measure up in comparison with those around them”, is said by the
unknown blog author. By saying this, his/her intention may be to communicate to a social media
user that maybe they should think differently about how the emotional effects their social media
is having on them. The more formal article includes references to other research done and is
therefore intended for a professional audience to use perhaps in their workplace. “Using survey
data from a sample of college students and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk workers, findings
In conclusion, both writings show similarities within their information about the
happiness and pros that can come from social media. Although the differences are evident,
within the intended audiences and the way each is transmitted in an informal, and professional
method.
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Works cited
http://ibiblio.org/nmediac/2019/comparing_on_facebook/Facebook_comparing.html
ScienceBlog.com. (2019, February 04). Surprising Link Between Social Media and
https://scienceblog.com/505768/surprising-link-between-social-media-and-happiness/