This week I’ve decided to analyze the voice of a well-known social media and internet blog, Soshable.com. Soshable focuses on opinion-based articles about social media and Web 2.0, offering atypical analysis of the ways social media affects our lives. The blog assumes a professional voice throughout, giving readers a concise and thoughtful commentary of the topics at hand.
One of the posts that immediately caught my eye is entitled The Twitter Paradox: Why it will likely fail sooner or later. The post details why Twitter, a social media website which allows users to communicate via 140-character ‘Tweets’, is ultimately bound to fall from the public eye. The post is content-heavy; there is little room for extraneous diction or irrelevant commentary. Each sentence in this post is relatively short, which places emphasis on content while simultaneously making for a relatively easy read.
The “real-time web” and the data within is a paradox of its own that companies are racing to control, but the data available on Twitter is a goldmine of behavioral marketing and search engine data-boosting firepower that everyone recognizes.
It’s obvious that the diction used here is fairly high-level; Soshable is clearly gearing itself towards a more informed readership base. What’s more, however, we see the author using key words and phrases that are both descriptive and illicit a visual response from readers. “Racing to control … goldmine of behavioral marketing … firepower that everyone recognizes.” It’s apparent that the author himself is somewhat of a proponent of the internet and new social media, and he uses a careful choice of words to communicate his opinion. The phrase “firepower that everyone recognizes” is especially potent, in that it visualizes the supposed power of Twitter, while simultaneously implying that this is a de facto statement, everyone recognizes it.
Other posts, however, are somewhat more comical in their nature, and it’s here that the author’s voice really shines through. The following is an excerpt from the article 15 Most Annoying Types Of Twitter Users, which, as can be seen in the title, is a largely editorial in nature.
I know. Everyone loves Oprah. You can’t say anything bad about her because she is perfection boxed up into human form. Still, what are her 2 million followers doing? She doesn’t talk to any of them. She rarely tweets at all (going on a month of inactivity). It reminds me of the people who followed Forrest Gump on his runs across the country. They were there, waiting for him to say something magical, and it never came.
In contrast to the voice of the last post, this seems a lot more personable and intimate, largely because of the way the comment itself is structured. The author begins with a short phrase, “I know,” which immediately illicits a level of understanding between the reader of the author. Again, he follows this introduction with visual imagery, “… she is perfection box up into human form.” The author then asks a question of his audience, which again reinforces a personable connection with his readership, inviting readers to contemplate their own opinion before reading the following commentary.
It reminds me of the people who followed Forrest Gump on his runs across the country. They were there, waiting for him to say something magical, and it never came.
This classic film reference, while not obscure by any means, assumes the author’s readership is well-connected to popular culture, and again reinforces his intended message by reference to an image. The thought of a crowd of running through the desert chasing after a bearded Tom Hanks is sure to evoke humor, and his connection between this and a host of people following Oprah serves to give his commentary a humorous note.
We can also see in this paragraph how punctuation is used here to establish a rhythm to the relatively short paragraph. Sentences increase in length and complexity, first acting as a “hook” for the reader, then expanding on the point which the author is trying to make. This serves as an effective method of provoking readers when at the beginning of a paragraph – if they become interested by the relatively short and provoking introduction, they’re much more likely to read the rest of the post.
While Soshable’s posts can vary considerably in terms of tone and voice, what remains consistent throughout is that each is effective in communicating its intended message or tone. Most notably, there is a strong emphasis on visual imagery throughout, which helps the author’s words jump off the page and create a strong impression on the reader. I think this is a great way to engage readers and add depth to blog posts, and I will hopefully be able to incorporate many of the techniques seen here into my own posts. Maintaining a professional voice is important to me in discussing my subject matter, but sites such as Soshable provide an example of how to inject personality into a relatively formal discussion of the topics at hand.
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