8/13/2019 Story of the Connected World - PK Jayaraj - Jan 26, 2014

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EnrichYourEnglish270

Iptters a,redead.E-mail s outdated.Text meesageso unfashionable.What sgoingonwith the weywe communicate?WeuseFacebooko scheduleheprotests,Tbitter to coordinate,andYouT\tbeo tell the world.media sers ave o earn hepropertime andplaceor difrerent ypesofwriting.Whileshorthand oes lip ntoFacobook,mails, logs, ndeven omewrittenpapers,mostwriters are stillawareof how o write properly, nddoso often.Shortpunchy entencesndthe active oiceare akingoveras hemostpopularway o communicatenwriting.Wherewritingwasoncea soli-tary activity,t hasnowbecome verysocialway o cornmunicate.

Dtgltalvocabula,rYThe0ford EnglishDictionaryOED)expands veryyearo include henewest ommonlysedwordsn oursociety. owhatmakes word ofiicial'andnotjust slang? he eality s thatwhatwasoncoconsideredlanghasnowbecome ccepted sofficial.Vernacular ordsandphrases nter hedictionaryegularly,n 2013,he entriesfor tweet',follow'and follower'havebeen ea{ustedn the OEDo rePre'sentbotha nounandverb, n order oreflectuse n socialmedia.n the atestquarterlyupdateo the 0:dordEnglishDictionary, neentry n particularhasattractedattention:u.raal,reviouslydefinedonlyas hechirpingof birds'hasbeenexpandedo refer o 140-char-acter kitter updates swell. he OEDloosenedts usual tenyear ule"to letthis nowcomern. I\nitterwasborn asasocialmediasite n 2006, ndearly hefollowing ear ts users laytrllycoinedtweet, both anoun amessageostedon hitter) anda verb(to postames-sage n kitter).It ispossiblehatmanytechnolo$calermsmayeven eplaceolderphrases. goodexample f thiswouldbe"FriendMe",as n theFacebookctionofrequestingriend-ship. Unftiend",meaningo removesomeoneN a 'friend'ona sitesuch sFacebook,asvoted heNewOdordAmericanDictionary'swordof theyearin America.OdordDictionaryOnline(0D0) has ecentlyncludeda numberof words,suchasphnb'ettbitnoir;enwji,andsoon, n linewith the cultur-al shift towardsechnologandmedia.

TheFarcobookflectIn little more hanhalf a decade,

The toryof theconnectedorldomesay hatwe, humuw,havealways eensocial.The iseofsocialmediaenables eopleofina$ fulfil their innatedesireobecome ore onnectedooneanother.Socialmedias an umbrellaerm hatcovers groupof web-basedpplica-

tionsand he contentgenerated y hegroupof thoseapplications,heseincludesocialnetworking-Facebook,MySpace,inkedln,wikis,blogsandVideoandphotosharingike YoultbeandFliclc. Websitesike Facebookndlkitter havebecome basicpartof ourlivesoday, ocialmedias changingurpersonal ndsocial ives.There sno doubt hatsocialmediasiteshavechangedhewaywe commu-nicate.Wepostpicturesonourprofflewalls nsteadof thewalls n ourhomes.Overhe ast enyears, ocialmediahasstimulated undreds f thousandsfconversationsver olitics,worldevents, umanragedies,deas, pin-ionsandnews, reated nd destroyedmanygovernmentsndofrered wealthof entertainment.Socialmediaconsistsof online oolsandwebsiteshatencourageeopleo interactwith com'panies, rands ndpeople, nd ormcommunitiesy creating, ublishingandsharing ontent.Socialmedia s atwo-way ommunicationtream,where-aswith traditionalmedia;messagingspublishedhrougha one-wayommuni'cation trea,mo themasses,.g. adio,telovision ndnewspaper.

A nsw orm of connunlcadonAs communicationnd nformationtravel asterand aster, heworld seemsto getsmallerandsmaller.Thishasgreatmplicationsor howwecommuni'cate, speciallyith today's bsessionwith socialmedianetworks,Oneof thebiggest hangesn theway hatweinteract,due o socialmedianetworks,is the sheernumberofpeoplehatwecan ntoractwith, Bofore ocialmedia,wewereexhemelyirnited n ourmeans

to interactwith othersandwe were im-itedlargely o thepeoplehatwe kneniin-person,However,ecause fsocialmedianetworla,we arenowable ointeractwith thousandsfpeople llover heworld this iswhywe seepeo-plewhohave housandsfFacebookfriends hough heywouldneverhavethat manyf theyhad o interactwiththemoffline. Socialmedianetworksallowus he opportunityo shareopin-ionswith afar wider audience. hekindofglobalconversationhat socialmediawebsites, uchasFacebooknd hitter,havedevelopeds beyondhecompre-hension f mostpeopleat the beginningof the decade. heres not a rightorwrongway o communicatend oadaptsocialanguagento our ives.However, e areall becoming ngulfedin thisnewworld ofcornmunicationueto technology-andf we haven'tdonesoalready, ill be orced o learn hisnew orm of anguage.

Wea,reea,rning new anguageThenew anguagesers peakn 140bytecharactersnd augh n L0L's.Themaineffectof socialmedia s that sen-tences ndphrases avebecomemuchshortenFor example,he alterationoftheword Facebook'to bebotha nounanda verb canchange sentencerom"I will sendher amessagenFacebook"o simply l'll facebooker".In our ast-pacedociety,he almost-instantabilityof socialmedia o sharethoughtswith theworld hasalsoafrect-ed ourbehaviourn actualspeech.Goneis the dayof snall talk. Kissgoodbyeolengthy ntros.Thesweepingroseofearliergenerationss $vingway o anewwayof writing that is moreconcise,jumping ight to thepoint.Bloggingascontributedo this aswell, sincemostsuccessfulloggerscrow hat theyonlyhavea few secondso drawareader n,beforehe clicla away.butspeakandoveruse f abbreviationsr slangs notappropriateor every etting,Social

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8/13/2019 Story of the Connected World - PK Jayaraj - Jan 26, 2014

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asgonerom adoor-roomo acompany ith 600 nillionis oneofthe fastestgrowingn historyan essential artsocial ife not onlyof teenagersfmillioneofadultss Facebookpreads ,roundglobe,t creates urprisingbecorningnstrumentalnprotestsromColombiao lran.erea country,t wouklbethird largest ountryn ilre world,han he U,S,Thischangenasbeen efened o asFacebook ffect".Beforeheeraong-distanceelatives ndmightonlybe heard romonaoccasion.utwith Facebook,hesendacquaintancesanberomdaily,Communicationithwhoare ar awayno ongercon-of convenationso catchup on hedetails hat havehappenednother's ivesduring hepastsixStatusupdates llowpeopleowhat shappeningn theotherper-ife regula^rly.ot onlydoyouseebig things,but the smallday-to-dayaswoll. Facebookasbrokenbarriersand nadeong-distanceeem s fthey area thingofpast.EfecdveFaoebook ostan effectiveFacebookost s anan earn t easily.t is aact that Facebooksersovehatare un to read,orarenougho share omethingthoydonrtknowabout,Positivealwqysuceivemoreuser nterac-osts.Weshouldnothat Facebooks meant or relar-your riends, hit chattinggood tuff,andmanyusersjusttake imeofffromtheir busyConsideringhis,whenwritingyourmakesure hat there s someext, hat is rnotivating,unandnon-revealng.Ihe ontentahnays ave ome'feelgood"hat urgeuserso e:plore tA nice,attractive elevantmageourpoststandout romotherstreamsnsideuser'snewseed,contont,graphics r texton t shouldbeeasily eadabledevices, ever ost magesblunedcontentor small exton t,mobilousersmaynotfind it

onomallscreens. eoplewice as ikelyto comment naostasa non-questionost,Bend ind a wqy o get hecon-;;;r"d ;*-"-* --

versationoUing,Keep ourFacebookposting hort.People rescanningFacebook,otreadingt. The ongorhepost s,the lessengagingans ind it,SHn, ecanandecrollBeforehe Internet,writerswroteandrea.dersead.However,ike rnosthings,

technologreft its markon hewriter/readertlationship,For heInternet,writerswriteand eadersscan,his is the argestdifrerenceanongnanybetweenwiting for thelVebandwritingfor print.Ttrinkaboutit, When ou eada book,or themostpartyouplan o settledownwith it andtakeawhilo.Whetherictionor nonfic.tion,books regenerallyead or long-termpleasure.Web ontent,however,squitedifrerent,t hasbeen epeatedlyproven iewers canapage.Elesmayreston a title, sectionheading, oldedwordorparagraph eginning,ut weseldomjusteada webpage.Most itevisitorsareverybusypeoplewhowantto readonlyas muchas heyneed osatis$ hegoal hatbroughthem oyoursite.Wehurry romhomepagethroughpathway ages,eading s ittleaspossible,Weskimandscan irst tofindwhatwecameor.Skimmerson'treally ead he contenton eachpage,buttheydoscanhrought in order ofind quickvisualcueshatwill helpthemget he nformationheywant.Whenheyseesomethinghatappealsto them,heywillstopand eadmorethoroughly r click a link to get o thecontenthatdoes nterest hem.

Wrtdryin cAberspacethewritingworld is changing,t almostsounds lich6,but t is true,nonethe-less.Writing n cybercpaces no ongerthe aughing-stockf thepublishingindustry.Asa result hefocw of thepublishingndustryhasshifted tompapercopyo onlinemedia,ireIntemethas evolutionizedheprintedpage, roducingeadilyavailablemate-rial for people ll overhegobe,Becausef this trendwritershavefound t necessaryo adapt o theever-changing ublishingndustry.But mostwritershaveound hat thewebhoklsits om publishing hallenge:eopledon'tread he Internet ike theyreadabookor magazine.heyend o let theirattentionslip more eadily.Asa resulttheyonly eadpageshat soundapeelof relevancyo that shortattentionspan.Thismakeswritingfor the webalittle morechallenging,he uleshavechangedn the newpaperless orld.

Howmustawriteradapt n thisbrave,newcomputerizedorld?Ora,mna,rmottersDoes amma,rmatter n onlinepoets?0kay,grammarmatters.Youorowhatbeinggarnrnaticalsn'tjust about ol-lowing he rules ikesome ortof robot.

It is aboutpayingattention o context.It is using anguagehat ismost ikelyto beunderstood.t is aboutsendingmessagehatwill be metwith respect,just as t showsespect,Doest botheryouwhensomeoneays,Betweenouand "? Does our ip twitchevorsoslightlywhensomeonesesan apostro-phe o makeaplural?Wecanexcusetheapostropheiolatorswhogetcon-fusedwith compoundours,Those retriclryrules.Whatwe canneverexclne,howwer,s thedisregardfordtsversusfb, suchas heemailreceivedellingme Thecompanywants o use t's own ogo,'. t is thesimplestof rules, eally, f there sanapostrophen dtb, t stands orrif s or lDas,and nothingelse.Thisis anhistor-icalevent or ourorganisation,"roteapersonhe otherday, eferring o thelaunch f a newproductine.Let'sputasido,fwe can,he ncorrect seof.histnrical whtch means neventnthepast asopposedo hlsfonr, whichrefers o an evont'smportancen thecontextofhistory.Let'sconcern ur-selvesnsteadwith the usgof the ndef-inite article:ara.Thinkofall the mportanteventshathave akenplacen the world n tholast iveyea,rsndaskyourselfiftherewasnoInternetorsocialmedia,wouldthe nformationbe restricted,ho newscommunicatedoo ate,wouldyou mowabout hemasquicklyasyoudonow?Lookat thedebate s o how ntegralsocialmediawasn the facilitationofEgrpt's reedom, soneCairoactMstconciselyut it 'lile useFacebookoscheduleheprotests,\ritter to coordi-nate,andYoulirbeo tell the world'.Socialnotworking iantssuchasFacebook,hitter, Instagram,ndGoo$e+have reatedabravenewworld. s socialmedia evolutionisingourworld?Youdecide p.K Jaya,rql

P$qYarqis@gnrail.comBeferencelKirkpatrickDavid:TheFacebook ffect,

Random ouse Books,2012LesterJohnandWatersK John:heEverythingGuideo SocialMedia,FPlusW Media,nc,2010

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