Genre and its place on Facebook

Image 1: [Untitled image of books]

One can describe genre as being that of “texts or cultural products that are grouped into classes based on similarities and shared conventions” (Van Luyn, 2013). In both the real and virtual worlds, the concept of genre plays a major part in how individuals and groups communicate their views across to others – a concept further explored by Anis Bawarshi.  McNeill (2011) does raise the question however, "does going online actually question the genre itself?" (p. 314). Genre in both the real and online sense not only sets the scene and creates expectation within the audience it is directed towards, but it also aids us in interpreting what is being communicated - it is a representation of how we understand what is being shown (DiYanni, 2005).

In a virtual network such as Facebook, one of the many ways genre is used is to convey people’s own individual views via written communication. This form of communicating however raises the question of authenticity, and whether or not the words an individual uses to express themselves in a truthful representation of their real selves. On Facebook, written communication predominately takes place in the form of status posts and comments. With comments particularly, especially regarding videos and images, the most ‘liked’ and popular comments are more often than not somewhat insulting or offensive. As a result, it can be hard to distinguish whether what a person has written is authentic due to the fact that they may have written what they did in order to gain popularity and attention.

 

Reference List

Bawarshi, A. (2000). The genre function. College English, 62(3), 335-360. Retrieved from
             http://thelemming.com/lemming/POP-CULTURE/The%20Genre%20FUnction.pdf

DiYanni, R. (2005). Introduction: Reading and writing essays, in Twenty-five great essays
             (pp. 1-30). New York, NY: Penguin Academics.

McNeill, L. (2011). Diary 2.0?: A genre moves from page to screen, in Rowe, C. & Wyss, E.L.
             (Eds.) Language and new media: Linguistic, cultural, and technological evolutions
             (pp. 313-325)> Cresskill: NJ, Hampton.

Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives, and the Making of Place, Lecture
             6 [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

Image Credits

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