The above comic comes from the comic strip “
Geek And Poke,” and outlines and pokes fun at our extreme dependence on social networks, particularly Twitter. The comic, entitled, “The Genesis Of A Tweet,” features a man sitting at his computer deciding what he is going to “tweet” next. Through classic comic style humor, the comic is able to ironically comment on our dependence on social networking and makes an argument that social networking has become so central to daily life; it is now superior to other more critically important things. To understand this comic and the argument it attempts to make it is critical to understand the significance of social networking in
popular culture, the context in which it was created, as well as the comic’s aesthetic components.
One of the most important elements to comprehending this comic and its arguments is gaining an understanding of the growing significance of social networking to today’s popular culture. The comic focuses particularly on the web site Twitter. Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging side that enables its users to send messages in 140 characters or less. These messages have become known as “tweets,” and the act of sending tweets, is called “tweeting.” These tweets are sent out to the author’s subscribers who are known as “followers.” Twitter users are also able to send out pictures using an application called “Twitpic,” and send out short videos by creating what is called a “bubble tweet.” Since its creation in 2006, Twitter has become one of the 50 most popular websites worldwide and is now ranked the third most used social network. Although the exact number of active accounts is not known, Twitter receives over 55 million visitors monthly, (Twitter, Wikipedia).
Part of the reason Twitter has become so much a part of our popular culture is the fact that many of the most famous celebrities have created Twitter accounts and started tweeting. Celebrities including 50 Cent, Barbara Walters, Adam Lambert, Paris Hilton, Elizabeth Taylor, Ryan Seacrest, Shaq, Jay-Z, Robin Williams, Britney Spears, Martha Stewart, and even Oprah have joined the Twitter craze. There are also many politicians who haven taken up Twittering. John McCain, Joe Biden, Al Gore, and John Edwards have all created accounts and send out regular tweets. By creating a Twitter account celebrities become extremely assessable to fans. Fans receive messages from their favorite celebrities and are even able to send them messages back. This feeling that celebrities are in the reach of every day people has only perpetuated the importance of not only Twitter, but other social networks as well. Aside from being made popular by celebrities, Twitter has gained notoriety by aiding in political campaigns and legal proceedings, being used as an education tool, becoming an effective survey and opinion-gathering tool, as well as very prevalent use in protest. During the Iranian presidential elections, protesters used Twitter as a tool to rally support as well as a method of communication with the outside world after the government blocked several other methods of communication, (Twitter, Wikipedia).
It is hard to go a day without hearing a Twitter reference. News programs, TV shows, and radio programs are consistently making reference to something that someone has tweeted. And the lingo has become common knowledge. There are very few people who don’t know what a “tweet” is, what a "follower" is, and what is meant when someone says that they are “twittering.” It is this integration into popular culture and the obsession with tweeting the right thing that brought about the comic I have chosen. If Twitter were not such a huge part of our culture and every day reality, the comic would not have been created.
But the purpose of the comic and the argument the comic is attempting to convey does not end with the integration of social networks like Twitter into popular culture. It goes much deeper. The comic makes an effort to show that not only has Twitter become integrated into our daily lives, it has become more critically important than things of real significance. Take for instance the man featured in the comic. While a cartoon drawing, he is a representation of millions of people sitting down to send out a tweet. We see the man simply sitting at his computer thinking of what he is going to tweet next. He believes that if he doesn’t come up with something “cool” to tweet soon he will lose followers, something he obviously doesn’t want. He finally tweets, “Sitting at the computer, thinking about my next tweet.” There is an irony and vicious circle associated with this tweet. The man in the comic wants desperately to tweet something cool, so he sits at his computer thinking about what to tweet. However, if he were out in the world doing things and experiencing things, he might have something legitimately “cool” to tweet about. But Twitter has become more centrally important to him than doing other things and being out in the world, so he sits at his computer and tweets about what he is going to tweet.
The aesthetics of the comic also enhance this argument. The comic features three panels, all of which feature the exact same drawing of the man sitting at his computer. The only differences in each panel are the words in the thought bubble above his head. The background of each panel is a blank, barren, and also unchanging white. It is this bleak setting that our tweeter is attempting to find inspiration, and judging by what he finally decides to tweet, we can see that he was really not inspired at all. These monotonous panels and blank background are not nearly as fascinating as what lies in the outside world, which is full of color, movement, and other people. Alone at his computer, our tweeter has become so preoccupied with Twitter and finds it so much more important than activities in the outside world that he is comfortable isolating himself in such bleak, desolate surroundings as long as he can tweet.
Twitter has recently become a critically important part of our popular culture and daily lives. It is hard to go a day without hearing someone talk about what they tweeted or an experience that they are going to tweet about. But tweeting has now become so imperative to some that they are willing to give up important life experiences in order to do it. We have become so obsessed with social networking that following them have become more significant than going out into the world and having new experiences. It is now more important to sit alone at your computer thinking about what you are going to tweet than having meaningful experiences. This Geek and Poke comic, “Genesis of a Tweet,” illustrates that point exactly and addresses the issue with clever irony and humor.
Works Cited
"Microbloggin." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microblogging.
"Panel (comics)." Wikipedia. N.p., 19 Oct. 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panel_(comics).
"Popular Culture." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture.
"Twitter." Wikipedia. N.p., 28 Oct. 2009. Web. 29 Oct. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter.
"What Is Social Networking?" Social Networking. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov.2009 http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/.
Widder, Oliver. Geek and Poke. N.p., 9 Nov. 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2009 http://geekandpoke.typepad.com/.
The above comic comes from the comic strip “Geek And Poke,” and outlines and pokes fun at our extreme dependence on social networks, particularly Twitter. The comic, entitled, “The Genesis Of A Tweet,” features a man sitting at his computer deciding what he is going to “tweet” next. Through classic comic style humor, the comic is able to ironically comment on the integration of Twitter into our popular culture and depict our dependence on social networking. The comic makes the argument that social networking has become so central to daily life; it is now superior to other more critically important things. To understand this comic and the argument it attempts to make it is critical to understand the historical and social context, as well as the importance of the relevance of ethos, pathos, and logos as rhetorical appeals.
