Social Media Challenges for Professional Writers

摘要

In this Commentary, I discuss some of the ways writing has changed for professionals who write in and for organizations as they have moved from traditional print writing, and even from early, static digital writing, to writing with and through social media. Because of their inherent interactivity, social media require a shift in the writing process. The Commentary begins with a discussion of these changes in the writing process, comparing these new modes of social media writing with more traditional professional writing practices. The second section focuses on a brief case study of the challenges of writing with social media. The example involves a blogger for the American Cancer Society, who wrote a blog entry criticizing a Facebook page that encouraged the Mattel corporation to create a bald Barbie doll for children with cancer, resulting in backlash on blogs and on Facebook. The final section discusses the implicationsfor professionals who use, or plan to use social media as a writing strategy.