The traditional hierarchy within the study of rhetoric changed with the introduction of the digital age. The Internet, and social media services such as Twitter in particular, have become so deeply...Show moreThe traditional hierarchy within the study of rhetoric changed with the introduction of the digital age. The Internet, and social media services such as Twitter in particular, have become so deeply integrated with our daily lives that we unconsciously have started to adapt to the very principle that characterizes the digital world: less is more. This paper investigates the theory that emotions now outweigh the importance of facts, and uses the recent victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 US Presidential Elections to illustrate this. It analyses 52 of Trump’s tweets, collected from both his campaign period and the first year of his presidency to support the claim that pathos has become the leading force in today’s rhetoric. Simultaneously, this paper suggests that that the reason why 140-character messages were able to dethrone years’ worth of studies is embedded in the concept of post-truth, and comments on the extent to which the Internet and social media are already capable of both influencing and giving shape to our thoughts.Show less
The aim of this paper was to find out how Adidas and Nike behave on Twitter regarding both product advertising, communication with their community, and retention of customers through events,...Show moreThe aim of this paper was to find out how Adidas and Nike behave on Twitter regarding both product advertising, communication with their community, and retention of customers through events, celebrity interaction and motivational content. Primary focus is on the language contained in tweets published in January 2015 gathered from 12 company Twitter accounts. These Twitter accounts were chosen based on their monthly activity and include the main brand Twitter. We processed the dat into an all-encompassing database of our own design. The database is split up in three sections: tweet information, tweet content category and language features allowing for an easy overview. It contains information on what the type of the tweet is, what the content is classified as, who is included in the tweet, what is linked in the tweet , what its hashtags are as well as the language features that it contains. From this we analysed eight different content and language features: hashtags, Twitter account types, tweet categories, formality, genre, emphasis, phrasing and patterns. This lead to insights in the advertising strategies that these companies employ as well as their attitude towards their followers (their customers). We came across the following results: strenuous collaboration with celebrities to advertise products, use of descriptive language for product advertising, short, quote-like positive messages for inspirational messages, and personal responses for certain (community-based) twitter accounts. There is much use of a similar formula when constructing messages across all of the accounts affiliated to the same company. They furthermore reinforce themselves through the repetitive use of hashtags and phrases, meant to make tweets easily recognizable. Both companies show adaptation to new media: using Twitter as a base with customers choosing to follow them and then redirecting them to their website, using links to YouTube, and including pictures or videos directly in the tweets. We expect that further investigation (with a larger database, either due to increasing the included accounts or increasing the time of documentation) will give an even greater overview of the strategies employed by Adidas and Nike. There is potential for further expansion to include various other new media sites. An analysis of YouTube clips, focusing on word choice may also prove very insightful.Show less
