Narrative and Social Media

Narrative and Social Media

Image Retrieved from http://www.sidewaysthoughts.com/blog/2011/08/the-stories-we-tell-social-media-as-narrative-psychology/ 

In Week 5’s lecture, the idea of seeing the world through English literature was explored, with reference to authors such as Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte, as a way of communicating their place/world to a modern audience (Kuttainen, 2015). Victoria Kuttainen (2013, p.51), in her reading on 1940s stories in magazines, also suggested that narrative was highly influenced by place and so effectively linked different networks through use of the world from the authors point of view. The same can be said for social media.

Many amateur writers first publish their work on social media websites such as Tumblr. Like the Bronte sisters, and Jane Austen, these writers are heavily influenced from the society around them, and so from an audience’s point of view, we are given insight into the world from the amateur writer’s point of view. Response to these fledging stories are also an indication of the narrative of place within social media. Whether the responses are positive or negative gives an insight into the space and interaction with place that the audience receives from reading that is influenced from their own culture and identity.

Professional writers are also influenced by space and place with which readers/fans on Tumblr freely use to interact and connect with each other. J.K. Rowling’s inspiration of World War Two on her Harry Potter book series is a popular discussion point on Facebook and so is evidence of the power that narrative can have when communicating ideas of historical and geographical influence through generations and global spread. Not only is narrative used on social media to communicate cultural points of view, but it can also be used by the author to better understand the events associated with their worldly influence; so allowing others to do the same.

Narratives on Tumblr do not only exist as amateur stories, but also in the blogs written and comments posted, which indicate how thoroughly the influence of the author’s respective world view is apparent in their identity on social media.  Therefore, narrative in social media is a way of linking networks and giving insight into world views based on the interpretation of the author.

References:

Kuttainen, V. (2015). BA1002: Week 5: Stories and Places, week 5 notes [Powerpoint slides].

Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_1996330_1&course_id=_69740_1

Kuttainen, V. (2013). Style, modernity and popular magazines: Writing Pacific Travel. Telling Stories:Australian life and literature 1935-2012. 51-56. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/webapps/Conc-camcontent-bb_bb60/items/getitem.jsp?as_course_code=14-BA1002-TSV-INT-SP2&content_id=_1631889_1&course_id=_60553_1&doc_id=53202