It is awe inspiring that every post becomes a far-reaching network to others that is hard to truly imagine, and it is noticeably different than the writing that I do in a classroom or professional setting. Similarly to Facebook, my posts on Twitter have also developed my writing and made me aware of the audience that I write for, and the assumed audience’s own postings. But it is somehow on this medium, opposed to Facebook, which the audience also seems to be talking back to me more, and forcing me into the awareness that they are also sharing in the same manner I am. As I write for an online group of peers, I think about, debate over, and constantly check over the words and phrases I choose, and for different reasons than I would if I was not writing for this audience. And, as Clive Thompson points out in his section on “ambient awareness”, that this concept of a group thought in the form of an internet application such as Twitter, “gives us social proprioception: a group’s sense of itself” (214). Proprioception is the notion that there is an orientation of the world around oneself that is not necessarily seen in clear focus, and this is how people view social media, with an unconscious perception of it’s far reaching contact with others. It is here that I, like so many others, notice that each tweet will be broadcast to a potentially global audience, shifting my way of writing and sharing. As others write about their own day-to-day experiences, I respond via Twitter, and the writing, in only 140 characters, must be clear and concise. I am so much more focused on creating a personal impact and understanding with the people that I am communicating with online, whether it was through humor or mutual appreciation of a topic. Although I do worry about being clear and precise in other forms of writing, the need to make sure my broad, potentially huge audience likes or comprehends my point seems all the more important. This need to reach a level of perfection in clarification, however, has definitely started to shift into all writing I do, even “offline” works.

The audience effect and online writing, according to Thompson, helps writers today “to debate, to marshal evidence, to listen to others, and to concede points” (67). My writing for homework and essays has changed from the way in which I view my leisure writing, and the same things I strive to achieve in my online posts, such as being concise and comprehensive, have made a great impact in my writing style. How I view my writing is shaped in turn by knowing that others view it.