Reading about new media in “Defining and Locating Digital Rhetoric” had me rethink the connection between technology, communication, and the art of persuasion. New media helps describe what makes digital spaces unique, while digital rhetoric helps us analyze how people use those spaces to persuade, connect, and create meaning. It uses rhetorical theory to study how people actually communicate and persuade in digital spaces. It pushed me to think of digital rhetoric as more than just technology. It’s about how people use technology to share ideas and influence each other.
What stood out to me most was how Eyman describes new media as a lens for understanding digital structure and behavior. New media focuses on how technology reshapes communication. While digital rhetoric dives deeper by asking why and what effect it has. Overall it explores the work of persuasion in digital environments. Everyday we are persuaded to buy certain things over others by marketing. A key point in marketing is understanding how to persuade people. In digital environments we have less body language which is a big help in persuading people. To accommodate new media people include certain songs, pictures, and videos. This is the understanding of how creators design messages that are used to respond to their audience.
Social Media Being Used To Persuade
These ideas connect to my everyday online experiences. When I’m using Instagram, I’m not just posting a picture. I’m thinking about the layers of how I want to communicate my message. The caption, the hashtags, the timing, and even the emojis I use. I realized that those choices are rhetorical decisions shaped by the digital platform itself. The medium influences how I present myself and how others interpret what I share. When I was growing up, Instagram was more like a photo album. Now it is a way to sell yourself and pick your image. That’s exactly what Eyman means when he says digital rhetoric can’t be swallowed up by new media. It’s about how people use these new forms to create meaning and persuasion.
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