Social media is so many things. It’s interaction, communication, fun, games, creation, friendship, and SO. Much. More. Here’s one more (maybe controversial)  thing to add to the list: social media is advocacy. 

Let’s back up–I just threw so many words into those sentences and maybe I need to provide a little bit more of an introduction. 

Introduction/ Scenario: 

You’re guiding students through a technical/business communication classroom and you wonder what the best possible way to utilize social media spaces in the classroom is. As a result, you turn to Sarah Warren-Riley’s “Social Media and Advocacy in the Technical and Professional Communication Classroom” and just that title alone starts to get you thinking. 

Now that you’ve got all these important terms, you want to put them to action. You ask yourself, well, what’s advocacy got to do with anything? I’m here to help Sarah Warren-Riley in her argument and tell you that practicing and teaching advocacy in the tech comm classroom helps students as future communicators realize the power they hold as advocates and consider who they affect with their communication and choices online (and potentially offline). 

Here’s where “social media” comes in. Start somewhere they already know and love. I don’t know about other classrooms, but my students are deep into their phones before class starts. And even when the clock turns to 8:00 am and I loudly say “good morning” for the day, they still need a minute to pull their attention away from their screens. 

I can’t judge and say that all students are on social media, but I’d like to think a majority are (given how almost everything can be considered social media today). That being said, the space where students are able to be advocates already exists. But now, how do we actually get them thinking about advocacy? 

Advocacy can be a broad term. The Cambridge Dictionary plainly states it as “public support for an idea, plan, or way of doing something”. And that’s exactly it, but we want to link it back to pedagogy and the technical communication classroom. As future communicators and active citizens in society, our students are currently or will soon be advocating for something in an online space. And don’t be fooled, advocacy pops up in the simplest of ways, especially in social media spaces. A simple meme can have so much meaning hidden behind it, a picture can represent a person or idea, and even a quick “like” can have massive effects. 

Once you’ve identified the space for advocacy (social media), the advocates (every student/person on social media), and the argument (literally anything that matters to them), you can shed light on the topic and bring this method into the tech comm classroom where students can start to consider the effects of everything they do online. As Sarah Warren-Riley says, “Once engaged, students can then begin to consider how all texts advocate” (299).

Getting tech comm students to begin considering social media as a means for advocacy is a great first step into how interesting and powerful technical communication can be! Comment below any ideas/topics you might be currently engaging with on social media!