Teaching Writing Skills: Comparing Social Media Writing and Academic Writing

This informal CPD article, ‘Teaching Writing Skills: Comparing Social Media Writing and Academic Writing, was provided by International Language Experts, who organise language training for companies and individuals. 

In contemporary education, teaching writing skills often involves navigating two contrasting landscapes: social media writing and academic writing. While both forms of writing serve communicative purposes, they differ significantly in structure, tone, and objectives. As educators, understanding these distinctions is crucial to designing writing lessons that are engaging and relevant to students. This article examines the key differences between social media and academic writing, explores whether social media can learn from academic writing, and suggests how teachers can make writing lessons more engaging.

Differences between Social Media Writing and Academic Writing

Social media writing and academic writing serve different purposes and audiences, which largely accounts for the stark differences between the two. Social media writing is often characterised by brevity, accessibility, and immediacy. Posts on platforms like Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn rely on short, impactful captions to convey ideas quickly and efficiently. This style prioritises engagement, using catchy phrases, humour, and visual elements to capture attention. As Obar and Wildman (2015) argue, social media has democratised information sharing, allowing for instant, often informal, communication without the necessity for thorough fact-checking or references.

On the other hand, academic writing is a structured and evidence-based form of communication that requires depth of analysis and critical thinking. Academic essays, research papers, and dissertations are generally longer and involve complex ideas supported by scholarly evidence. According to Hyland (2000), academic writing aims to establish credibility and contribute to ongoing conversations in specific fields. It is grounded in rigor, necessitating clear organisation, accurate referencing, and the use of discipline-specific terminology.

One of the key distinctions is the presence of sources. While academic writing must be supported by well-researched, credible references, social media posts can often be speculative, opinion-based, or subjective without the need for citations. Additionally, academic writing assumes a more formal tone, with careful consideration of grammar, style, and structure, whereas social media writing may be more conversational and informal, with the use of abbreviations, emojis, and hashtags (Al-Ali, 2014).

Can Social Media Learn from Academic Writing?

Although social media writing and academic writing appear to exist at opposite ends of the writing spectrum, there are aspects that social media writers could learn from academic writing. One potential area for improvement is the inclusion of evidence-based content. Social media posts, though impactful and concise, often spread misinformation due to the absence of factual references (Pennycook & Rand, 2021). Incorporating elements of academic writing, such as verifying sources and citing credible references, could improve the trustworthiness of content shared on these platforms. For example, platforms like LinkedIn, which blend professional discourse with social media dynamics, can benefit from academic rigor by encouraging users to back their claims with data or reputable sources.

Moreover, academic writing's emphasis on structure and clarity can also inform social media writing. While social media content is brief, the message it conveys can sometimes be fragmented or oversimplified. By adopting clear argumentation strategies from academic writing, social media posts could enhance the clarity and coherence of the content, allowing readers to follow arguments more logically.

Making Writing Lessons Engaging and Relevant

As educators, one of the challenges we face is making writing lessons engaging for students who are more accustomed to the fast-paced, visually-driven nature of social media. To address this, teachers can create lessons that blend the immediacy of social media with the depth and rigor of academic writing. Here are a few strategies:

1. Contextual Writing Assignments: teachers can create assignments that ask students to write both a social media post and a short academic essay on the same topic. This helps students recognise the differences in tone, structure, and purpose while maintaining engagement through the relatable context of social media.

2. Analysing Real-world Examples: using real-world examples from both social media and academic journals can foster engagement. Students can compare the writing styles, tone, and purpose, and discuss the effectiveness of each form in conveying ideas. This comparative approach encourages critical thinking and highlights the importance of context in writing.

3. Incorporating Digital Literacy: as social media is increasingly used for educational purposes, lessons on digital literacy can teach students to assess the credibility of sources, even on platforms where citations are not the norm. This can help students become more critical consumers and producers of content.

4. Bridging the Two Worlds: teachers can encourage students to write short, fact-based posts for social media platforms like Twitter, but with academic references included. This practice would blend the brevity of social media with the rigor of academic writing, helping students develop the skills necessary to communicate effectively in both settings.

5. Writing for Purpose: educators can highlight that writing for different audiences requires different strategies. Students can be encouraged to think critically about their audience, whether they are writing for their peers on social media or for academics, and tailor their style accordingly.

Conclusion

In summary, while social media writing and academic writing differ greatly in their purpose, tone, and structure, each has valuable elements that can be learned from the other. Social media could benefit from the depth and credibility of academic writing, while academic writing could adopt some of the accessibility and engagement techniques used in social media. As educators, we can create more engaging writing lessons by bridging these two worlds and teaching students to navigate both with skill and confidence.

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References

• Al-Ali, S. (2014). Emoticon, emoji, and lolspeak: How students adapt to new media in face-to-face and online academic environments. *Journal of Language and Literature*, 5(1), 46-56.
• Hyland, K. (2000). Disciplinary discourses: Social interactions in academic writing. *Longman*.
• Obar, J. A., & Wildman, S. (2015). Social media definition and the governance challenge: An introduction to the special issue. *Telecommunications Policy*, 39(9), 745-750.
• Pennycook, G., & Rand, D. G. (2021). The Implied Truth Effect: Attaching warnings to a subset of fake news stories increases perceived accuracy of stories without warnings. *Management Science*, 66(11), 4944-4957.