Fengguang Tian

Joshua Smith

Writing 2

Writing Project 1

January 28, 2020

Are you in social medias? Do you use Facebook in a daily basis? Have you noticed your

devices are recording every click you have made? If you answered “Yes” to all my three

questions, it is highly possible that you are the target audiences of the sponsored advertisements

on Facebook.

As Janet Boyd mentioned in her article “Murder!”, a genre can be defined when the traits

or attributes considered normal to or typical of a particular kind of creative piece, such as in

literature, film, or music, make it that kind and not another.1 Based on Boyd’s definition of

genre, we can find hundreds of new genres as plenty of previous genres appear on new

platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram.

Recently, I am working for my master’s degree application. Therefore, I have done a lot

of research about different programs provided by several university. Apparently, my devices

recorded my interest to those programs, and then more and more advertisement posts about those

programs start to appear on my Facebook account. The sponsored advertisements posts show up

on one’s Facebook account based on his or her recent interest on specific goods or services.

Some fashion advertisements were also pushed to me, because I looked for some new clothing

and opened Farfetch app (an online luxury fashion retail platform) seven times in one day on my

phone. Some car advertisements are sent to me based on some official accounts I have followed

on Facebook. Such posts can accurately catch your eyes, because all the posts content is based on

Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky, Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing (West Lafayette, Ind:
Parlor Press, 2011))
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what you have recently searched on your devices connecting to internet. These posts are known

as sponsored advertisement posts because the companies have to pay for getting a boost of the

visibility of their posts. I define such sponsored advertisement posts on Facebook as my new

genre.

Posts in this new genre can be differentiated from other genres by several reasons. Firstly,

these sponsored advertisement posts are on specific platform, Facebook. Therefore, the

audiences of this new genre must be Facebook users. However, you will only see what AI thinks

you are really interested in, but not every sponsored advertisement post on Facebook. In this

way, the advertisement is precisely sent to its target audiences when they are really demanded.

Sponsored advertisement posts from university’s registration office on Facebook is a

subgenre of my new genre, and it is a great example of how information in this new genre is

accurately convey to its target audiences. Normally, posts in this subgenre come with a big photo

of the university or the students on class. Such post often writes their description in one sentence

and mentions what degree they provide and what skills they prepare their students. The reason I

really recommend this genre is because I think advertisement in this genre is very efficient

marketing use. If you are attracted by the one-sentence description and the picture, you then click

the “Learn More” button. The “Learn More” will lead you to the built-in web page, which means

you are still in the app, but you will see a more detailed description about the master program. In

this page, the curriculum they provide, the program highlights, and a welcome video are

introduced. The language they use in such genre varies from different university, but the general

language they use are pretty simple. It is more like they simply introduce what they can provide

their students in order. If the page successfully sells you such program, you will see the

application process is right below all the information.

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Nothing can be created out of thin air. My new genre also has its antecedent genre. TV

advertisements could be one antecedent genre of this new genre. For TV advertisement, you are

watching your favorite TV show, and the TV advertisement will appear suddenly. Similarly, you

are surfing on internet and watching your friends or any influencers’ posts, and the sponsered

advertisement posts will appear suddenly just next to your friends’ posts. TV advertisement can

target its audiences based on what kind of TV Programs the audiences are watching. For

example, most audiences who watch NBA may also like cars. Therefore, it is very likely that you

will see TV advertisement about car, and it will mainly introduce how sporty the car is. At the

same time, people who watch NBA or F1 are most likely to be young male audiences. They are

also target audiences of razors or shavers. Grandfather also mentioned that some TV

advertisement only appears on local TV station. For instance, the TV advertisement from a local

restaurant will only target local people, so you will only see such advertisement on local TV

station.

Billboards could also be the antecedent genre of these sponsored advertisements posts on

Facebook. However, billboards cannot very accurately convey the content to its target audiences.

Since the advertisement posts on social medias are pushed to you based on what you have been

looking for and what you have been watching for a long time, it could easily convey the specific

advertisement content to the “right person.” At the same time, all such data are collected by

Artificial Intelligence, which means they do not need too many human labors, and so they save

both time and money. At the same time, billboards come to everyone, and its right audiences

choose to see more detail. Advertisement posts on social media, on the other hand, choose its

audiences.
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The language employed in this new genre is pretty different from that employed by its

antecedent genres. Since it appears on Facebook, you have more time to read it than read the

words on billboards. Therefore, every post in this genre normally contains two or more sentences

and the “Learn More” or “Show More” buttons. However, more sentences do not mean that it is

hard to read. The bellowing is the sponsored advertisement from The Beacon Fellowship:

“Work with a McKinsey Consultant.

Do Real Consulting Projects.

Boost Your Resume.

4 Week in Europe This Summer.”

This post simply lists some core value the company or this project can provide. If the listed four

bullet points really attract you, you can click the “Learn More” button right below the bullet

points.

Both formal and informal English are used. Using Emoji is another distinguishing

characteristic of language used in this new genre. For example, BMW has a post about its new

“M8” series luxury coupe which employs both the bullet points and Emojis as following:

“The All-New 2020 BMW M8 Competition Coupe 👀🔥

 Wireless Charging

 M Sport Exhaust System

 Carbon Fiber Trim”

The use of these Emojis attracts more people who have no interest in reading any written words.

At the same time, the Emojis can convey the information vividly. In the “M8” example, the

Emoji, 🔥, is better than just using the word “HOT.” Besides the Emoji, some abbreviation words

are also employed in my new genre. For example, DIY (abbreviation of “do it yourself”), AKA
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(abbreviation of “also known as”) and ASAP (abbreviation of “as soon as possible”) are common

abbreviation words that are frequently used in the text belonging my new genre.

Generally, my new genre is a product of digital marketing. Since it is from and develops

on new social media, Facebook, the language used in this new genre is pretty modern, and it is a

great combination of new platform and old industry.

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Work Cited

Lowe, Charles, and Pavel Zemliansky. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. West Lafayette,

Ind: Parlor Press, 2011.