Rally the Troops!

Most writers/journalists have a point of view that is portrayed in their writings. This is especially true in newspapers, magazines, and as the world becomes more technologically advanced, blogs. While all writings have a point of view, the most popular theme in many writings is trying to motivate people to get involved in a particular cause.

"Small Change" is an article in the New Yorker that compares the strong ties of  personal motivation compared to the weak ties of impersonal motivation, such as via facebook or twitter. Gladwell discusses that strong ties actually produce results, using the example of hte Woodwarth sit-in in the mid-1900s. The four African American friends stuck together in a personal way, which caused their friends to join, and then their friends, and so on. However, the weak ties/friendships that are a result of facebook or twitter do not produce as strong of results because the connection is not as strong. People do not feel compelled to join a cause because they have no personal connection to it. Gladwell calls all of the weak ties that are a result of twitter and facebook a network. There is a lot of people, but not as much individual involvement.

The Egyptian chronicles blog  gives updates on news stories that appear to be unfaithfully reported by the government controlled news. This blogger also puts their perspective on these stories, implying to their readers that they should be out there, involved in some way with the revolution. She also gives the illusion that there are a lot of people out there fighting for the cause right now, and anybody who is reading her blog should join them. Gladwell would suggest that, even though she isnt using facebook or twitter, the Egyptian chronicles blog is a form of weak ties,and while many people may read her blog, there isn't as much action. While I do not know what exactly is going on in Egypt right now, according to this blog, there are many people who are reading her blog and using that as motivation to get out there and fight for the cause.