Persuasive Speech

Lucy Barton
18 November 2018

Persuasive Speech: Audience Assessment

Specific Goal​​: My audience will agree that politicians should be on social media.

Type of Claim:​​ ​This is a claim of​ fact .

Ethos: Primary Ethos:

a)​ Competence:​​ I spend a lot of time on social media and I have researched this topic.
b) ​Fairness​​: I will get to know the opposing side by research and clearly refute it with facts.

Secondary Ethos​​: I will cite 6? authoritative sources in my speech.

Audience Assessment​​:​ Most of my audience members will probably have ​an attitude​​ toward my proposition that is uninformed or
neutral.
[Choose one: highly favorable; highly unfavorable; uninformed; apathetic; neutral; undecided.]

Adaptation to Audience Attitude​​:

a. ​Common ground​​: Everyone in my audience has lived in America for most of their lives and they have lived through a lot of
elections and political eras.
b. Latitude of acceptance​​: I think that my audience will accept my claim because they want what is best for their country and
for their children.

Baby Steps​​: It will be easy for my audience to become more welcome to candidates on social media trying to explain their platform
as my audience becomes more informed voters.

Pattern of Organization​​: I​ am going to use comparative advantages.

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Persuasive Speech: Outline
Politicians on Social Media

Introduction

I. Hook: ​Most of the world today is on social media. It’s a great way to connect with other people, share ideas, share photos, and
share memories.

II. Ethos:​​ I spend a lot of time on social media and that is where I get most of my news about my friends, politics, and the world.

III. Proposition (or Hint at Proposition)​​:I would advocate that political leaders and political candidates should have social media
accounts and be active on their social media accounts.

IV. Preview​​: Because

1. Political candidates can share their platform, experiences, and who they are
2. Voters can easily communicate with the politicians and with each other

Transition​​: How effective is social media as a platform for spreading information and making connections?
 Body

I. Political candidates can share their platform, experiences, and who they are
A. Social media has changed the way that many people get their information.
i. An article written by Kevin Curry in the Washington Post says, “According to a Pew Research
Center survey conducted in January​​,​ 35 percent of respondents between ages 18 and 29 said that
social media was the “most helpful” source of information about the presidential campaign. For
those aged 30 to 49, social media ranked third, behind cable TV and news websites.”
ii. Many news papers and companies now spread most of their articles through the internet and on social media
sites.
B. Many voters feel that they are more adequately informed by following the candidates on social media than listening
to mainstream news.
i. In the article “Social Media and Political Campaigns” by Michael Ruth, it says, “In 2010, 21
percent of social media subscribers surveyed agreed with the statement that social media
allowed them to receive political updates before information became general knowledge; in
2014, 41 percent agreed with the same statement. Also in 2014, 35 percent of respondents
said that following social media campaigning made them feel personally closer to the
candidates, while 26 percent claimed that social media provided them with more trustworthy
information than mainstream news delivered”
ii. Say something about that quote
C. Some people say that political candidates should not be on social media because of the negative interactions and
arguing that they do with other candidates or voters. These interactions will allow the passive voters to view how the
candidates interact with opposing candidates and other people and can help them become more educated on who
they want to vote for.

Transition: ​Discussing politics on Social media raises awareness for elections and gets more people involved in voting.

II. Voters can easily communicate with candidates and other voters.
A. Voters can communicate with their candidates easily
i. Some people say that social media is a bad platform for political discussion because of all the arguing and
negativity that it causes. In fact, ​Sam Sanders in his article titled, “Did Social media ruin election 2016?” said
“This is our present political social life: We don't just create political strife for ourselves; we seem to revel in
it.”
ii. When using social media, the average person can message or comment on a candidate’s post and
communicate more, ​As Martin Karlsson and Joachim Åström said in their article about Re-constructing
politics,​​ ​“As peer to peer rather than [as] hierarchical in nature​​”.
B. Voters with similar beliefs and voters with dissimilar beliefs can have discussions from the comfort of their own
homes.
i. Tom Murse, in his article titled, “How Social Media has changed politics,” said that on sites such as
Facebook and Twitter, “like-minded voters and activists [can] easily share news and information such as
campaign events with each other.”
ii. Connections like these cultivate more awareness of politics and more discussion on social media and in real
life. They also increase voter turnout.

Transition to close:​​ Allow me to close by saying that although some people believe that social media has destroyed politics, it has
actually transformed it into a new and easier way to elect the right people to be leaders in our country.

Conclusion:

I. Summarize main points/thesis: ​On social media, Political candidates can share their platform, experiences, and who they
are, and Voters can easily communicate with the politicians and with each other.
II. Bookend​​: ​Whether you are on social media or not, or whether you only use it to look at memes, there’s no denying that it
has become a catalyst for change for politics in America and around the world.
III. End the speech memorably
 IV. Challenge the audience to respond: ​Next time something political comes up on your social media feed, be thankful that we
can all share ideas so easily and form our own opinions.

References:
Curry, K. (2016, September 30). More and more people get their news via social media. Is that good or bad? Retrieved from

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/09/30/more-and-more-people-get-their-news-via-social-media-

is-that-good-or-bad/?utm_term=.cecf63440d58

Krzyżanowski, M., & Tucker, J. A. (2018). Re/constructing politics through social & online media: Discourses, ideologies, and

mediated political practices. ​Journal of Language & Politics​, ​17(​ 2), 141–154.

https://doi-org.libprox1.slcc.edu/10.1075/jlp.18007.krz

Murse, T., & Nieman Foundation. (n.d.). Social Media in Politics - Twitter and Facebook as Campaigns Tools. Retrieved from

https://www.thoughtco.com/how-social-media-has-changed-politics-3367534

Ruth, M. (2014). Social Media and Political Campaigns. ​Salem Press Encyclopedia​. Retrieved from

https://libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=100039096&site=eds

-live

Sanders, S. (2016, November 08). Did Social Media Ruin Election 2016? Retrieved from

https://www.npr.org/2016/11/08/500686320/did-social-media-ruin-election-2016