Welcome to my Story Page! Below you will find a social media story I created in order to bring attention to a movement that was occurring on Pitt's campus.
There are various reasons why I chose the topic I did. First, it is a “movement” that is actually occurring at the moment, and one that I do feel strongly about. The petition was actually created by my roommate, so it seemed like an extremely appropriate topic to choose and create a story for. Also, my roommate and I were previously discussing effective ways to get people interested and engaged in the movement so they would actually sign the petition, so this was a great way to put our ideas into action and think even further about the cause.
When contemplating how exactly to tell the story and what the message was I wanted to get across, I quickly decided that a Twitter thread made the most sense. I knew I wanted to use a lot of text, and very few visuals. I also knew that I needed something that would make it easy for the audience to continue scrolling and reading, which a thread does extremely well. Finally, I wanted to put the text in chronical order so the audience could easily read all of the way through.
When deciding what language was going to use, I knew I wanted to use a lot of “you’s” and “we’s” to create a team-like atmosphere, and to portray the point that we all need to work together. For example, I described it as an issue that “we ALL need to rally behind.” I also tried to use language that was going to be very relatable to the average Pitt student, such as discussing the music we hear at the bars we always go to, and trying to paint the picture of how much fun we have with the band. I also incorporated a hashtag that I believe people would get behind and use with their posts, and to keep everything consistent throughout the campaign.
In terms of an effective story, I tried to use “us” as the relatable hero, since we are all affected by the change and can all take action to help solve it. The lesson I am trying to portray is not just the importance of bringing back the band that everyone has grown so fond of, but also how important it is for all of us to come together as one to help fix it. The challenge, of course, is to get as many signatures as possible to try to persuade Hofbrau to bring the band back, which I believe is simple yet direct enough to attract many people. I also used chronology to state the issue, why one should care, and what one can do to help the cause, which I believe was effective.
