The very first paragraph in this edition of Everything’s an Argument features a tweet by Michelle Obama focusing on political kidnapping in Nigeria. And elsewhere in the book, we draw on examples from a wide range of media and genres, including online news sources, blog posts and comments, editorial cartoons, ads, maps, infographics, bumper stickers, even a selfie — and of the pope, no less. In one way or another, all of these items illustrate principles of persuasion. And while much of this book is about more conventional forms of argument — essays, extended articles, and academic papers — the fact is that many arguments are now shaped, distributed, and connected in ways that no one imagined a generation ago.

Online sources used daily such as Gawker and Huffington Post and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have virtually redefined the nature of influence and persuasion. The cascade of information you take for granted, the 24-hour news cycle, the incessant connectivity of screens simply amazes anyone old enough to remember when newspapers were flung on doorsteps by kids on bicycles. More to the point here: all this online and onscreen activity is rhetorical in both its aims and its methods. We want to spend a chapter exploring new media, teasing out some connections between traditional modes of persuasion and those currently reshaping our social and political lives.

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