Short Writing Assignment #4

After analyzing the two blogs on the different forums using the TRACE method, I found a distinct difference between David Friedman’s blog and the blog I found on Facebook. Friedman’s blog is written to discuss the irony created by inexpensive hotel costs that include free internet service and pricier hotels that charge an extra fee for it. The blog posted on Facebook is written by a newlywed questioning why things change in the first year of marriage.
Both Friedman’s text and the text found on Facebook are written in a “web log” style, but Friedman’s blog is an informative piece posted online to inform the public about price discrimination dealing with hotels and internet service, while the blog on Facebook is written in an inquisitive form by a recently married woman, unsure of where her marriage is headed. Friedman’s blog is directed towards the general public, more specifically to those interested in economics, who can more easily relate to the issue. The targeted audience of the Facebook blog, on the other hand, is the group of friends close to the author, because these are the people she trusts most with her problems, and can give her the best advice. The author of Friedman’s blog is obviously David Friedman, who had probably traveled to many cities, and stayed in several places, ranging from inexpensive motels with free internet service to high priced hotels that charge extra for the service. The author of the Facebook blog is a young woman that has only been married for 3 months, and has therefore had little experience with marriage, and seeking help from her friends. A constraint found in Friedman’s blog could be that a reader is a manager of a hotel who understands why there is price discrimination in the situation. The Facebook blog’s author is constrained by the belief that people have high expectations of marriage, and that it creates problems. Exigence in Friedman’s blog is that he traveled to different hotels and was confused as to why internet service was or was not free in “cheap” or “expensive hotels, respectively. The Facebook blog was written because the author hit a rocky patch in her marriage and felt as though she was abandoned by her husband.
The similarities and differences in the two forums were created because Friedman’s blog was a more professional entry, open for anyone to read, while the newlywed’s blog was a less formal piece asking for advice from her friends.