Before and After of Introductory Paragraph
Before: Beginning as early as middle school, I became an avid blogger. I had online journals on several sites; some secret, some not so secret, with dozens of spectators reading about both my life and my innermost thoughts. These allowed my adolescent self a safe space to record and think about my experiences and feelings, as well as a way to look back at how much I changed over the years. To some, this may seem like an invasion of privacy to let others read such personal details, but blogging has become a much more popular pastime in the decade since I began my online journey. Blogging allows users to document their day-to-day experiences, read and relate to other users (often both real-life acquaintances and friends made online), and control how they present themselves to the world. Comments and “liking” blog posts allows friends to lend support in hard times and give kudos during times of triumph, making blogs more social than ever before. Social networking websites allow casual users to become more familiar with blogging, making this activity more and more popular. The research suggests that blogging has a positive effect on identity formation because it supports social support systems, identity experimentation, and reflection on one’s emotional and social growth.
After: Beginning as early as middle school, I became an avid blogger. I had online journals on several sites; some secret, some not so secret, allowing readers to learn about events my life as well as my innermost thoughts. Posting on a blog allowed my adolescent self a safe space to record and think about my experiences and feelings, as well as a way to look back at how much I changed over the years. To some, this may seem like an invasion of privacy to let others (even complete strangers!) read such personal details; however, blogging has become a much more popular pastime in the decade since I began my online journey. Blogging allows users to document their day-to-day experiences, read and respond to other users (often a mix of real-life acquaintances and friends made online), and control how they present themselves to the world. Comments and “liking” blog posts allows friends to lend support in hard times and give kudos during times of triumph, making blogs more social than ever before. The research suggests that blogging has a positive effect on identity formation because it supports social interactions, identity experimentation, and reflection on one’s emotional growth.
A bit of explanation: I moved the bit about social networking sites to a different section where I explained the mechanics of blogs in more detail. I cleaned up my thesis which was a bit repetitive, and generally tried to make it sound less like garbage.