When it comes to social networking, people have a lot to say, both good and bad. But more importantly, what they’re saying is being written, leading more and more people to use social networking platforms as writing platforms. This online writing, the new normal, makes it possible for everyone to be a writer.

Anne Trubek, associate professor of Rhetoric & Composition at Oberlin College, looks at how online writing is changing the way we communicate in “We Are All Writers Now“.

Forget that most of the pundits lambasting Facebook and Twitter are familiar with these devices because they use them regularly. Forget that no one is being manacled to computers and forced to read stupid prose (instead of, say, reading Proust in bed). What many professional writers are overlooking in these laments is that the rise of amateur writers means more people are writing and reading. We are commenting on blog posts, forwarding links and composing status updates. We are seeking out communities based on written words.

And thanks to social networking platforms, our written words have a greater audience. There is quality online writing being done, from analytical to creative. Trubek also highlights how the current state of print publishing does not mean we do not need editors and reporters, but that they should exist alongside self-publishers:

The financial downturn and its disastrous impact on print publishing has led some to think we can do without trained reporters and editors–professionals who know how to check facts and strip the gloss off hasty pronouncements. We need this work, perhaps now more than ever. But not at the expense of silencing the new voices–an exciting new crop of self-possessed scribes–ringing all over our screens. There may be too much, but that does not mean it is unworthy.

I recommend you check out Trubek’s full article for some more insights on how the writing environment continues to change thanks to the online space.

Additional reading: The New Normal

Students are writing in the online space more now than ever before, even compared to just five years ago when I was a professional writing student — when Facebook was just starting and Twitter had yet to be launched.

The Chronicle of Higher Education just published a great article about the impact of online media on student writing, which includes a look at a study done in a first-year writing course at Michigan State University. For the study, students tracked all forms of writing over a two-week period, including time, genre, audience, location, and purpose of their writing. Much of the writing tracked by students was not class related, yet it was regarded as more meaningful. What does this mean for writing curriculum?

Professor Jeffrey T. Grabill, lead author of the study and co-director of MSU’s Writing in Digital Environments Research Center is one of the academia who shares their insights on the effect of online media on writing curriculum:

Mr. Grabill, from Michigan State, says college writing instruction should have two goals: to help students become better academic writers, and to help them become better writers in the outside world. The second, broader goal is often lost, he says, either because it is seen as not the college’s responsibility, or because it seems unnecessary.

“The unstated assumption there is that if you can write a good essay for your literature professor, you can write anything,” Mr. Grabill says. “That’s utter nonsense.”

The writing done outside of class is, in some ways, the opposite of a traditional academic paper, he says. Much out-of-class writing, he says, is for a broad audience instead of a single professor, tries to solve real-world problems rather than accomplish academic goals, and resembles a conversation more than an argument.

Rather than being seen as an impoverished, secondary form, online writing should be seen as “the new normal,” he says, and treated in the curriculum as such: “The writing that students do in their lives is a tremendous resource.”

The effects of online media on students’ writing are debated by scholars throughout the article. But whether writing in the online space increases attention to tone or encourages bad writing habits, I think it’s important for educators to acknowledge how the writing environment is changing. It’s no longer just about research papers. Professional writers need to be able to produce diverse styles for diverse audiences, from memorandums to press releases to web copy, and addressing that diversity in the curriculum is essential.

Check out the full article from The Chronicle to learn more about the MSU study, as well as the “Stanford Study of Writing,” a five-year study of the writing lives of students at Stanford, and let me know what you think about the new normal.