Visual Rhetoric

I think visual rhetoric is a decision we all make on a daily basis.  Sometimes we even create visual rhetoric without even realizing it.  Most of are already familiar with social media and the ability they create social circles and promote one's self.  I mostly use Facebook, Instagram, and Google+.  All three are social media networks but have different ways of using rhetoric.  Facebook users have a personalized profile to interconnect with other people, friends, and family.  It contains many forms of rhetoric from the "about me" section describing yourself, basic facts, education, work, music taste, likes and even dislikes.  This written form of rhetoric can allow someone to portray himself as a deep thinker, romantic poet, or whatever he wants the world to percieve him as.  There is also the photos that display a visual rhetoric.  Thanks to photo editing programs and photo effects, we can alter our photos to make them portray us in a different manner than the typical snapshot.  Many of these photo editing tools can be very effective in convincing your audience (in this case, your friends) to see you the way you want them too.  I may only post photos of me outdoors hiking, camping, and shooting.  My friends would naturally be lead to think, he is an outdoors guy.  The same can work any circumstance.  The actual photos can be made to create different emotional effects to the audience as well, when i posted a photo of me in the snow, I went on instagram and changed the effect to "Hudson" which added a blue color theme to my photo making the appearance that is was even colder.  The effect would have been totally changed if I put on "toaster", the audience might have had a warmer feeling that it wasn't that cold and my facial expression was sarcastic.  The last part of rhetoric in facebook, is the timeline in which we post comments on your wall and others.  To whom and what you post creates a "profile" of who you are and what you like/don't like.  Even the comments can add credibility to your profile. If Megan Fox likes a photo, instantly others may do so too because of her influence.  For my purposes, I like to use Facebook to keep up with friends over time, Instagram to put cool effects on my photos and just see current photos of my friends, and Google+ for my business related work (because it has a more professional look and has ability for google docs)  Before I learned about visual rhetoric in class, I always used it just didn't think so much about why.  Naturally most guys dress up to impress girls, or convey a sense of confidence.  Normally with the purpose that she notices him in a good way and is attracted to him.  I like a simple example my friend once used.  Men buy nice cars, not because they like nice cars, but because women like nice cars.  If a man had to, he would like in a box.  Although it may not also be true but I believe the general message is accurate, we use visual rhetoric every day to influence others around us.  This stems from the clothes we wear, the word choice we use, to the way we act.  So it is very useful to know if you want to express yourself as the "best" you.  Unless you just got married and don't give a flying anymore.  checkmate.