“Inside jokes and the funny things”: Belongingness in College Students’ Rhetorical Uses of Venmo

Michael Pennell; Gianna Riley

doi:10.1016/j.compcom.2024.102845

“Inside jokes and the funny things”: Belongingness in College Students’ Rhetorical Uses of Venmo

Michael Pennell, Gianna Riley

Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Within the growing use of peer-to-peer mobile payment apps, Venmo has proven most popular among the college-aged population in the United States. “Venmo me” is a common phrase overheard among students on college campuses. Spurred by an exchange in a course focused on social media, we investigate the uses of Venmo among students on our campus. Through interviews, we examine students’ relationships to not only the transactional but also the rhetorical aspects of Venmo, especially the social feed (unique among peer-to-peer mobile payment apps). We reflect on three recurring themes in these interviews using the concept of public displays of belongingness: insider versus outsider, requesting payment, and digital intimacy.

Original language	English
Article number	102845
Journal	Computers and Composition
Volume	72
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2024.102845
State	Published - Jun 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Elsevier Inc.

Funding

This work was supported by the Research and Creative Activities Program via the University of Kentucky's Office of the Vice President for Research. Thank you to our interview participants for sharing their uses of Venmo and to the students in Dr. Pennell's social media class for initially sharing their thoughts on Venmo as social media, kickstarting this study.

Funders	Funder number
Office of the Vice President for Research, University of Minnesota

Keywords

Belongingness
Mobile payment
Networks
Public
Social media
Venmo

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Computer Science
Language and Linguistics
Education
Linguistics and Language

Access to Document

10.1016/j.compcom.2024.102845

Cite this

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abstract = "Within the growing use of peer-to-peer mobile payment apps, Venmo has proven most popular among the college-aged population in the United States. “Venmo me” is a common phrase overheard among students on college campuses. Spurred by an exchange in a course focused on social media, we investigate the uses of Venmo among students on our campus. Through interviews, we examine students{\textquoteright} relationships to not only the transactional but also the rhetorical aspects of Venmo, especially the social feed (unique among peer-to-peer mobile payment apps). We reflect on three recurring themes in these interviews using the concept of public displays of belongingness: insider versus outsider, requesting payment, and digital intimacy.",

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“Inside jokes and the funny things”: Belongingness in College Students’ Rhetorical Uses of Venmo

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

College Students' Uses of Venmo's Social Stream-VPR CURATE Program

Cite this

“Inside jokes and the funny things”: Belongingness in College Students’ Rhetorical Uses of Venmo

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

College Students' Uses of Venmo's Social Stream-VPR CURATE Program

Cite this