ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses the benefits of writing for a general audience and its drawbacks. It shows how the process of writing for a general audience different than writing for an academic publication. The book talks about some of the things anyone with a social media account should keep in mind, but especially those whose personal and professional identities become merged online. Advocates of public anthropology call on researchers to work to create change in the communities they study, arguing that serving the public should be the primary goal, not simply fostering debates amongst academics, and furthering their academic careers in the process. Instead, by exposing the realities of what it is like to be a migrant farm worker, or live in a favela, to mass audiences, researchers should work towards improving their lives rather than simply sharing their observations with one another.
