2.1.1General description

Companies maintain commercial websites to generate revenue, which implies that their underlying purpose is persuasive. Most commercial websites, however, are multi-functional units, whose linguistic structures exhibit more than just a persuasive function. The ratio between different textual functions depends on the business model a company pursues with its website (cf. Kollmann 2007, 51s.; Molenaar 2012, 125ss.). As an example, a corporate portal (e. g., peugeot.com, zara.com) can include company information, product descriptions, product purchasing opportunities and contact forms, thereby exhibiting informative, persuasive, transaction-centered and phatic textual functions at the same time. These different functions are fulfilled by diverse sections of the same corporate website (cf. Jakobs 2009, 359). Commercial websites designed to sell products (e. g., amazon.com, voyagermoinscher.com) exhibit persuasive and transactional functions, while news portals that generate most of their revenue by selling advertising space are information-centered (lemonde.fr, abc.es). Commercial websites that combine selling advertising space and user data can be orientation-centered (google.com) or connection-centered (facebook.com). A precise classification of commercial websites and their textual functions, however, remains difficult.

2.1.2Linguistic Research

Linguistic contributions have thus far predominantly addressed corporate portals and studied both their macro-level features, such as the overall design and architecture of the website, as well as their micro-level features, i.e., the verbal and visual characteristics of its pages (cf. Wrobel 2003; Grabienski 2005; Ylönen 2007). Additionally, Schmitz (2002) and Juhl Bang (2004) debate the intertextual relationship between commercial websites and the company brochure as a traditional advertising genre. Schütte (2004) exclusively focuses on the homepage as the entry point to a website. While most contributions are based on German or English website corpora, the works of Wedler (2006), Lühken (2010), Sánchez Prieto (2011), Rentel (2012), Reutner/Schubach (2012), Schröder (2013) and Reutner (2014) also include French commercial websites in their analyses. Spanish commercial websites are studied in the works of Emmerling (2007), Sánchez Prieto (2011), González García (2012), Edo Marzá (2012) and Schröder (2013).

2.1.3Macro-level features

The size of different functional sections, the number of pages, and the organization of commercial websites, can vary considerably across different websites, ranging from websites with only a few web pages to larger sites with several thousands of pages and very complex structures. Moreover, commercial websites can incorporate elements from a variety of offline genres, such as product catalogues, image brochures, annual reports or press releases (cf. González García 2012, 18, 25).

Web pages are composed of different multimodal layout elements, such as running text, tables, lists, web forms, images and graphics. The header of a page generally includes the company name and its logo, a login form for registered users, a search form and a language selection button (cf. Münz 2008, 238ss.). A navigation bar with links to the most important website sections can usually be found underneath the header. The footer section is composed of links to the company’s contact details, terms and conditions, data protection information or other websites belonging to the same company (cf. Henick 2010, 65). The screen design and navigational structure are the main instruments for achieving coherence on websites (cf. Schmitz 2003, 270).

There is no general agreement with regards to specific layout features of Romance websites. In a corpus of homepages belonging to German and French commercial websites, Reutner/Schubach (2012, 245ss.) observe stable layout patterns across most German homepages, while the layout of the French homepages tends to vary more. Research on the use of multimodal elements on Romance websites also shows different findings. Reutner (2014, 149), for instance, notes more images on French than on German homepages. French product presentation pages on airline websites, by contrast, seem to include fewer images than their German and Spanish counterparts (cf. Schröder 2013, 174), while Lühken (2010, 256) hardly sees any multimodal content on the product presentation pages of French car manufacturers. Some Spanish companies seem to use elements from offline advertising materials on their websites instead of creating separate multimodal contents (cf. Sánchez Prieto 2011, 15). In general, and regardless of the cultural background, homepages and persuasive sections within a website tend to use more images than informative sections. Despite the multimodal potential of websites, written text continues to play an important role.

2.1.4Micro-level features

The linguistic style of pages within a website strongly depends on their respective communicative purpose. Informative sections tend to exhibit a rather neutral linguistic style, while persuasive sections are more likely to show features of advertising language (cf. González García 2012, 20), such as nouns and adjectives with positive connotations, superlative forms, metaphors, a simple syntax, imperatives and direct questions (cf. Dyer 1982, 303ss.). Headlines and teasers on company websites try to catch a user’s attention by summarizing the promotional message of a page in a few easy-to-memorize words, using a concise and elliptical style (cf. González García 2012, 20), such as “Tout pour une peau sans imperfections” (www.nivea.fr) or “Nivea innova para ti” (www.nivea.es). In this sense, headlines and teasers resemble slogans known from print advertising.

For Spanish hotel websites, Edo Marzá (2012, 61) reports an overall nominal style and a high frequency of positive keywords (ibid., 73), as well as many comparative and superlative forms (ibid., 76). Similarly, positive keywords and superlatives are abundant on Spanish airline websites, while they seem to be less frequent on French airline websites (cf. Schröder 2013, 336ss.). With regards to syntax, Wedler (2006), who compares press releases on German and French corporate websites, sees longer sentences and a more complex syntax in the French texts (ibid., 97). Similarly, in a corpus of Spanish tourism websites, González García (2012, 27) observes a rather elaborate syntactical style. An elaborate syntax is also being reported for French and Spanish airline websites (cf. Schröder 2013, 336ss.). In the same corpus of airline websites, the French companies tend to use implicit and narrative linguistic strategies, while promotional messages on Spanish web pages are more explicit and direct (ibid., 336ss.). In general, the French and Spanish companies give less detailed information about their products than English and German companies (ibid.). For German and French hotel websites, Rentel (2012, 242ss.) reports a more creative and more reader-centered language in the French texts, as well as a stronger focus on French regional culture and cuisine. In an analysis of tourism websites, Suau Jiménez (2012, 149) discovers a focus on tradition and history in Spanish marketing, while English websites emphasize qualities such as modern, unique and emotional.

Images on company websites often show the company’s products, customers or employees. Some websites also use interactive animations or video clips to exhibit their products and services, enabling users to interactively explore the promoted products. The relationship between text and visual modes is often analogical, with both modes essentially giving the same information. Schröder (2013, 336ss.) observes more emotional pictures used in Romance product presentations than in German and English ones. Furthermore, French and Spanish websites tend to use stand-alone images, while German and American websites explain the image contents in written text.

On a typographical level, Reutner/Schubach (2012, 238) observe that French homepages exhibit larger numbers of typefaces than German homepages. When highlighting hyperlinks or certain keywords, French homepages are more likely to use capital letters than their German counterparts (ibid., 242). Moreover, French homepages show a more diverse selection of colors than German homepages (ibid., 252). Similarly, González García (2012, 27) notes that Spanish websites use different font colors and sizes to highlight important keywords.

The heterogeneous linguistic findings regarding commercial websites suggest that the subject is rather complex. The cultural background of a website is apparently not the only factor that determines its structural and linguistic features. The size of a company, the industry it belongs to, the budgets allocated to web design and the reception habits of its target group also play an important role. Presumably, further research will bring more insights into website design and language, in particular with regards to websites in Romance languages.

2.2.1General description

Web advertising refers to the paid display of promotional messages on the web. Web ads appear in all corners of the Internet, including commercial websites, discussion forums, private homepages, special interest portals, social network pages and mobile apps. A click on a web ad typically routes Internet users to the advertising company’s website, where they can retrieve further information or directly purchase the company’s products and services (cf. Kollmann 2007, 175s.). Other names for this form of online advertising are banner advertising or display advertising.

In functional terms, a web ad is supposed to raise awareness and motivate users to click it, but it also needs to provide users with an idea of what to expect on the linked website. Web ads therefore fulfill a phatic, a persuasive and an informative purpose (cf. Janoschka 2004, 193). The commercial nature of web ads allows for concluding that their persuasive function is the dominant one (cf. Sanz Gil 2006, 239). Web statistics show, however, that current web ads barely receive any clicks, which leads Lammenett (2009, 144) to conclude that web ads mainly have a phatic function and serve to build general brand awareness by appearing on the screen. It has been argued that web ads are a form of one-to-many communication, with one sender delivering a message to a widely-dispersed audience (cf. Hettler 2010, 31), which leads Runkehl (2013, 98) to conclude that web ads are the online counterparts of print advertisements. However, with web ads being increasingly customized to individual user profiles, web advertising seems to be shifting towards a one-to-one communication pattern. In general, web ads are considered push advertising communication, because their display on the web does not require the users’ consent (cf. Hettler 2010, 31).

2.2.2Linguistic Research

While early linguistic publications mainly focus on the language used in web ads (cf. Stöckl 1998; Skrzypek 2000), subsequent analyses also study typography, images and sounds of web ads (cf. Janoschka 2004; Siever 2005; Ruiz Madrid 2006; Runkehl/Janich 2006; Sanz Gil 2006; Runkehl 2013). Sánchez Prieto (2010) is among the first researchers to linguistically examine web ads displayed on the results pages of search engines. The most recent and most comprehensive linguistic analysis of web advertising can be found in Runkehl (2011). While most of the works cited study English or German web ads, Sanz Gil (2006) and Sánchez Prieto (2010) examine web advertising in French and Spanish.

2.2.3Macro-level features

There are different options for positioning web ads on a web page. Embedded web ads, such as the well-known banner ads, are integrated into the screen design of a web page (cf. Homburg 2012, 801). Other formats, such as floating ads, sticky ads, pop ups and interstitials interrupt the browsing process by partially covering a web page, moving along when scrolling down or opening new windows, and can therefore be perceived as bothersome (ibid.). Web ads can only consist of text and still images, or include animated features that are supposed to raise more awareness, such as video clips, forms for entering information, or even entire games that users can play on the screen (cf. Kollmann 2007, 181). The positioning, size and layout types of web advertisements are globally standardized, as such, the degree of cross-cultural variation is relatively low.

2.2.4Search engine advertising

Ads that appear on the results pages on search engines differ from other web ads in terms of size and layout. Marketing literature therefore tends to treat search engine advertising as a separate category next to display advertising. Search engine ads are typically displayed at the top or the right margin of a search engine’s results page. Search engine ads are exclusively text-based and follow an invariable design pattern set by the hosting search engine. Google Adwords, for example, consist of a headline, two lines of text and the URL of the advertising company (cf. Sánchez Prieto 2010, 339).

2.2.5Micro-level features

Regardless of the specific language, the linguistic features of web ads are similar to the language of traditional print advertising (cf. Runkehl/Janich 2006, 315). Web ads often use positive keywords, e. g., “accessible”, “réussite”, “chance”, “bonheur”, “nouveau”, “special”, “super” in French web ads (cf. Sanz Gil 2006, 242; Sánchez Prieto 2010, 345) and “oferta”, “descuento”, “gratis”, “mayor” in Spanish web ads. Expressions of local and regional deixis are a common trait in Spanish web ads (cf. Siever 2005, 229s.), such as “descargue aquí su código”, “regístrate ya”, but appear less frequently in French web ads (cf. Sanz Gil 2006, 242; Sánchez Prieto 2010, 347). Calques from English are common in French web ads, e. g., “en ligne” or “dernière minute” (cf. Sánchez Prieto 2010, 344). Furthermore, French web ads present numerous abbreviations and acronyms, such as “sympa”, “promo”, “infos” (ibid.) and “en savoir +” instead of “en savoir plus”.

Similar to print advertisements, space in web ads is limited (cf. Siever 2005, 230) and exposure times are short, with the effect that the overall linguistic style tends to be concise and elliptical (cf. Runkehl/Janich 2006, 307; Sánchez Prieto 2010, 345). The two main components used in web ads are nominal phrases (cf. Runkehl/Janich 2006, 307), e. g., “garantie illimité” or “ofertas increíbles”, and verbal phrases with imperatives that directly address the users (cf. Sanz Gil 2006, 242; Sánchez Prieto 2010, 345), e. g., “profitez de l’offre” and “aprovecha las promociones”. Another way of directly approaching the user are interrogatives, such as “apprendre l’Italien?” or “buscando un viaje a su medida?” The findings of Sánchez Prieto (2010, 346s.) suggest that such direct questions are less frequent in Romance language web ads than in German or English web ads. Whenever interrogatives are used, they can particularly be found in animated banners that release their promotional message in several steps, with the last step providing the answer to an initially posed rhetorical question (cf. Runkehl/Janich 2006, 307).

On the nonverbal level, web ads also present some recurring characteristics that are similar to other forms of computer-mediated discourse (e. g., chat communication). Repeated exclamation marks can be used as a means for intensifying imperatives (cf. Runkehl/Janich 2006, 307) and seem to be more common in German than in English or Romance web ads (cf. Sánchez Prieto 2010, 347). Some web ads use capital letters or different font sizes to accentuate important elements of their promotional message (cf. Siever 2005, 229).

Images used in web ads for instance show the advertised product, customers using the product, employees of the company or the company logo. The relationship between text and images can be analogical, with both text and images carrying the same promotional message (cf. Runkehl/Janich 2006, 309s.). The text-image relation can also be additive, where text and image give different information that together form the promotional message (ibid.). Animations in web ads generally increase the likelihood of a user noticing the ad. Additionally, animated web ad layouts can help split the promotional message into several screens, thereby communicating it to the Internet user sequentially (ibid., 308).

It is not uncommon for web ads to use symbols known from other web contexts, such as “X” for “close the ad”, an arrow pointing down for “download” or a shopping cart for “purchasing opportunity” (cf. Runkehl/Janich 2006, 309). Some web ads use certain layout strategies to raise awareness and trick users into clicking the ad. For instance, ads appear in the Microsoft Windows layout, emulating system messages such as alert windows, download progress bars or other buttons (cf. Siever 2005, 236). Other ads show a virtual mouse whose movements point towards a desired click spot (ibid.). While such layout strategies can generally be found in any ads around the web, there is no specific data on their frequencies in Romance languages.

2.3.1General description

Companies use e-mail advertising to address potentially new customers or to stay in touch with existing ones (cf. Kollmann 2007, 183). Advertising e-mails typically provide the addressees with information updates on the company and its products or special offers (cf. Molenaar 2012, 111). Hyperlinks within the e-mail take recipients directly to the company’s website where product purchases can be made or more information about the product be found (ibid.). Users typically consent to receiving advertising e-mails via an opt-in system on the company’s website (cf. Kollmann 2007, 183), e. g., when signing up for a personal account or purchasing a product.

Advertising e-mails are predominantly persuasive texts. Their main purpose is to motivate the addressees to visit the company’s website and purchase its products. In order to accomplish this, advertising e-mails also fulfill an informative function, informing the recipients about new products or special discounts. The mere arrival of a commercial e-mail in a recipient’s inbox also fulfills a phatic function, since it regularly reminds the addressee of the company’s name and existence, thereby trying to raise his awareness. Advertising e-mails tend to be standardized texts and can therefore be considered one-to-many communication. In many advertising e-mails, however, a personalized address line precedes the standardized promotional message, with the effect of insinuating a one-to-one communication situation between the company and the recipient. With regards to push or pull communication, e-mails sent out with an opt-in system are hybrid: the recipients generally agree to receive promotional messages (pull), but it is the company who ultimately decides when these promotional messages are sent (push).

2.3.2Linguistic Research

The number of linguistic publications on e-mail advertising is extremely low. One of the few publications with a focus on e-mail marketing is Schmückle/Chi (2004), who carry out a linguistic analysis on the form and features of spam e-mails. Newsletters and mailings, by contrast, have thus far received very little linguistic attention.

2.3.3Macro-level features

The structural composition of advertising e-mails is generally more uniform than the layout of web ads. The top of the message usually contains the company logo, a salutation formula and an index of the e-mail’s contents (cf. Lammenett 2009, 73). The main message body contains several clickable teasers, often composed of a product depiction, a short introductory text and a price tag (ibid., 51). A click on such teasers takes the customer to a sales portal for the advertised product on the company’s website (ibid.). At the footer of the message body, companies usually list their contact details and include a link to a web page where the user can unsubscribe from receiving further messages (ibid., 73). Additionally, the newsletter footer may include links to further website sections, to customer loyalty programs, to the company’s social media channels on Twitter and Facebook or to the company’s mobile app. Some advertising e-mails emulate the design of the company’s website by displaying the website’s navigational structure. This can include a menu bar with links to special discounts, to a customer login form or to product overview pages.

Similar to websites, advertising e-mails are often formatted in HTML, which creates a base for using text in various typefaces, font sizes and colors, as well as embedding images into the message (cf. Lammenett 2009, 58s.). Text with typographical variations and static images are the main components of most advertising e-mails. Compared with other forms of online advertising, the multimodal structure of advertising e-mails is therefore relatively simple. In terms of interactivity, promotional emails may include a form where the addressee is encouraged to enter personal data (ibid.). Non HTML-based e-mails, however, have a substantially lower potential for interaction.

2.3.4Micro-level features

Advertising e-mails often reproduce text and images that appear on the special offer sections or product presentation pages of the sender’s website. The language of such e-mails thus appears to be closely related to persuasive sections of commercial websites. For the sender, particular attention must be paid to the e-mail subject, since it is likely the only opportunity to convince the user to proceed with reading the full message (cf. Lammenett 2009, 62). To catch the user’s attention and motivate him to read the e-mail, the subject line often summarizes the key promotional message. Its concise linguistic style is comparable to headlines or slogans used in print advertisements (cf. Schmückle/Chi 2004, 14).

2.3.5Spam

As opposed to the personalized and consented-to e-mail advertising described so far, impersonal and mass solicitation e-mails are referred to as spam (cf. Molenaar 2012, 110). Users generally perceive spam e-mails as irritating and of little value (ibid.). Spam frequently promotes illegal, medical and pornographic offers or contains fake winning or inheritance notifications (cf. Schmückle/Chi 2004, 9). Spam e-mails often purport to be part of an existing e-mail thread or to be sent by a friend or family member. This can be achieved by headlines beginning with Re: (‘in the matter of’) or Fw: (‘forwarded’) or by using a private person’s name as the e-mail sender and by including fake personal salutations and intimate language (ibid., 16ss.). Many spams contain links, but are otherwise text-only (ibid., 32). The language of spam uses simple syntactic structures and often shows many orthographical mistakes. It can be argued that such mistakes are made intentionally, with the objective of either emulating intimate writing styles or bypassing spam-filtering systems that work with certain trigger words (cf. ibid., 54ss.).

2.4.1General description

Social media advertising is online advertising that uses Web 2.0 technologies, enabling users to add their own or modify existing content on the web (cf. Hettler 2010, 5ss.). In social media, users can share opinions, comments, stories, experiences, recommendations, pictures and videos with other users (ibid., 14). Common forms of social media advertising are corporate blogs, social network profiles and microblogs.

Social media advertising is a hybrid communications phenomenon that has low correlation with traditional advertising. While companies can act as senders by pushing messages through social media channels, recipients actively pull these messages by deciding to follow a company’s social media feed. Users can also become senders themselves by sharing a company’s messages with their friends. Companies use social media advertising to share promotional messages or company information with other users (cf. Homburg 2012, 798). Company postings, however, are not always persuasive, but can also invite users to some form of interaction, e. g., to discuss new products or give opinions on certain brands (cf. González García 2012, 39). Users, in turn, can use social media channels to publicly post questions and comments, which companies are required to react to (cf. Hettler 2010, 76). Interactions with the company through social media can make users feel understood and included (Martínez Rodrigo/Sánchez Martín 2012, 477), which can lead them to build trust towards the company (cf. Homburg 2012, 798). Overall, social media advertising aims to create positive attitudes towards companies, products and brands through interaction and entertainment (cf. Martínez Rodrigo/Sánchez Martín 2012, 475). Public discussions between a company and its customers through social media, however, can also put a company’s reputation at risk, particularly if users post negative comments or complaints (cf. Weinberg 2010, 87).

2.4.2Linguistic Research

The number of linguistic publications on social media advertising is still somewhat limited. González García (2012) and Sánchez Prieto (2012a; 2012b) analyze the linguistic form of postings in corporate blogs, while Martínez Rodrigo/Sánchez Martín (2012) and Schröder (2015) examine corporate social media profiles from formal, functional and pragmatic standpoints. Linguistic research on corporate microblogging is still rare. In general, there is still a lot of room for linguistic investigation, in particular with regards to the interactional dimension of social media advertising.

2.4.3Corporate Blogs

Corporate blogs are used to regularly post updates on the company, its products and services or its management and employees. Blog postings can be text-only, but also include multimodal content such as pictures and videos. Similar to any other blog, users have the possibility to comment on the company’s postings (cf. Homburg 2012, 797), which can lead to discussions between the company and blog readers (cf. Hettler 2010, 45).

Corporate blogs belong to the generic category of weblogs as an emerging web genre (cf. Miller/Shepherd 2004, 2). Every blog has a title (e. g., Me gusta volar) and is accessible via its own URL (megustavolar.iberia.com). Blog postings appear in chronological order, with the most recent post at the top of the page. Every posting has a separate URL, which allows for users to forward blog postings to other users by sharing the link (cf. Hettler 2010, 45). Postings are composed of a headline, a body with text, images or other content, comments published by other users and a form for adding new comments. According to Sánchez Prieto (2012b, 213), Spanish blog authors include fewer images in their postings than German blog authors do. On the other hand, multimodal content such as video or audio files seem to be generally rare in corporate blogs (ibid.).

Compared with other corporate publications, the linguistic style of company blogs has been characterized as storytelling. Blog postings exhibit a less formal and more subjective language, with authors releasing private information and giving their own opinions (cf. Pleil/Zerfaß 2007, 527). González García (2012, 30) speaks of a diary style in corporate blog postings, which serves to veil the blogging company’s commercial intentions. Blog headlines are typically composed of nominal phrases (cf. Sánchez Prieto 2012b, 207). Compared with German blogs, the use of verbal phrases is more common in many elements of Spanish blogs, such as the blog headline, the title of the about the author section and the titles of blog postings (ibid., 208ss.). Spanish corporate blogs postings are also somewhat shorter than their German counterparts, tend to use fewer Anglicisms, but more complex syntactical structures (ibid., 211s.), which leads Sánchez Prieto to conclude that Spanish corporate blog postings were copied into the blog from other media (ibid., 212). Spanish corporate blog authors have been reported to use the 2nd person plural (ibid.) or the 1st person plural (cf. González García 2012, 31) in their postings. The number of users commenting on Spanish blog postings appears to be lower than on German blogs (Sánchez Prieto 2012b, 213). Spanish and French users, however, tend to use a more informal and emotional style in their comments to corporate blogs than German users do (cf. Sánchez Prieto 2012a, 218). Despite these findings, it should be noted that companies currently tend to replace their blogs with social media channels, so that the blog as a corporate communication genre may become obsolete in the near future.

2.4.4Social network profiles

A second way for companies to advertise in social media is to create a profile in social network websites such as Facebook or YouTube. Social networks allow any Internet user to create a personalized profile and establish virtual links to other users, with the objective of establishing and maintaining relationships and sharing personal information, news or other content (cf. Hettler 2010, 54). Social networks such as Facebook work with profile templates that determine the structure and layout of user and company profiles. Company profiles in Facebook include a header, the company logo, the company name and a short about us text. Further elements can be links to images, a customer support forum and codes of conduct for user postings. The main element of company Facebook profiles is a wall where both the company and users can publish postings and comment on previous postings (cf. Schröder 2015). These postings can include text and images, but also multimodal and interactive content, such as videos and online games (cf. Martínez Rodrigo/Sánchez Martín 2012, 474).

In her analysis of Spanish company profiles on Facebook, González García (2012, 39) observes that, on the one hand, companies post invitations to participate in special events, invitations to try new products and general news. In such postings, González García (ibid.) finds features inherent in advertising language, such as rhetorical questions, elliptical structures, imperatives and direct addressing. These features are used to raise the users’ awareness and motivate them to click the link to the company website that typically appears at the end of a posting (ibid.). Direct purchase encouragements, however, appear to be rare (ibid., 40). On the other hand, interaction-oriented postings, such as invitations to discussions or requests for likes, exhibit a rather informal and colloquial linguistic style with elements of spoken language, presumably designed to create a certain intimacy between the company and the social network’s users (ibid.). Schröder (2015) compares complaints posted by German and Spanish users on corporate Facebook profiles and concludes that German companies are more likely to debate and solve the complaint in public, i.e., through a dialogue on the profile wall, while Spanish companies prefer to shift the communication with the customers to private messaging.

2.4.5Microblogging

The third form of social media advertising are companies using microblogging services such as Twitter. The main difference between a regular blog and a microblog lies in the format of the postings and the possibility of multiplying them. Microblog postings (tweets) can include a maximum of 140 characters of text and/or an image (cf. Hettler 2010, 46). Twitter users can follow and comment on the tweets of other users, and also forward (re-tweet) tweets to their own followers (ibid.), using either a computer or a mobile device. Companies use microblogs to directly communicate with customers and supply them with information on products, brands, sales promotions or job openings (cf. Homburg 2012, 798). In formal terms, tweets appear to share features with company postings in social networks. Tweets can either tend towards delivering promotional messages or towards initiating a conversation. In any case, microblogging is strongly interaction-oriented. Tweets delivering promotional messages are typically short, easy-to-memorize, sum up the key promotional message or include imperatives, thereby inviting users to click a link within the message that routes them to the company website. Tweets that initiate discussions, on the other hand, exhibit features of conceptional orality. Linguistic evaluations of tweets in general can be found in Demuth/Schulz (2010) and Siever/Schlobinski (2013).