A Cross-Cultural Genre Analysis of Firm-Generated Advertisements on Twitter and Sina Weibo

Xingsong Shi University of International Business and Economics ; Wenjing Wan Beijing Jiaotong University

Abstract

To investigate the generic features of firm-generated advertisements (FGAs) in cross-cultural contexts, this study analyzed 327 FGAs by Dell Technologies and the Lenovo Group on Twitter and Sina Weibo. Integrating affordances and multimodality into genre analysis, the study showed that the FGAs were characterized by (a) flexible move structure, (b) persuasive language, (c) visual illustration, and (d) hyperlinks, hashtagging (#), and mentioning (@) functions. The FGAs on Sina Weibo, compared with those on Twitter, tended to use more language play, emojis, and contextual product pictures and show more emphasis on the niche of products, incentives, and celebrity endorsement.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2022-01-01
DOI
10.1177/10506519211044186
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Cited by in this index (3)

  1. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  3. Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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