Commercial e-communication subgenres review

Abstract

The aim of this article is the analysis of the main subgenres of commercial communication unfolding in the media environment. The author has explored a number of modern Russian and foreign sources; also she has presented the results obtained from personal professional experience. The subjects of this investigation are commercial internet communication subgenres such as as by-liner, lead magnet, landing, tripwire and feedback comment. David Crystal’s theory is chosen as a starting point for this investigation. D. Crystal identified five basic Internet communication genres in 2001. The author has shown that the variety of genres has increased and subgenres appeared for the last 18 years. Her work proves that the Internet communication genres diversity exceeded the limits of D. Crystal’s system substantially. As a result, the author concentrates on commercial e-communication, because it has not been sufficiently considered previously. The communicative aims of the subgenres under review as well as corresponding types of text structure are examined in detail. The author has demonstrated the certain communicative tasks solved by every commercial text element. The classification criteria of web-texts, together with those of Internet communication are presented as well. The author, using the mentioned classification criteria system, has attempted to organize considered commercial e-communication subgenres and to identify their place among the others. From her point of view, the most significant criteria are communicative situation, function, relevant web-technology and search engine focus degree. Following the results of this investigation, a conclusion about communicative situations uniformity has been drawn. Also, the author has emphasized that all the considered subgenres had been focused on the readers, not the search engine. At last, she has revealed the disparity of their functions.