ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors analyze authentic media texts that have circulated on the internet, noting how linguistic and semiotic features of these texts can help explain why they spread. There are a number of reasons why they share things on social media. Sometimes it’s because we find some content humorous; other times, they feel the message or the information is newsworthy and we want to inform others of it. The original photos of her posted on Reddit instantly stimulated online humorous engagement in the form of photoshopped images, parodies, and image macros reaching millions of viewers over various web platforms. Clickbait headlines also give the reader some type of benefit or value upon reading the story, and this benefit must be clearly conveyed in the headline so that the reader invests time in reading and sharing it.
