A Multidimensional Comparative Analysis of Promotional and Informational Facebook Posts of Pakistani Influencers

The present study aims to investigate the language functionality in promotional and informational texts on social media within the Pakistani context. The primary focus is on exploring the distinctions between promotional and informational content on social media platforms. To achieve this objective, data is collected from 10 influential Facebook users in Pakistan, with a balanced representation of both informational and promotional content creators. The collected data forms a corpus, and an analysis is conducted using the Multidimensional Analysis Tagger (MAT) as the chosen corpus tool. The theoretical framework for this research is based on Biber's (1988) first five dimensions. The results indicate marked differences in language functionality between informational and promotional texts. Across all dimensions proposed by Biber, particularly in Dimensions 1 and 2, there are similarities in the language features of both types of content, emphasizing a commonality in written and formal language use. However, variations are evident in Dimensions 3 and 5, where promotional texts exhibit a slightly more sophisticated language structure and a greater prevalence of spoken or interactive language. This study is valuable for researchers, marketers, and content producers seeking a deeper understanding of the linguistic shades in influencer marketing on social media platforms like Facebook. The findings contribute insightful information for those interested in navigating the complexities of language use in promotional and informational contexts on social networking sites.