Key Idea: This topic is a family of online and digital text types — the blog, the website, the social media post, and the transcript. They live on screens, so they share a habit: they work in seconds. Blogs and posts win you with a relatable, informal voice; a website steers your eye and your click through design; a transcript captures real speech so exactly that the ‘um’s and interruptions become evidence. In Paper 1, name the choice and show what it does — the informality is crafted, never careless.
🗝️ The online & digital text types
| Text type | What it's for | Conventions to spot |
|---|---|---|
| Blog | To share, entertain and bond like a friend | Direct address (‘you’, ‘Reader’); chatty fragments; humour/self-mockery; a closing nudge |
| Website | To be scanned, and steer the click | Short headings for skimming; a bright call-to-action button; ‘you’; image/layout hierarchy |
| Social media post | To relate and get shared in seconds | A short punchy caption; image + caption together; hashtags/emojis; a pull to engage |
| Transcript | To capture real speech exactly | Fillers/hesitations (‘um’); interruptions & overlaps; turn length; notes like ‘(pause)’ |
🔍 The one move that scores
Analyse each the same way: name the choice (direct address, a fragment, a bright button, an emoji, an interruption), say its effect (what it makes the reader feel, do, or realise), then reach the so what — the trust it builds, the click it wants, or the character/power it reveals, and who it's for. Two reminders: for a website read the design (biggest = message, button = the click); for a transcript the ‘um’s, pauses and interruptions are the evidence. A label alone scores nothing.
✍️ IB-style worked examples
IB-style question — analyse a blog
Analyse how the blogger builds a friendly voice: “Okay. I tried the 5 a.m. club for a week. Reader, I am not a morning person. I am barely a person. But — I hate that there's a ‘but’ — it kind of worked?”
Step by step:
Name the choices: direct address ‘Reader,’, self-mockery ‘barely a person’, and the hedging fragment ‘it kind of worked?’.
Effect: the address and self-mockery make the writer relatable; the fragments sound like real, unpolished speech, not a sales pitch.
So what: because the writer seems honest and funny about their own flaws, we trust them and read on like a friend — the informal voice is crafted, not careless.
‘Reader,’ and the self-mockery ‘barely a person’, plus the hedging ‘it kind of worked?’, make the writer relatable and honest — so the crafted informal voice builds trust and keeps us reading.
IB-style question — analyse a website
Analyse this charity homepage: a full-screen photo of a child, over it the heading “She's counting on you.” Below, one bright button: “Give £3 now.”
Step by step:
Read the design: the full-screen child + heading ‘counting on you’ comes first, then a single bright button.
Effect: the image and ‘you’ make the need feel personal and press gentle guilt; the one bright button makes helping feel easy and instant.
So what: emotion first, then one easy click — the hierarchy removes every reason to hesitate before donating.
The full-screen child and ‘counting on you’ make the need personal, and the single bright ‘Give £3 now’ button makes helping feel instant — so the design turns feeling into one easy click.
IB-style question — analyse a transcript
Analyse this transcript: “A: So you'll have it done by— B: (cutting in) Yes. Yes. It's fine. A: —Friday? B: (quietly) …I'll try.”
Step by step:
Name the speech features: B cuts A off with ‘Yes. Yes.’, and the note ‘(quietly) …I'll try’ trails off.
Effect: cutting in sounds defensive and rushed; the quiet, trailing ‘I'll try’ shows doubt under a confident front.
So what: the WAY B speaks — not the words alone — reveals someone under pressure and not really in control.
B cutting in with ‘Yes. Yes.’ sounds defensive, while ‘(quietly) …I'll try’ betrays real doubt — so the speech features, not the words, reveal B struggling to seem in control.
Important: Don't dismiss the informality. A blog's fragments and slang are deliberate (they build trust); a post is never ‘too short to analyse’ (the brevity is the craft — every emoji and hashtag is a choice); a website isn't read top to bottom (analyse the design and the button); and a transcript's ‘um’s and pauses are evidence, not mistakes to tidy away.
Tap each card to check yourself.
Are a blog's fragments and slang mistakes? No — they're deliberate choices that build a relaxed, friendly, trustworthy voice; analyse them as craft.
Why is a website ‘scanned, not read’? Visitors skim headings and images and decide in seconds, so design (hierarchy, buttons) carries most of the persuasion.
Is a social post ‘too short to analyse’? No — brevity is the craft; read image + caption together and analyse why THIS word, emoji and hashtag earn a like or share.
Why keep the ‘um’s and pauses in a transcript? They're evidence — signs of nerves, thinking, uncertainty or power; who interrupts and who is cut off shows who's in control.
What does a website's call-to-action button do? Its colour and placement pull the eye to the one click they want (Buy, Join, Donate) — say what it DOES, don't just name it.
Exam Tips
- Every text: name the convention → its effect → the trust, click or character it produces.
- Treat a blog's informality as CRAFTED — analyse the choices, don't call them mistakes.
- For a website, read the design (biggest first, image, button), not just the paragraphs.
- For a post, read image + caption + hashtag together; the brevity is the craft.
- For a transcript, analyse HOW people speak (pauses, fillers, interruptions, turn length).