Exploration of digital rhetoric in a social network environment

Abstract

This article explores the use of digital rhetoric in a social network environment with a view toobtaining greater insight into how traditional rhetoric may be applied. In this article, digital rhetoricrefers to persuasive communication in different electronic formats. The article focuses on aninductive logos communication technique used in a popular microblogging site to promote the2011 Rugby World Cup event held in New Zealand. Sport readily lends itself to the viral spreadof information by means of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) because it generates excitementamong sport enthusiasts. Big sporting events thus provide an ideal medium for marketers of sportsevents to use different marketing communication tools to communicate persuasive messagesregarding sport to a large target audience. The findings of the study on which this article is basedshed more light on digital rhetoric and can also serve as a heuristic tool for other researchersanalysing sports-marketing communication messages in social network environments.