A MULTIMODAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF PROFILE INFORMATION ON IFLIRT DATING SITE

Abstract

This paper investigates the meaning-making potential of the combination of layout, image, and text used in the design of profile information of users on iFlirt dating site. The study is anchored on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), and adopted a descriptive survey method to sample four profiles randomly selected from the dating site. The metafunctions of both Halliday’s SFL and the visual grammar of Kress and Van Leeuwen were used to analyse the synchrony of layout, image, and text used in the profiles. The criterion for investigation was multimodal analysis of image/image properties and text/text properties. The analyses found that more positive attributes occurred in the images on each profile while less positive attributes were ascribed to the textual component. The study concludes that pictorial information was presented to attract friendship for the profile owners more than the verbal resources. The study recommends, among others, that profile account holders should be given fewer options of not responding to questions such as whether they smoke or not, because the reader loses the chance of building attraction each time the writer chooses not to respond.