The Internet has become one of the most frequent places that people hang out. This

virtual space that the Internet puts at our total disposal is so vast and attractive that we are

moving almost all of our activities there. We go online for business purposes, for entertainment,

for academic purposes, we go online to socialize, to get informed, and to relax. The Internet has

become our number one source for almost anything and everything. In this sea of randomness

and infinite hyperactive space have you ever stopped and taken a good look at what it looks like?

Have you ever wondered why is it so simple to navigate and just jump from one place to another

and what it’s keeping all of this together? Of course one cannot find all of these answers with

just one glance, but stopping for that second will make you notice something that is common

throughout all of the places or pages the Internet offers you.

If you start your navigation with Google, you will see there is a button that tells you to

Google Search. You will then go to a desired webpage and will be asked to take others several

actions such as: Download, Sing up, Login, Comment, Read More, Go to top, Go to the next

page, Watch Video and many more. Eventually you will do one of those actions that will take

you to another place, that will ask you to take another action and this will happen repeatedly until

you close your browser. At this first glance we see that when we are surfing the Internet we are

actually being told what to do every step of the way.

This buttons that urges us to click and take an action are what marketing calls them Call-

to-Action buttons. As Wikipedia informs us “A call to action, or CTA, is a banner, button, or

some type of graphic or text on a website meant to prompt a user to click it and continue down a

conversion funnel. It is an essential part of inbound marketing as well as permission marketing in

that it actively strives to convert a user into a lead and later into a customer.” 1 In this paper I will

take the necessary second look at them arguing that, although they started as just mere marketing

tools, they have succeeded their pure commercial purpose. The CTA button is no longer used

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_to_action_(marketing)

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online to prompt users to click on it and to finally make a purchase or a lead, but in fact is used

to instruct and successfully guide internet surfers so that their navigation to be as easy and quick

as possible.

And then there was the Internet

As exemplified before the CTA buttons are an important part of the Internet; they can be

found everywhere, on almost every webpage, being at every corner of the World Wide Web.

Any discussion about these components must begin with a discussion about the dominant (new)

media, the Internet.

Today we cannot disconsider, any kind of media, or medium, and consider it merely a

tool ignoring the greater importance and impact that it has on our social life and on ourselves.

From the renowned book Understanding Media: The Extension of Man, Marshall McLuhan has

changed the way we interpret and study media. He writes: “It is the persistent theme of this book

that all technologies are extensions of our physical and nervous systems to increase power and

speed”2. Emphasizing from the very beginning that: “Any extension, whether of skin, hand, or

foot, affects the whole psychic and social complex.”3 All of McLuhan’s subsequent ideas derive

from the hypothesis that media, or technologies (McLuhan considers “media” and “technology”

more or less synonymous terms), are extensions of some social, psychological, physical, or

intellectual function of ourselves. In consequence, television extends our eyes and ears, the

phone extends our voice, the wheel extends our feet, the computer extends our brain, and

electronic media, in general, extend our central nervous system. He draws our attention to the

latest media, that is electronic media, stating that: “Whereas all previous technology (save

speech, itself) had, in effect, extended some part of our bodies, electricity may be said to have

outered the central nervous system itself, including the brain”4 Pre-electric media are interpreted

as being extensions of the physical body, an outward extension, while electronic media is an

inward implosion approaching a technological simulation of consciousness, a change that has a

2 Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extension of Man, Signet, Signet Classics, Mentor and

Plume Books, New York, p.903 Ibidem p. 44 Ibidem p. 268

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greater impact. “Our new electric technology that extends our senses and nerves in a global

embrace has large implications for the future of language.”5

The use of Internet and the use of the computer are, needless to say, in most cases

intrinsic. Thus the computer, as a new medium, is a reflection of the mind, which makes the

Internet an extension of our consciousness. This factor, as McLuhan points out, has significant

implications. The more we come in contact with this reflection of our consciousness, the more

we open ourselves to the changes that are inevitable.

James W. Carey, when analyzing Marshall McLuhan`s work, points out the differences

between types of media, and their many modes of communication. He states that any “media of

communication impart to persons a particular way of organizing experience and a particular way

of knowing and understanding the world in which they travel.”6 The Internet doesn’t use all of

the channels of communication, it excludes some of the senses we use in face to face

communication. Thus as a result it challenges the senses that are used most, contributing to their

development. He further argues that “men stand in a symbiotic relation to all media, and

consequently the dominant mode of communication dictates character of perception and through

perception the structure of the mind.”7 In other words, our use of the Internet as the dominant

media, with its channels of communication, has an impact on ourselves that goes beyond just our

opinions or concepts. Being the window onto the world and onto ourselves, this particular

medium, as an extension of our consciousness, molds our mind and gives birth to a digital

shaped brain.

Updates are available for your software

Lev Manovich argues in his works that: “New media calls for a new stage in media

theory whose beginnings can be traced back to the revolutionary works of Robert Innis and

Marshall McLuhan of the 1950s.To understand the logic of new media we need to turn to

computer science. It is there that we may expect to find the new terms, categories and operations

that characterize media that became programmable. From media studies, we move to something

5 Ibidem, p. 806 James W. Carey, Harold Adams Innis and Marshall McLuhan, The Antioch Review, Vol. 27, No. 1

(Spring, 1967), p. 187 Ibidem, p. 23

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which can be called software studies; from media theory — to software theory.”8 Taking into

consideration the impact of the digital media he points out that “Software is the invisible glue

that ties it all together.”9, thus deserving a paradigm of its own. Throughout his works Manovich

argues that software became the main characteristic not only of the digital media, but by

extension, of our society and culture, stating that we are living in a software society and software

culture. “While various systems of modern society speak in different languages and have

different goals, they all share the syntaxes of software.”10 From this point of view the changes

that digital media has imposed on its users, the digital shaped mind, is equal to an

implementation of software that will respond to a corresponding language. In a study from 2003,

Catherine Frost states: “Although software has been developed to allow users to <<point and

click>> their way around the Net, the medium remains a complex one, requiring a high degree of

technological literacy to fully master its many features.” 11 Today, after ten years, the situation

has changed. The use of the Internet has become accessible to almost everyone. This is due to the

fact that web developers and programmers are constantly seeking new ways to improve and

make the Internet a user-friendly environment, but it cannot be the only explanation. The second

reason why the Internet is easy to use is because its users have adapted, started to understand its

language, acquired the needed software.

In this equation the call-to-action buttons are key components of the code, of the

language software made for the digital shaped mind. Compared with other software languages,

the CTA buttons have the same functionality – to tell the software what to do, to indicate an

action.

Simply speaking a CTA button will bring users to another part of the webpage, to another

page entirely or any other places in the virtual world, functioning much like a hypertext. In her 8 Lev Manovich, Software takes comand,

http://softwarestudies.com/softbook/manovich_softbook_11_20_2008.pdf, 2008, p. 39 Ibidem, p.410 Ibidem, p.411 Chaterine Frost, How Prometheus is Bound: Applying the Innis Method of Communications Analysis to

the Internet, Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol.28, 2003, p. 8

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analysis, Catherine Frost points out: “Perhaps the most innovative element in Internet

communications – and there for the most difficult one to assess in terms of potential impact – is

the development of hypertext. Strictly speaking, hypertext describes pre-identified links within a

given text or image format that enable users to follow any one of a range of connections to

different but related information.”12 This innovative element has become one of the most specific

aspects of the Internet. It is the hypertext that underlines the virtual medium as a non-linear

system. Lev Manovich insists upon the fact that hypertext does not necessarily mean the linking

of a text with a link. Its functionality goes beyond the click and go phase, it is because of this

new concept that the Internet has its unique properties. He quotes from Nelson: “Hypertext is

not technology but potentially the fullest generalization of documents and literature.”13 In virtual

space the CTA button becomes a hypertext that disturbs the linear-system, allows users to go for

one place to another. In the same time the CTA button is a hypertext that informs the user how to

use a particular webpage, thus becoming a way of navigating the Net. This is where the CTA

buttons are making their presence not only known but asked for. Not every hypertext tells you

exactly what will happen, not every hypertext tells users what they can (should?) do. CTAs are

bits of code that tell our own software that here you can comment, or here you can like, or here

you share, or here you can go to another place.

Beyond marketingFrom a marketer`s point of view “A call-to-action (CTA) is an image or text that prompts

visitors to take action, such as subscribe to a newsletter, view a webinar or request a product

demo.”14 In other words a CTA is a “hyperlinked text or button that advertises an offer and takes

you to a landing page.”15 As it is explained in the e-book, An Introduction to EFFECTIVE CALLS-

TO-ACTION, the need for CTA is due to the fact that the Internet means constant movement.

12 Ibidem, p.13 13 Lev Manovich, op. cit., p.5714 Magdalena Georgieva, An Introduction to EFFECTIVE CALLS-TO-ACTION, p. 315 Ibidem, p.3

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Once on the Internet users are always on the run from one information to the next. Thus a

marketer needs to catch the attention of its customers, to bring them to their site, to make them

use their site etc. CTAs “have the power to grab people`s attention and direct it to a new topic.” 16

These particular hypertexts are indispensable in the “attention economy” displayed online as

Magdalena Georgieva states: “You need to help them decide what to do next. In fact, every page

on your site should help visitors understand what they should do next; therefore include at least

one call to action on every page.”17 Today we can see CTAs in almost any site or platform,

making users take an action, read more, download, buy, login, sign up, like, comment etc. There

are many tips of CTAs and many of them like the ones on Facebook do not advertise an offer but

informs user what they can do.

When studying new media with regard to the advertising industry, one would inevitable

talk about User Generated Content (UGC)18 as being the most interesting twist that the virtual

space has brought to this vast industry. As scholars have explained this term stands for the

dynamic relationship that the Internet offers to its users, thus the possibility of directly

connecting with a client, and letting these customers make the content of the company’s

webpage (or a part of it). Due to the Internet, the relationship of a busyness with its clients has

change dramatically. Today it is simpler than ever to understand the needs of the costumers and

how one should shape its product to fit the customers need. But does this twist apply only for

companies and the advertising industry? If one should look at the big picture, one would find out

that every inch of the virtual space has this particularity of being interactive, user-responsive, and

in constant change. The Internet as a medium is, in fact, a User Generated Media. It is the media

influenced most by its users. Not only that the medium and its content are shaped as to best suit

the users’ needs and interests but both of them are made by the users. The consumers of this

media are an active part that is making the media. Most of the characteristics and features of the

Internet are made for the users and by the users.

16 Ibidem, p.317 Ibidem, p.1318 Matthew S. Eastin, Terry Daugherty, Neal M. Burns, Handbook of Research on Digital Media and

Advertising: User Generated Content Consumption, Information Science Reference, Hershey, New York,

2011

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It is from this point of view that CTAs have exited their initial purpose. Although they

started as being mere marketing tools, today they have become an indispensable way of

navigating the internet, a way of knowing how to use and when to use a site, a part of the code, a

part of the software language.

Let`s talk some moreThe latest news, for some years now, is that the Internet is shaping our brain. What began

as a copy of our consciousness, the computer, is now an independent external part of our body

with many functionalities. In this analogy the Internet plays the role of one of the most used aria

of this external brain. In this case it is of very high value to study that which is becoming, more

and more, a vital part of our daily existence. The CTA buttons, as I have argued, are most

significant. Although they seem simple and of no importance, their overwhelming presence

online is enough of an incentive to study them.

My goal in this research is to find out if the CTAs are more than a marketing tool, if they

are helpful for everyday internet users and if the Internet would be much different without them.

My objectives are to research on three subtopics: what are the users` expectations when surfing

online, what is the users` first reaction to the CTAs and if they perceive them as having just a

commercial value, and finally, with the help of a concrete example, how are users interacting

with CTA buttons of this given website. My hypothesis is that CTAs are a way of navigating the

Internet. As argued, in the theoretical part, they are a software language for the human brain, for

the digital shaped mind of an internet user.

In order to test my hypothesis I have chosen to organize a focus group, carefully selecting

participants that are internet users between the age of 20 – 25, that are surfing online on a daily

basis, being highly familiarize with this medium and are active Facebook users. I consider this

demographic group to be one of the most relevant groups for my study, as they are individuals

who are most exposed to the Internet and have developed a clear navigation pattern. As my case

study I have chosen a social media platform because this type of website have a very specific

structure that would allow an in depth analysis of its CTAs. I have chosen Facebook due to its

popularity and due to its daily use by the group members. The advantage of this research method

is that it allows relevant questions to be put, and it allows an in depth discussion of the problem.

CTAs can pass as being an inherent part of the Internet interface, and is because of this that a

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quantitative approach would lead to irrelevant data, thus only methods that would lead to a

qualitative approach would be suited. A disadvantage of the focus group is that, although it broth

relevant data it did not resulted in enough data to exhaustively analyses the internet users`

navigation patterns.

My research will show the relevance of the CTA buttons, and will hopefully serve as an

incentive for further discussions and analyses of a software language specific to the Internet

medium, that is not made for any computer software but for a digital shaped mind of an internet

user.

Let`s get answersThe first topic of discussion put into question in the focus group was the users`

expectations with regard to the websites they use and visit on a daily bases on the Internet. Most

of the participants put a high level of importance on the aspect and design of a website, on

having a very logical and clear structure. The group reached the conclusion that highly functional

website is a website that has a user-friendly interface. When asked to define what a user-friendly

interface is, from their point of view, the subjects explained that this type of interface is one that

allows the user to easily navigate through a given website, having a clear structure, which

ensures a rapid learning of what and where a user can find there. In other words the user-friendly

interface is defined by the ability of the website of having its content easily and quickly accessed

by anyone.

A smaller number of participants talked about the importance of content as the first

criteria when choosing a website over another. The subjects stated that, if the content is

interesting and of high quality, the interface of the website becomes less important; although it

helps to have a logical structure and well defined categories.

When asked what are the reasons for considering a website is not worth their time, and

thus why would they abandon a website, the two criteria were brought into discussion again. The

inappropriate or uninteresting content was one of the reasons that the participants would abandon

the website immediately. The second was regarding the very complicated aspect and design,

which would take too much time to navigate through. Because of the many options and pages

available on the Internet, they would quickly jump to the next website that would satisfy both of

these criteria.

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Another point of discussion was the presence of ads and commercial banners on the

websites. The participants stated that these alone can become a reason to abandon a website. In

the situation in which they become ostentatious, popping-up covering the content, drawing

attention from the content, or taking too much of the websites space, the participants concluded

that these ads are the first motive to jump to the next website.

From the first part of the group interview we can see that users value two main criteria

when navigating the Internet: the content and the interface (that stand for structure and design).

The discussions were not conclusive, thus we cannot state which of the two are more important

but we can see that the two criteria are never truly separated. Users of the internet are searching

for information, entertainment, news, in one word content of high quality and expect it to be

found in a format that is easily and quickly accessible. These last two aspects should be

underlined, they ultimately define a user`s expectations when navigation the Internet: To find

good content as easily and quickly as possible.

The second topic was regarding the Call-to-action buttons directly. The participants were

asked how they perceive them and if they find them helpful in anyway. From the beginning the

participants brought into question the difference between the CTA buttons that where there for

commercial purposes (such as buy now) and the others (such as login, download, read more).

The participants pointed out that CTAs that had a clear commercial value can sometimes act as

the commercial banners and ads discussed before. They perceived these types of buttons as being

intrusive mostly when they are urged to take an action that they are not interested in, thus

interrupting their navigation pattern. As for the other types, the participants stated that they use

them frequently, every time they are on the Internet, but had no strong opinions about them.

They viewed these types of buttons as an integral part of a website, as a given, a natural way of

navigating in or from any website on the Internet. They have identified the login and download

buttons as being used the most by them, and stated that the login button can sometimes be

annoying, because they are asked to make an additional effort to access the content that they

want to see.

As I have stated before, in the theoretical part of this essay, CTA buttons have the quality

of indicating clearly to the user what can they do on a particular website and how they can use it.

From the first part of the group interview we can see that users expect from the navigation option

on the Internet to lead to an easy and quick one. In the second part the participants were directly

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asked about the CTA buttons to see if they intervene in their navigation patterns in anyway. This

discussion revealed the fact that they used them daily in almost any visit to a particular website.

The fact that they perceived them as being inherent to the virtual space reveals their high

functionality and necessity of their presence on the Internet. At the surface, for subjects that are

extremely familiar with the Internet these buttons seem to have little importance, but because

they used them every day and perceived them as “natural” for a website to have them, they

become indispensable.

The third and final topic of the focus group was regarding Facebook and the options that

this particular social media platform presents to its users. The participants were asked to

remember their first contact with this platform and elaborate how they first perceived it. A part

of them stated that at first Facebook seemed uninteresting with an overcomplicated interface.

The other participants argued that for them Facebook seemed as easy at first as it is today, but it

didn`t make a very big impression on them. Whether they were puzzled by this new platform or

not, every participant ended up making a profile and started using many of its options. Their

interest for Facebook became bigger because “everyone was on Facebook”. All of the

individuals from the focus group agreed that today Facebook is very easy to use. Those who had

difficulties at the beginning said that they learned and adapted very quickly.

When asked if they consider the buttons Like, Share and Comment important for

Facebook, the participants argued that it is these buttons, and mostly the Like button, that give a

certain particularity to Facebook in contrast with other social media platforms. Other participants

felt that these buttons are common to all of the social media platforms, and is not of this reason

that Facebook is different from other social media platform. They stated that Facebook is very

easy to use and gives enough options so that users are satisfied. Some of the participants insisted

upon the Like button opening a discussion about the need of a new button, a new option of

Facebook, the Dislike button. The subjects concluded that although we have the option to

express our dislike of a post through a comment, a Dislike button would be a different story. This

particular button would give users the option of expressing their disapproval more easily, quicker

and without the implication level needed for a comment.

When asked how Facebook would change if these three buttons would stop showing, the

participants stated that it would have a great impact, transforming Facebook into something else.

They argued further that this unimaginable effect is due to the fact that the users of Facebook are

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so familiarized with these options that regardless of the presence of the buttons they would try to

share like or comment anyways. Some of the participants stated that without these buttons

Facebook would no longer be a social media platform because it would no longer provide the

necessary option to interact with other users.

In this last part of the discussions participants were asked to relate to their relationship

with one of the popular CTAs on Facebook. These three CTAs are the buttons that inform users

from the minute they enter the platform that Facebook is a place where you can express

agreement through clicking the Like button, interact with other users through clicking the

Comment button and share ideas photos and many more through the Share button.

In the first part of this section participants talked about their first interaction with

Facebook. Their experiences were divided, showing that although the interface of today seems

very easy to use by its users, at the beginning it required a certain notion of what a social media

platform is. As technology is adapting, so does our mind and perception, causing us to learn and

adapt faster on the Internet. This is the case for Facebook. Ones having the notion of what a

social media platform is, or having the software to read the platform, users can easily manage to

use all the options provided by Facebook, users manage to read correctly all of its CTA buttons.

The discussion about the potential Dislike button shows a particular inclination of the

participants to use the button that Facebook, or any other website, provides. The individuals

identified a new feature that they wish Facebook to have, a new feature that should be clearly

separated from other options, a new CTA button. The Dislike CTA would be an easy and quick

to use option that will allow users to express their disapproval of a post.

Although participants stated that CTA buttons have little importance to them, when

talking about the three CTAs of Facebook, they regarded them as having a crucial importance for

the platform. These buttons inform users that they are in a place where they can interact and

share ideas with other users and therefor they are on a social media platform. The buttons Like,

Share and Comment, as seen in this interview, helps users put Facebook in one of the many

categories of websites on the Internet, thus contributing to its identity.

Are you sure you want to log off? Today navigation on the Internet is a very easy action for a daily user. Being exposed to a

medium for such long periods of time, we are learning almost effortless how to effectively use it

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as quick and easy as possible. As shown in this research the motives that make this possible is

due to two main factors: the digital shaped mind and the specific software language specially

design for it.

From the first topic of discussion in the focus group we have seen that users value the

most a quick and easy access to the content of their interest. Surfing the World Wide Web would

not be so popular if this conditions would not be satisfied. In what I have argued the CTA

buttons directly define the Internet as such a medium. Because of its clear message surfers of the

Internet use them frequently and successfully. The second topic of the focus group revealed that

CTA buttons are consciously perceived as having, most of the time, a commercial value only.

This is due to the fact that CTAs become obvious means of navigation when users are ask to take

an action that is not specific to their daily pattern. A very important point that was shown in this

second part is that the other types of CTAs (the types that do not seem to have commercial value)

are perceived as being a “natural”, inherent part of the Internet interface. They are in fact being

used frequently but users are not paying attention to them. In the final part of the discussion, the

case study on Facebook`s CTAs shown that this buttons can be vital for the navigation pattern of

an user. Not only that they call upon the user to take an action but they reveal to the user the

identity of the website. Also in this last part of the discussion we can see and understand how a

CTA button can change a website, giving and defining its options. The surfers are passively

using CTAs, but it is because of this frequent use that they prefer and ask for them.

All that I have argued in this research lead me to the conclusion that CTA buttons cannot

be regarded as mere marketing tools. They play a greater role; they reveal an important new

aspect of the Internet medium: Today we have a digital shaped mind that responds to a specific

software language.

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