At the end of the last century the web was conceived of as a library where information could be posted and retrieved, so that there was a fairly clear distinction between the roles of producers and consumers of information. Since then what is called Web 2.0 has emerged as a highly interactive space where all participants are both producers and consumers. Intensive users of the virtual space find that it has changed the nature of their existence in the ‘non-virtual’ world. In this volume we look at the linguistic and discoursal complexities of interaction in the virtual space in relation to events and discourses outside it.