Screenshot Quotation
Quoting by circulating an image of text rather than the text itself.
A screenshot quotation reproduces a post, message, or page as a picture. It has become the default form of citation on social platforms, largely because it preserves the appearance of the source and survives deletion.
Its evidential value is weaker than it looks. Images are trivially editable, carry no verifiable link, and strip the timestamp context of threads; forged screenshots of public figures circulate constantly, and platform receipts are rarely checked.
Accessibility is the second cost. Text in an image is invisible to screen readers and to search, so a screenshot without a transcript removes the quotation from a portion of the audience entirely.
Good practice: pair every screenshot with the plain text, a link or archive URL, and the date captured. Common mistake: cropping a reply so the post it answered disappears — the most frequent way screenshots mislead.
“Screenshot of a deleted post, accompanied by a transcript and an archive.today capture link.”
Keep reading the glossary
A quotation stripped of the surrounding argument or occasion that made it mean what it originally meant.
Cutting a short audio or video excerpt to circulate as a standalone quotation.
A square, image-based social-media graphic in which a pull-quote is set in large type over a photograph or plain background.
The process by which a quotation gradually shifts to a more famous name through repeated sharing.