ONLINE MEDIA / ZOELLA

ONLINE MEDIA  media which is distributed over the internet

the only reason why any media products exist is to make money (including online media)

DIGITAL CONVERGENCE - THE COMING TOGETHER OF MEDIA INDUSTRIES THROUGH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

YOUTUBE - video streaming website, created in 2005

• Only made possible through broadband and advances of storage

VLOGGING - video blogging, posting short videos, target audience is predominantly young people

• one of the biggest and most influential forms of media
• 42% of internet users have watched a vlog in the last month 
• 50% for 16-24 year olds
• ability to reach and influence a vast range of audiences, young people have more expendable income, really desirable to advertisers
• producers sell audiences

MICRO-BLOGGING - short updates e.g. twitter

PARTICIPATORY CULTURE - links to Clay Shirky's 'End of Audience', audience participation in the means of production 

Aspirational
Personal identity - able to relate
Identification
Unscripted narrative - haven't planned what to say
Authenticity(?) - are they being real? hyperreality?
Direct mode of address - breaking the 4th wall
Audience Interaction

Jackson Galaxy - Cat behaviour video

• uses pseudoscience - not actual facts
• 'crazy cat man' - USP
• subversive representation - rock mise en scene, 6 guitars in background, not scary, biker side burns and beard, full tattoo sleeves
• has personality
• personal identification - in his house
• partly unscripted - knows what points he wants to make
• low production values - entertaining, quirky 

Zoella
(rebranded to Zoe Sugg)

Zoella markets herself primarily on YouTube

'June Faves'- June 2016

• "Nala" - intertextual knowledge of Disney film, young audience, referential code
• exaggerated and expressive facial expressions - practise, like a children's TV presenter, like a character from a Disney film
• neutral, British accent - not particularly posh, no slang
• vocal delivery is undulating - up and down, appeals to younger audience, keeps the audience listening
• no swearing - stops her from being demonetised (Youtube is self-regulated) 
• frequent jump cuts - a cut from one thing to the same thing, regarded to be a mistake, increases level of authenticity 
• conforms to hegemonic standards of beauty - makeup, nice clothes 

preferred reading is to not find her sexually attractive ;

• very child-like,
• younger female target audience
• big eyes and smile makes her 'cute' instead of attractive 
• high pitched voice
• good teeth but not perfect - more relatable 

MULTIMODALITY - many forms of communication (text, images, sound, etc)

HYPERLINK -  something you click to go somewhere else

HYPERMODALITY - leads us from place to place

PARADIGMATIC VLOG FEATURES

• voyeurism - binary opposition between voyeurism with her non-sexualisation 
• breaking the fourth wall
• amateur aesthetic 
• high-key lighting - professional 
• single camera edit
• aspirational content 
• unscripted narrative
• codes of realism

NEGOTIATION - we switch off a part of our brain that tells us to care that it is not real

To what extent is Zoella a hyperreal construct? (more real than real)

"We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning" - JB

• she is an ideal to her target audience
• no hint of sexuality to her
• no hobbies aside from collecting clothes and market

EXPLORING IDENTITY

Zoella and Tanya Burr blogs

ZOELLA

• font is sans-serif - informal, basic, young target audience
• titles all in capital letters - easy to see and understand
• basic lexis - "dreamy bar cart", appeals to younger audience
• no images of her drinking the alcohol - alcohol has an aesthetic function, hyperreal representation of drink, implies she does't get drunk
• "i want to live in my very own 'pinterest-goals' house" - cares about appearance
• hypperlink to Oliver Bonas website - rabbit-hole, want you to buy something
• easy to navigate - menu bar, user experience (UX)
• targets a mass audience - range of posts that could appeal to lots of people, makeup, skincare, food, fashion
• animated fairy lights at the top - cute and cosy, girly
• stereotypes of femininity - pink, fairy lights, white background
• not sexualised - no nudity, full pyjamas, childish, by herself, virginal
• high production values - harder for her target audience to relate

TANYA BURR

• serif font and less capitals - more sophisticated
• elements of sexuality - bikini photos, can see down her top, demonstrates that she is an adult and mature
• looks like a normal person - candid photos, not all staged, heterosexual women are able to identify with her, lower production values of her images
• hyperreal - chooses and constructs her photos to make her look real

'The Zoella Apartment'
PRECISE target audience

• commodity fetishism - purpose of video is to sell the products, she is selling her brand, not the product
• wears long skirt, t-shirt and jewellery - feminine but not sexualised
• uses hyper-referentiality - beyond intertextuality, 'Poppy', her boyfriend's sister, can't understand unless you've watched lots of her videos before
• chaste - to abstain from sex, never talks about it, not part of her brand, could argue that this is a subversive representation of women, not appealing to heterosexual men
• high pitched voice - symbolises being a woman, stereotypical 
• always playing with her hair 
• direct mode of address - positions audience as her friend

REPRESENTATIONS OF FEMININITY?

high angle shot of the candle box and zoella's vocal excitement of it, is a clear example of commodity fetishism, this represents a stereotypical view that women are dumb, shallow, and easily pleased.

poppy clings to nala in a closeup shot, connoting love, affection, and maternal stereotypes.
alfie in the background functions as an appeal to the young, heterosexual, female audience

closeup, wearing makeup, reinforces hegemonic notions of female beauty.
reinforced by mise en scene of white flowers, which symbolises femininity and purity, and makes reference to the housewife archetype 

a range of different closeup shots, provides target audience with an intimate and inviting personal mode of address.
out of focus nature infers to the target demographic that Zoella is 'real' and relatable.
represents a performative element of women, in that Zoella is constructed as clumsy and unprofessional

Industry and audience

• we do not understand algorithms
• videos are created by artificial intelligence/computers
• algorithms calculate which videos will get the most views
• the only reason these videos are made is because they work

moral panic - blown out of proportion (e.g. MOMO)

To what extent does Zoella use Youtube algorithms in order to manipulate her audience?

• using brands in her titles - "asos", established brand, people who are fans of asos will find her videos
• identical facial expressions in all her thumbnails - smiling to show dimples, to make herself look pretty and approachable, gets views
• uses same font - handwritten, serif, cursive, connotes being laid back and childlike, gets views
• white outline - similar to lots of other bloggers, it works
• "reacting" - very popular online videos
• uses her name in the title - associates her name with beauty, establishes brand

Netflix will change audience's thumbnails, depending on who they think you are and what will appeal to you

The audience no longer exists. All that remains is a hyperreal construction forged by algorithms

Zoella us not targeting an audience, but is using algorithmic practise to target a theoretical, machine fabricated audience

CLICKBAIT 

 

• hermeneutic codes so that people HAVE to click to find out what happens - "human barbie takes off makeup", in image she still has makeup on, what will she look like?
• keywords -  "heartbreaking", "crazy", hyperboles
• low production values - low-resolution photo of general looking woman, audience doesn't know what to expect
• includes site you will be going to - audience may be more likely to click if they think it can be trusted
• the wording promises something the article can't live up to - to get clicks

HYPER-ENGAGEMENT + DUTY OF CARE

• Youtube tries to get as many people as possible stuck in rabbit holes (spend as much time as they can on the internet), often people with mental heath issues/are vulnerable
• they do this with algorithms
• the content they watch (often conspiracy theories), get more and more views
• bloggers then pick up on this and make the same content, it triggers a vicious cycle 
• unethical 

https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/science-and-technology-committee/news-parliament-2017/impact-of-social-media-young-people-report-published-17-19/

Social media companies must be subject to a legal duty of care

Online media is regulated by OFCOM

The UK government has the right to intervene, but is it worth it?