loganryancomm2360

[loganryancomm2360]

Works Cited

Journal Articles:

Burgess, Jean, and Joshua Green. Youtube: Online Video and Participatory Culture. Cambridge: Polity, 2009

Lange, Patricia G. “Publicly Private and Privately Public: Social Networking on YouTube.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 13, no. 1, 2007, pp. 361–380., doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00400.x.

Smith, Daniel R. “The tragedy of self in digitized popular culture: the existential consequences of digital fame on YouTube.” Qualitative Research, 2017, p. 146879411770070., doi:10.1177/1468794117700709.

 Tolson, Andrew. "A New Authenticity? Communicative Practices on Youtube." Critical Discourse Studies 7.4 (2010): 277-89.

Xu, Weiai Wayne, et al. "Networked Cultural Diffusion and Creation on Youtube: An Analysis of Youtube Memes." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, vol. 60, no. 1, Mar. 2016, pp. 104-122. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/08838151.2015.1127241.

Websites: 

Mosendz, Polly, and Kim Bhasin. “YouTube Is Helping to Sell a Lot of Makeup.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 31 Oct. 2016, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-31/youtube-is-helping-to-sell-a-lot-of-makeup.

“How the Makeup and Cosmetic Industry is Ruling Social Media.” Likeable Media, www.likeable.com/blog/2016/6/how-the-makeup-and-cosmetic-industry-is-ruling-social-media.

[loganryancomm2360]

Pop Culture Artifact Essay

Since its launch in 2005, YouTube has fast become one of the most popular video sharing sites, one of the largest sources of user-generated content, and one of the most frequently visited sites globally (Burgess and Green). With its self-imposed tagline as, “Broadcast Yourself,” as Youtube’s popularity has increased, more and more people have taken them up on that opportunity by way of vlogging. By filming their everyday lives and presenting it online through public video sharing websites, YouTubers are constantly engaging in a process of constructing and presenting their identity online. A specific sub-genre of vlogging I am personally fascinated by is makeup tutorials. For my pop culture artifact, I chose to analyze NikkieTutorials Youtube video, “The power of makeup.” Youtube can not only be used as a tool for self-identification transformation but serves as a successful vehicle for challenging societal norms.

Two years ago, Nikkietutorials, a well-known beauty blogger, posted a video called, “The power of makeup,” in hopes of ending the act of what she refers to as “makeup shaming.” She explains in the beginning of her video that she was sick of hearing girls shy away from practicing the art of makeup because they are ashamed. She explains that “nowadays’ when you say you love makeup, you either do it to look good for boys, you do it because you're insecure, or you do it because you don’t love yourself. Nowadays it’s almost a crime to say you love doing your makeup.” Inspired by her findings, she decided to post a video showing half her face bare, and half her face in “full-glam makeup.” In her description below her video, Nikkietutorials further elaborates “It's as if putting makeup on to have fun is a shame. Therefore, I thought it would be cool to show you the power of makeup. A transformation. Because makeup... is FUN!” To say the least, her video went absolutely viral. It was the epitome of cultural diffusion. Since its release, her video has received over 37,144,818 views and millions of interactions. Her video is a part of growing trend among beauty bloggers who are responding to critics for by making similar videos. Nikki’s fans even started an Instagram challenge in response to her video by posting before and after photos of their signature makeup looks with the hashtag #the power of makeup challenge. NikkieTutorials made her Power of Makeup video to prove how powerful cosmetics can really be in terms of your outward beauty, but inner self as well. “By no means do I want to say that if you have insecurities that you should just slap makeup on, feel better, and just never be content with your own self,” Nikki added. “I just want people to know that makeup is fun and there are no rules.” Other youtube vloggers have followed suit like Cheri Lindsay who has vitiligo and has openly shared her journey with the skin condition. The video isn't about covering up your skin; it's about allowing yourself to be whatever you want to be with the aid of cosmetics. Nikkie’s stance on makeup opens up the doors to an even bigger cultural phenomenon of transformation. In contemporary culture, transformation is everywhere. People are utterly obsessed with transforming themselves into the best and most aesthetic versions of themselves, whether it be from extreme weight loss...to extreme contouring. However, as mentioned in my literature review, of Andrew Tolson’s “A New Authenticity? Communicative Practices on Youtube," people are equally obsessed with the idea of authenticity. Thus “natural beauty” is highly sought after while NIkkietutorials unnatural makeup looks are shamed. NIkkietutorials challenges these societal norms by demonstrating her own version of authenticity. In many of her videos she openly admits to her flaws, and even at times, points them out.  Similar to the idea of using Youtube as a platform for the average person to reinvent oneself online, beauty vloggers are demonstrating that makeup is both a tool and extension of the self that allows for identification transformation. The power of makeup has created an empowering movement that allows women to be whatever they want to be, whenever they want to be it. Want to look like a neon space alien? There’s a makeup tutorial for that!

As If their cultural effects are not enough, the power of youtube makeup tutorials has had an even greater impact on the economy. According to an article on likeable.com, 95% of people searching for beauty content head to Youtube to watch makeup-related videos and get beauty advice. Since Youtube contributed to the extreme success of the first ever beauty blogger, Michelle Phan, local makeup gurus have rushed to get in front of the camera, and amateurs have rushed to learn. Phan herself partnered with a beauty-box subscription service, Ipsy. According to Bloomberg, Ipsy has raised more than $103 million in venture capital funding since it was founded in 2011; it has been profitable for more than three years, and its annual revenue is $150 million. Since 2002, revenue of the cosmetic industry has had its ups and downs, but as of 2016, is at an all-time high, with an annual revenue of 62.46 billion dollars. Cosmetic brands are looking to beauty bloggers as influencers for their new products. Sending a product to a well-known beauty blogger to showcase in their next tutorial is just about as close to free advertising as it gets. The “ Power of MAKEUP!” movement and society’s fascination with Youtube celebrities are a clear indication of just how powerful social media truly is in shaping our world.  Not only can Youtube videos and makeup tutorials help transform one’s identity but are pivotal in challenging societal norms.

[loganryancomm2360]

Literature Review #4

In the final article, “Networked Cultural Diffusion and Creation on YouTube: An Analysis of YouTube Memes” Weiai Wayne Xu, Ji Young Park, Ji Young Kim, and Han Woo Park explore how modern cultural diffusion occurs through formation of viral Youtube and internet memes.  The authors begin by exploring the cultural effect which took place after the explosion of Korean artist Psy’s production “Gangnam Style.” In turn, Gangnam Style’s popularity fostered a sizable amount of creativity, including remixes, parodies, self-directed performances, and reviews. The authors point out that cultural diffusion occurs through a connected social system, whether it be word of mouth communication or crowd-sourced content creation. In this case, youtube is the social system connecting the multiple facets of cultural diffusion and memes are a way of creating new cultural forms through adding to and altering existing ones. The authors define memes as, “an idea, behavior, style, or structure that spreads from one person to another within a given culture.”  Youtube assists the cultural phenomenon memes through collective viewing, sharing, and commenting across all cultures. Through their research, the authors hoped to answer the questions of what video genres are inspired by the original GS video, what video genres draw viewers’ collective attention and engagement,  what types of actors (sources, authority figures, or hubs) play a central role in memetic creation, and how all of these may change over time. To collect their data, the authors used the search query,“Gangnam Style,” to extract videos with titles, keywords, descriptions, categories, or usernames matching the keyword. The authors broke down “Gangnam Style” inspired videos into subgenres and found that dance videos, remix videos, and reaction videos were among the most popular. To answer research question number 2, the authors found that the top three genres based on the number of engagements included dances, reactions, and parodies. Finally, the authors found that sources like  CNN International (Asia) and network stations that featured Gangnam Style in 2012 London Olympics Special were among the most influential in connecting the world to the video. Overall, the authors concluded that their findings confirmed that memes represent a new concept in cultural diffusion. Memes not only reinvent the meaning of virality but underlie a new view on user creativity of recreations adding new meanings to original culture.

[loganryancomm2360]

Literature Review #3

In “Publicly Private and Privately Public: Social Networking on YouTube”, Patricia Lange of the University of Southern California, investigates the varying degrees of engagement of Youtube in terms of maintaining social relationships. Lange takes a look at social networking sites (SNS) and examines how Youtube users specifically facilitate interaction and socialization among friends and family that are dispersed around the globe. Lange begins by defining social networks sites as websites that allow participants to construct a public or semi-public profile within the system and that formally articulate their relationship to other users in a way that is visible to anyone who can access their profile. Lange’s subsequent analysis examines the Youtube habits from 54 interviewees ranging in age from 9 to 43 over the course of a year. Lange looks into the details of posted videos and comments by these interviewees, followed by an examination of their subscription and friending practices.  Lange opens her investigation by looking at media circuits and how they help maintain social media networks. A “media circuit” is constituted by the use of media by members of a social group to stay connected or to interact with other members of the group. Media circuits can help understand the social dynamics of a particular group while maintaining existing social networks. Media circuits can also create connections and negotiate relationship change. In relation to Youtube, a person may share certain kind of videos with one group of friends while simultaneously sharing another with a different group of friends.  Lange points out that some scholars suggest that communication technologies like Youtube may actually be ‘‘eroding the boundaries between ‘publicity’ and ‘privacy’. Lange then leads into her analysis of the dichotomy of Public vs. Private. To determine how public or private a video is, it can be split up into two concepts, “publicly private” and “privately public.” Participants may share private experiences through the video but do so in a ‘‘public way,’’ by revealing personal identity information.  This behavior is characterized by Lange as ‘‘publicly private.” She further explains that one may disclose identifying information about themselves but At the same time, they use mechanisms to limit physical access to the videos or to limit understanding of their contents. On the other side of the spectrum, Lange analyzes the “privately public.” Being ‘‘privately public’’ means making connections with many other people, while being relatively private with regard to sharing identity information. Participants in this category conceal certain aspects of their identity while expanding their friend and subscriber base and making videos with widely accessible content. Overall, Lange's study reveals how in addition to supporting social networks, video-sharing practices help create new connections and develop social networks while blurring the lines between public and private interactions on social media.  

[loganryancomm2360]

Literature Review #2

In his article, “The tragedy of self in digitized popular culture: the existential consequences of digital fame on Youtube,” Daniel R. Smith explores the effects of the digital data behind Youtube vlogs. Smiths calls into question how data feedback and metrics are of critical importance in terms of defining one’s sense of “self’ in the world of Youtube. Smith compares three similar “Youtube celebrities” as the basis of his case study and focuses on their vlogs that each express their individual discontent with having to live up to Youtube standards. Smith explores the ideas behind the constitution of self and individuality in popular culture through a textual and performance analysis. Smith brings to light the integrity of “big data” in regards to one's “self” identity. He argues that the modern quantifiable expression of human worth can be found behind, likes, comments, and faves. This “metric used form of self-worth” has created a crisis among video bloggers on Youtube. Smith’s chooses to analyze Youtube celebrities Charlie McDonnell, Chris Kendall, and Ben Cook - all of which are connected by a common vlogging audience. Smith looks to “unravel the tragedy of self” through analysis of each vloggers expression of discontent with Youtube, their own sense of self, relationship with their audience, and their feelings of obligations to vlogging. Smith explains that in order to analyze each vlog, we must understand each as a cultural performance, or a “soliloquy” of social expression. Smith further investigate the way the rise of data shapes these aforementioned “performances,” while simultaneously revolutionizing social relationships. According to Smith, these vloggers have reached “microcelebrity” status due to their video metrics (interactions, followers, comments, etc).  Their claims to fame have all been similar comedic videos, however, their vlogs - “I’m Scared”, “Quitting Youtube” and “Youtube vs. The World” all transition from this idealization of Youtube to a thematic trend of discontent. When looking at these vlogs from a tragic soliloquy standpoint, Smith points out that they all break their comedic persona which they have become famous for. Each vlogger dramatizes his situation and acts out his inability to perform due to pressures brought upon by Youtube and their fans. In Smith’s words, vlogs are performances of self for others, and others confirm their sense of self. So in essence, Youtube has made all three vloggers lose their true sense of self. This is due to each vloggers recognition of metric-based popularity, and how their creativity is limited to the amount of “likes and dislikes” their content may or may not receive. Smith reiterates that in the Youtube world, likes are one’s metric of value. Vloggers often misrecognize human connection with algorithmic connections thus creativity becomes short-circuited. Smith, reverts back to this idea of tragic soliloquy in which, each vlogger has knowledge of their situation but fails to act on it. Instead, acceptance and approval in the Youtube world trump moral character and integrity and this idea of self-expression becomes merely a facade. In closing, Smith reveals that big data singlehandedly constitutes popular culture and will continue to skews one’s true sense of self.

[loganryancomm2360]

Literature Review #1

In Andrew Tolson’s article, “A new authenticity? Communicative practices on YouTube,” published in Critical Discourse Studies Vol. 7, No. 4, Tolson explores Youtube and some of its distinctive communicative practices regarding authenticity and “face-to-face communication.” In terms of modern mass media, the authenticity of communication has always been a recurring theme. Referring back the Frankfurt school, the critical issue of mass media and reproduction was whether or not it rendered authentic art and pop culture. Tolson introduces his analysis by placing an emphasis on the authenticity of mass-mediated performance. Tolson cites two well-known examples. Richard Dyer has previously argued that “rhetoric of authenticity motivates a popular interest in film stars while David Marshall suggests that authenticity is a key dimension of discourses of celebrity, both on television and in popular music. (Tolson). In almost all forms of media, judgments are made based off of the relationship of authenticity between performer and their fans. Tolson argues that in terms of industrialized production of film, television, and broadcast, a premium is placed on the sincerity and conviction of one's performance and/or its genuine quality. Tolson questions that if a performance has been constructed and cultivated for professional purposes, does that then deem it inauthentic? Tolson next introduces the rise of  “conversational” broadcast talk. Tolson again questions its authenticity. Though broadcast talk may aspire to be “conversational”, conversational broadcast talk does not naturally occur. With Youtube’s promotional slogan “Broadcast Yourself,” the relevance of the debate of broadcast talk comes into play. Tolson’s main objective of this article is to use Youtube, more specifically tutorials as a case study and compare and contrast their communicative practices with traditional forms of broadcast talk. Tolson first examines Lauren Luke, an influential makeup-up blogger who took her talents to Youtube and quickly became the second most popular Youtube user in Britain. Tolson uses Luke’s popularity among young women in the “How To & Style” category of Youtube to analyze both viral communication and new media “participatory culture.” He examines these aspects of vlogging by breaking it down into three key dimensions: presentation, interactivity, and expertise. Tolson first studies the role of Lauren Luke’s presentation. He immediately notices her use of colloquial language, transparency, and amateur production. Luke makes sure to speak directly to her viewers so to demand viewer participation/interaction and construct a feeling of co-presence. Luke does not shy away from speaking in her native northern English tongue and uses variations of conversational and colloquial phrases throughout rather than reading from a script. Tolson makes note of the videos clear amateurish production and many flaws in the presentation. Tolson, next reviews the videos use of interactivity. There are two sides of interactivity worthy of noting. The first has to do with Luke’s interaction herself, while the second is evident through over 4432 viewer responses. Tolson explains that this idea of interactivity provides further evidence of the “conversational character” of Youtube vlogging due to its high reciprocation of respondents. Finally, Tolson reviews the videos expertise and is floured by the paradox he finds. Tolson states, it is perhaps ironic, but also very interesting, that young people are using Youtube not only for entertainment, but also as an alternative source of instruction, and her they are reproducing, albeit in modern colloquial forms, traditional speech genres associated with expertise. Tolson wraps up his analysis by understanding Youtube as a way of “Broadcasting yourself.” Luke’s tutorial works by way of her choice of rhetoric because she is seen as both an ordinary person and an “ordinary expert.” While her popularity still creates an air of “celebrification” in the world of internet elites, Luke’s use of colloquialism, transparent flaws and interactivity are all examples of communicative practices that shed a new light on the idea of broadcasting and authenticity.