tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/content-creators-42065/articles
Content creators – The Conversation
2024-02-14T03:36:16Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/222882
2024-02-14T03:36:16Z
2024-02-14T03:36:16Z
‘Analog uncanny’: how this weird and experimental side of TikTok is forging the future of horror
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575514/original/file-20240214-26-hd8l0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2048%2C858&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Skinamarink/Shudder © 2022</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Director Kyle Edward Ball’s feature film debut, Skinamarink, achieved unexpected commercial success last year after going <a href="https://medium.com/quilt-ai/a-look-at-skinamarink-the-viral-horror-taking-over-tiktok-4d393aed10d3">viral on TikTok</a>.</p>
<p>Hailed by some critics as the <a href="https://variety.com/lists/best-horror-movies-2023/skinamarink-2/">best horror film of 2023</a>, or even the <a href="https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/skinamarink-review">scariest of all time</a>, Skinamarink is a work of experimental slow cinema. The film’s ambiguous and grainy imagery exudes the aura of a degraded, possessed VHS tape.</p>
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<p>These aesthetics might seem to conflict with TikTok’s torrent of short, attention-grabbing videos. Yet TikTok has cultivated a hive of creative energy at the intersection of art and horror. Alongside YouTube, the platform has also helped to create pathways to international horror-film careers.</p>
<h2>Bite-sized nightmares</h2>
<p>YouTube and TikTok provide spaces where horror filmmakers can hone their craft and develop distinct voices, in collaboration with a community of users who provide input, theories and feedback. </p>
<p>A unique form of horror storytelling emerges from such <a href="https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/5482/">engaged online communities</a>, as they cultivate environments where creators can test new ideas and develop creative ingenuity. This leads to a creative dynamic I call “participatory experimentation”. It’s expanding the boundaries <a href="https://researchrepository.rmit.edu.au/esploro/outputs/9922217009501341">of the horror genre</a>.</p>
<p>Ball’s distinctive aesthetic was developed via his YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@BitesizedNightmares">Bitesized Nightmares</a>. Here, he shared experimental videos based on his nightmares. He then invited viewers to share their own “nightmares” in the comments so he could depict them in subsequent videos.</p>
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<p>One of these nightmare visions is shown in the short film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVQzEzW4faA">Heck</a> (2020), the prototype for Skinamarink. Avant-garde in its approach, Heck is a work of art as well as horror. Its experimental beginnings on YouTube are key to its unsettling aesthetic power. </p>
<p>An upcoming cinema screening of Heck at RMIT’s Capitol Theatre, as part of an art/horror program I’ve co-organised with the <a href="https://acca.melbourne/screams-on-screen/">Australian Centre of Contemporary Art</a>, evidences the growing recognition of such digital horror content as “art” in spaces we may not normally expect. This is a significant cultural development. </p>
<p>The global horror hit Talk To Me (2023), one of Australia’s most successful <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/aug/04/talk-to-me-us-box-office-highest-grossing-australian-movie-rackaracka">films ever at the US box office</a>, was also germinated via a YouTube channel. Directors Michael and Danny Philipou have more than 1 billion views and nearly 7 million subscribers on their channel, RackaRacka. It was here that they honed their unique blend of horror and zany, violent comedy. </p>
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<p>YouTube has been home to boundary-pushing art-horror since its inception in 2005. Other notable examples include David Firth’s animated series <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3iOROuTuMA">Salad Fingers</a> (2004-), Becky Sloan and Joe Pelling’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZOnoLKzoBItcEk5OsES2TA">Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared</a> (2011-) – which <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14932528/">became a TV series</a> in 2022 – and Michelle Lyon’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0xXpwq9xfQ">Funnie Horsie</a> (2012-2016).</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/salad-fingers-wasnt-just-strange-it-was-art-heres-how-its-still-influencing-the-weird-part-of-youtube-2-decades-on-216911">Salad Fingers wasn’t just strange, it was art. Here’s how it's still influencing the ‘weird part of YouTube’ 2 decades on</a>
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<h2>From the ‘weird part’ of YouTube to TikTok</h2>
<p>TikTok is now also emerging as an important site for this <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13548565231208569">aesthetically rich “uncanny and weird” creative</a> content. It’s not surprising Skinamarink went viral on TikTok when you consider the app’s category of “analog horror” <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/discover/analog-horror?lang=en">had 2.3 billion views</a> as of when this article was written. The closely related “liminal spaces” category had 4.9 billion views. </p>
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<p>Although “analog” typically refers to pre-digital audiovisual technology, “analog horror” refers to horror content which may be produced digitally, but which has an eerily nostalgic technological quality. This content is often suffused with a hazy grain, reminiscent of Skinamarink’s cursed videotape aesthetic. </p>
<p>Analog horror videos may be depictions of creepy inhuman (but human-like) creatures, such as in <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@your_darkside_guide/video/7320884717128125738?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7247360749801375234">this TikTok video</a>.</p>
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<p>Or they may depict mundane domestic spaces that become threatening once you realise the hallways have off-kilter corners, or the exits are impossible to access. Such imagery of everyday spaces evacuated of purpose, and instead injected with dread, produces the “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0170840613495323#:%7E:text=Most%20often%2C%20however%2C%20it%20is,suddenly%20becomes%20strange%20and%20unfamiliar">uncanny</a>”: a feeling of the familiar merged with the unfamiliar. </p>
<p>The creepy house in Skinamarink is a compelling example of this. Throughout the film, the cosily familiar space of a childhood bedroom becomes deeply unfamiliar and unsettling as doors and windows disappear and the ceiling suddenly seems to become the floor.</p>
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<p>TikTok’s user-friendly bag of special-effects tricks, such as retro-cam filters, green screens, body warping and face-morphing enable everyday users to experiment with these horror aesthetics with a community of like-minded enthusiasts.</p>
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<p>But while analog horror is being driven in new directions on TikTok, it has long been a mainstay of YouTube. One influential example is Marble Hornets (2009), which depicts the “<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2014/06/30/the-story-of-slenderman-the-internets-own-monster/">Slender Man</a>”, the internet’s most famous bogeyman.</p>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8d12w6pMos">Mandela Catalogue</a> (2021) is a more recent example from YouTube. It has had a substantial influence on how the genre <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/discover/mandela-catalog?lang=en">has crystallised on TikTok</a>. This eerie series by Alex Kister depicts an alternative reality in which “alternates” (malevolent doppelgangers of real people) have overrun Wisconsin. Doppelgangers are another <a href="https://courses.washington.edu/freudlit/Uncanny.Notes.html">element of the uncanny</a>.</p>
<h2>The future of experimental art-horror</h2>
<p>Participatory art-horror experimentation on social media is having a global cultural moment. Last year, prestige film studio A24 (which also distributed Talk To Me) contracted 16-year-old Kane Parsons to direct his first feature based on his eerie YouTube video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4dGpz6cnHo">The Backrooms</a>. </p>
<p>Director Jane Schoenbrun’s films also harness the themes and aesthetics of analog horror. Like Skinamarink, their debut feature, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We%27re_All_Going_to_the_World%27s_Fair">We’re All Going To the World’s Fair</a> (2021), is an unapologetically creepy work of experimental slow cinema. The film unfolds largely through the vlog of an isolated teen YouTuber as she embarks on a (possibly deadly) online “challenge”, narrating her experience to her followers from her bedroom.</p>
<p>Schoenbrun’s upcoming second feature, I Saw the TV Glow (2024), another product of A24, similarly refracts aesthetics and themes of online horror genres such as analog horror and liminal spaces. It has been described as a “<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/i-saw-the-tv-glow-jane-schoenbrun-sundance-horror-movie-transgender-rights-90s-fred-durst-1234955526/">surreal coming-of-age horror film</a>”, a “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/sundance-film-festival-i-saw-tv-glow-justice-smith-b2485062.html">masterpiece</a>” and Sundance’s <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/i-saw-the-tv-glow-jane-schoenbrun-sundance-horror-movie-transgender-rights-90s-fred-durst-1234955526/?sub_action=logged_in">hottest movie</a>.</p>
<p>The careers of Ball, Parsons, Schoenbrun and the Philipous showcase how experimental horror trends on TikTok and YouTube have successfully crossed into the mainstream. As emerging filmmakers harness social media to build their creative visions, we can expect participatory experimentation to keep expanding the frontiers of the horror genre.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222882/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Balanzategui receives funding from the Australian Children's Television Foundation, the City of Melbourne, and Creative Australia. Jessica is currently working with the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art to run public programs associated with their major exhibition, From the other side. </span></em></p>
A wave of horror content is popping up across TikTok, carrying on a legacy that began on YouTube.
Jessica Balanzategui, Senior Lecturer in Media, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/217657
2023-12-04T13:26:31Z
2023-12-04T13:26:31Z
With the end of the Hollywood writers and actors strikes, the creator economy is the next frontier for organized labor
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560585/original/file-20231121-21-zja6ti.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=59%2C51%2C4883%2C3238&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">YouTuber Matthew Smith, who posts under the name DangMattSmith, takes a selfie with fans at VidCon Anaheim in June 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/dangmattsmith-takes-selfie-with-fans-at-vidcon-anaheim-2023-news-photo/1501722144?adppopup=true">Unique Nicole/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hollywood <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sag-aftra-contract-deal-agreement-actors-ai/">writers and actors recently proved</a> that they could go toe-to-toe with powerful media conglomerates. After going on strike in the summer of 2023, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sag-aftra-contract-deal-agreement-actors-ai/">they secured</a> better pay, more transparency from streaming services and safeguards from <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-hollywood-actors-and-writers-afraid-of-a-cinema-scholar-explains-how-ai-is-upending-the-movie-and-tv-business-210360">having their work exploited or replaced by artificial intelligence</a>.</p>
<p>But the future of entertainment extends well beyond Hollywood. <a href="https://www.adobe.com/express/learn/blog/content-creator">Social media creators</a> – otherwise known as influencers, YouTubers, TikTokers, vloggers and live streamers – entertain and inform a vast portion of the planet.</p>
<p>For the past decade, we’ve mapped the contours and dimensions of the <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479846894/">global social media entertainment industry</a>. Unlike their Hollywood counterparts, these creators struggle to be seen as entertainers worthy of basic labor protections. </p>
<p>Platform policies and government regulations have proved capricious or neglectful. Meanwhile, creators’ bottom-up initiatives to collectively organize have sputtered.</p>
<h2>Living on the edge</h2>
<p>Industry estimates regarding the size and scale of the creator economy vary. But <a href="https://ir.citi.com/gps/7PUfiT7fJPblL%2FqpQla8YnPTu1opFVW5Qb5fu0LPwJGLKt4p0HcsDxN87TOJ%2F6kA%2FbMcrnTJTn8SFOdAlpoihg%3D%3D">Citibank estimates</a> there are over 120 million creators, and an April 2023 Goldman Sachs report predicted that the creator economy would double in size, <a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/pages/the-creator-economy-could-approach-half-a-trillion-dollars-by-2027.html">from US$250 billion to $500 billion</a>, by 2027. </p>
<p>According to Forbes, the “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2023/09/26/top-creators-2023/?sh=719659204c0c">Top 50 Creators</a>” altogether have 2.6 billion followers and have hauled in an estimated $700 million in earnings. The list includes <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/12/magazine/mrbeast-youtube.html">MrBeast</a>, who performs stunts and records giveaways, and makeup artist-cum-true crime podcaster <a href="https://www.youtube.com/baileysarian">Bailey Sarian</a>.</p>
<p>The windfalls earned by these social media stars are the exception, not the norm.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.signalfire.com/blog/creator-economy">venture capitalist firm SignalFire</a> estimates that less than 4% of creators make over $100,000 a year, although <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/creativegroup/youtube/meet-the-creator-middle-class/">YouTube-funded research</a> points to a rising middle class of creators who are able to sustain careers with relatively modest followings.</p>
<p>These are the users who find themselves most vulnerable to opaque changes to platform policies and algorithms.</p>
<p>Platforms like to “<a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/move-fast-break-things-facebook-motto/">move fast and break things</a>,” to use Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s infamous expression. And since the creator economy relies on social media platforms to reach audiences, creators’ livelihoods are subject to rapid, iterative changes in platforms’ features, services and agreements. </p>
<p>Yes, various platforms have introduced business opportunities for creators, such as YouTube’s advertising partnership feature or Twitch’s virtual goods store. However, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/21/twitch-subcription-revenue-share-changes/">the platforms’ terms of use can flip on a switch</a>. For example, in September 2022, Twitch changed its fee structure. Some streamers who were retaining 70% of all subscription revenue generated from their accounts saw this proportion drop to 50%.</p>
<p>In 2020, TikTok, facing rising competition from YouTube Shorts and Instagram reels, launched its billion-dollar Creator Fund. The fund was supposed to allow creators to get directly paid for their content. Instead, <a href="https://www.engadget.com/tiktok-stars-creator-fund-payouts-222006327.html">creators complained</a> that every 1,000 views only translated to a few cents. TikTok <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/tiktok-is-ending-reviled-creator-fund-says-replacement-offers-bigger-income/">suspended the fund</a> in November 2023.</p>
<h2>Bias as a feature, not a bug</h2>
<p>The livelihoods of many fashion, beauty, fitness and food creators depend on deals brokered with brands that want these influencers to promote goods or services to their followers.</p>
<p>Yet throughout the creator economy, people of color and those identifying as LGBTQ+ have encountered bias. Unequal and unfair compensation from brands is a recurring issue, with <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/msl-study-reveals-racial-pay-gap-in-influencer-marketing-301437451.html?tc=eml_cleartime">one 2021 report</a> revealing a pay gap of roughly 30% between white creators and creators of color.</p>
<p>Along with brand biases, platforms can exacerbate systemic bias. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211003066">Creator scholar Sophie Bishop</a> has demonstrated how nontransparent algorithms can categorize “desirability” among influencers along lines of race, gender, class and sexual orientation. </p>
<p>Then there’s what creator scholar Zoë Glatt calls the “<a href="https://zoeglatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Glatt-2023-The-intimacy-triple-bind-Structural-inequalities-and-relational-labour-in-the-influencer-industry.pdf">intimacy triple bind</a>”: Marginalized creators are at higher risk of trolling and harassment, they secure lower fees for advertising, and they are expected to divulge more personal details to generate more engagement and revenue.</p>
<p>Couple these precarious conditions with the whims and caprices of volatile online communities that can turn beloved creators <a href="https://www.insider.com/mrbeasts-curing-disability-videos-upsetting-reputation-2023-5">into villains in the blink of a text or post</a>, and even the world’s most successful creators live on a precipice of losing their livelihoods. </p>
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<img alt="Large Black man hunches over a meal of fried seafood as he holds his smartphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560537/original/file-20231120-26-tp4qis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560537/original/file-20231120-26-tp4qis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560537/original/file-20231120-26-tp4qis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560537/original/file-20231120-26-tp4qis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560537/original/file-20231120-26-tp4qis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560537/original/file-20231120-26-tp4qis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560537/original/file-20231120-26-tp4qis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Food influencer Larry Mcleod, 47, better known on social media as Big Schlim, reviews the restaurant Shellfish Market in Washington, D.C.</span>
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<h2>Rumblings of solidarity</h2>
<p>Unlike their counterparts in the legacy media industries, creators have neither taken easily nor well to collective action as they operate from their bedrooms and fight for more eyeballs.</p>
<p>Yet some members of this creator class recognize that the bedroom-boardroom power imbalance is a bottom line matter that requires bottom-up initiative. </p>
<p>The Creators Guild of America, or CGA, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/28/creators-guild-america-influencer-labor-rights-nonprofit/">which launched in August 2023</a>, is but one of many successors to the original Internet Creators’ Guild, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/11/20688929/internet-creators-guild-shutting-down-hank-green-youtube-copyright-claims-monetization">which folded in 2019</a>. Paradoxically, CGA describes itself as a “professional service organization,” not a labor union, yet claims to offer benefits “similar to those offered by unions.” </p>
<p><a href="https://dot.la/tiktok-creators-labor-union-2658380734.html">There are other movements afoot</a>: A group of TikTok creators formed a Discord group in September 2022 to discuss unionizing. There’s also the <a href="https://blog.twitch.tv/en/2023/04/12/announcing-new-twitch-unity-guild-leaders-and-our-call-for-members/">Twitch Unity Guild</a>, a program launched in December 2022 for networking, development and celebration and includes a dedicated Discord space. In response to the rampant bias in influencer marketing, creator-led firms like “<a href="https://www.theverge.com/22684237/fuck-you-pay-me-lindsey-lee-lugrin-decoder-interview">F–k You Pay Me </a>” are demanding greater fairness, transparency and accountability from brands and advertisers. </p>
<p>Twitch streamers are already seeing some of their organizing efforts pay off. In June 2023, after a year of repeated changes in streamer fees and brand deals, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/06/15/twitch-introduces-7030-revenue-split-for-some-streamers-through-new-program-with-some-caveats/?sh=44fe992d6759">the company capitulated</a> in response to the backlash of their top streamers threatening to leave. </p>
<p>None of these initiatives has yet attained the legal status of unions such as the Writers Guild of America. Meanwhile, efforts by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to recruit creators have proved limited. <a href="https://lawecommons.luc.edu/lclr/vol34/iss2/4/">Legal scholar Sara Shiffman</a> has written about how SAG-AFTRA provides creators with health and retirement benefits, but offers no resources to ensure fair and equitable compensation from platforms or advertisers. Nonetheless, <a href="https://time.com/6301824/influencers-sag-strike/">while on strike</a>, SAG-AFTRA threatened creators that partnered with studios with a lifetime ban from joining the union.</p>
<p>And despite these bottom-up efforts, the tech behemoths refuse to recognize creators’ fledgling organizations. When a union for YouTubers formed in Germany in 2018, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/26/20833315/youtube-union-youtubers-negotiate-germany-meeting">YouTube refused to negotiate with it</a>. Nonetheless, you’ll see companies trot out their biggest stars when they find themselves under regulatory scrutiny. That’s what happened when <a href="https://www.tubefilter.com/2023/03/20/tiktok-project-texas-restrict-act-ban-congress-shou-zi-chew/">TikTok sponsored creators to lobby politicians</a> who were debating banning the platform.</p>
<h2>An invisible class of labor</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, most governments have failed to provide support for – or even recognition of – creator rights. </p>
<p>Within the U.S., creators “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/26/creator-economy-influencers-youtubers-social-media/">barely exist</a>” in official records, as technology reporters Drew Harwell and Taylor Lorenz recently pointed out in The Washington Post. The U.S. Census Bureau makes no mention of social media as a profession; it is invisible as a distinctive class of labor. </p>
<p>To date, the Federal Trade Commission is the only U.S. agency <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/plain-language/1001a-influencer-guide-508_1.pdf">to introduce regulation</a> tied to the work of creators, and it’s limited to disclosure guidelines for advertising and sponsored content. </p>
<p>Even as the European Union has operated at the forefront of tech and platform policy, creators rate scant mention in the body’s laws. Writing about the EU’s 2022 Digital Services Act, legal scholars <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0267364923000808">Bram Duivendvoorde and Catalina Goanta</a> criticize the EU for leaving “influencer marketing out of the material scope of its specific rules,” a blind spot that they describe as “one of its main pitfalls.” </p>
<p>The success of the 2023 Hollywood strikes could be just the beginning of a larger global movement for creator rights. But in order for this new class of creators to access the full breadth of their economic and human rights – to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I91DJZKRxs&ab_channel=Movieclips">borrow from the movie “Jaws”</a> – we’re gonna need a bigger boat.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Cunningham receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Craig does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Even the world’s most successful creators can see their livelihoods threatened by social media companies that routinely change their algorithms and policies with impunity.
David Craig, Clinical Associate Professor of Communication, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Stuart Cunningham, Distinguished Professor of Media and Communication, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211093
2023-09-26T22:51:51Z
2023-09-26T22:51:51Z
Family vlogs can entertain, empower and exploit
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548388/original/file-20230914-27-rfrjml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C23%2C5329%2C3523&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Family vlogs can be a double-edged sword that provide families with income, but also lead to exploitation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/family-vlogs-can-entertain-empower-and-exploit" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>YouTube channels belonging to American content creator Ruby Franke were recently <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9960389/ruby-franke-youtube-kevin-jodi-hildebrandt/">scrubbed from the site</a> after the YouTuber was charged with child abuse. Franke was known for making parenting videos on her YouTube channel, 8 Passengers. Her videos frequently featured content on the family and her six children.</p>
<p>Police in Utah said the charges were laid after Franke’s 12-year-old son <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2023/09/05/heres-what-we-know-about-arrest/">climbed out of the window</a> of a home and went to a neighbour to ask for food and water. Police said the boy and his younger sister were found emaciated and required hospitalization. </p>
<p>As blogs and live journals gather internet dust, <a href="https://www.wix.com/blog/photography/how-to-vlog">vlogging</a> has emerged as a new source of intimate entertainment, and for creators, potential income. However, they also raise serious questions about exploitation and the privacy rights of children.</p>
<h2>What is vlogging?</h2>
<p>Vlogs are videos, usually published through social media, that share the creator’s personal thoughts and experiences. Family vlogs like Franke’s are a popular form of this medium, where parents take viewers into their homes. The content might involve taking viewers along on the family’s daily routine. Family vlogging channels upload videos sharing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq1hI0Mmyic">significant milestones</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxUHjIFkeIk&t=401s">morning routines</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkpvqOUrWec">preparing for school</a>. </p>
<p>Many might feel uneasy about <a href="https://theconversation.com/want-to-be-a-social-media-influencer-you-might-want-to-think-again-203306">content creation</a> that showcases private family life. However, at the same time, vlogs might offer families agency and alternative means of making ends meet at a time of stagnant wages and soaring living costs.</p>
<p>Thinking about vlogging as a kind of social reproduction allows us to think through the double-edged sword of content creation. Social reproduction refers to the labour of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8330.00207">lifemaking</a>: the day-to-day work of care, education and sustenance. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132518791730">Feminist theorists</a> use this term to think about the ways in which caring labour supports and shapes our social, political and economic world.</p>
<p>Social reproduction is “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8330.00207">the fleshy, messy and indeterminate stuff of everyday life</a>.” It involves the responsibilities and relationships involved in maintaining daily life.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544800/original/file-20230825-21-qhucf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man and two young children sit in front of cameras and a laptop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544800/original/file-20230825-21-qhucf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544800/original/file-20230825-21-qhucf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544800/original/file-20230825-21-qhucf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544800/original/file-20230825-21-qhucf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544800/original/file-20230825-21-qhucf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544800/original/file-20230825-21-qhucf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544800/original/file-20230825-21-qhucf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many might feel uneasy about content that showcases private family life. However, vlogs offer alternative means of making ends meet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A response to the pressures of parenting</h2>
<p>Family vlogging did not develop in a vacuum. Instead, the trend towards “mumpreneurs” emerged from within a <a href="https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii100/articles/nancy-fraser-contradictions-of-capital-and-care">care crisis</a>. The cost of living is rising, wages are stagnating, and government benefits do not provide the support families need. Parents — and mothers in particular — are facing significant pressures when it comes to caring for children and the household.</p>
<p>There has been a rise in gender equity in the workforce, however there is still <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-can-we-reduce-gender-inequality-in-housework-heres-how-58130">huge inequity</a> when it comes to work in the home. Women are working unprecedented (paid and unpaid) hours, and are often being told they are <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast/series/women-work-more/143-amanda-watson.html">failing at both</a>.</p>
<p>As a response to these pressures, mothers developed their own online communities to express the <a href="https://jarm.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/jarm/article/view/40238">highs and lows of parenting</a>. These communities began as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1187642">“mommy blogs,”</a> but have increasingly moved to vlog format over the years. </p>
<p>Family vlogs can offer intimate counter-narratives to the expectations of parenthood. Mothers can share <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/17504813221123663">the anxieties and pressures they face</a> and offer support to one another.</p>
<h2>Commodifying families</h2>
<p>However, there can be downsides to the trend. Many family vlogs are highly curated productions that can perpetuate ideas about what constitutes “good” motherhood, rather than challenge racialized, gendered and classist <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305117707186">ideals of motherhood</a>. In this way, vlogs are less about connection and more about commodification.</p>
<p>The implications of this monetization are complex. Performing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcy008">socially desirable</a> forms of motherhood can reproduce racial, sexual and class-based exclusion around who does and who does not count as a good mother. Dominant ideas of “motherhood” are shaped by heterosexual family structures, and there is a <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/37354/women-race-and-class-by-angela-y-davis/">long history</a> of surveilling and <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781442691520/exalted-subjects/">disciplining</a> racialized parents.</p>
<p>YouTube <a href="https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/72851">creators</a> depend on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/intl/en_ph/creators/how-things-work/video-monetization/">viewership and subscribers</a> to monetize their content. They also use YouTube advertisements, sponsorships and brand deals to generate income. While some creators can make millions of dollars, most do not. Many are precarious workers with fluctuating incomes determined by <a href="https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/141805#zippy=%2Chow-does-youtube-choose-what-videos-to-promote%2Chow-are-videos-ranked-on-home">YouTube’s algorithm</a>. </p>
<p>On the other hand, content creation allows mothers to rebel against economic insecurity by making their motherhood a source of income. While this offers a means of paying the bills, who benefits and who doesn’t when a certain version of the family is commodified? </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544801/original/file-20230825-15-k4cmur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man and a young girl preparing food in a kitchen while a smartphone films" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544801/original/file-20230825-15-k4cmur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544801/original/file-20230825-15-k4cmur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544801/original/file-20230825-15-k4cmur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544801/original/file-20230825-15-k4cmur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544801/original/file-20230825-15-k4cmur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544801/original/file-20230825-15-k4cmur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/544801/original/file-20230825-15-k4cmur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many content creators are dependent on social media algorithms that determine what content gets the most views.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Kids and clickbait: What is the law?</h2>
<p>Exploitation is twofold for family vloggers. Firstly, in the United States, parents are considered responsible for protecting their underage children’s privacy information and consent. Many influencers live or move to the U.S. for <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1987946563736">creator funds</a> and better networking opportunities. This can become an issue when <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-arent-there-any-legal-protections-for-the-children-of-influencers-196463">parents exploit their children</a> while also being <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/youtube-lets-lawless-lucrative-sharenting-industry-put-kids-mercy-internet-1635112">in charge of providing consent</a>. </p>
<p>Secondly, <a href="https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en//pubs/archive/45530.pdf">social media algorithms</a> determine whether a video becomes popular on a platform, which <a href="https://www.youtube.com/intl/en_ca/creators/how-things-work/content-creation-strategy/">prioritizes content that gains the most views</a>.</p>
<p>The algorithms can <a href="https://theconversation.com/want-to-be-a-social-media-influencer-you-might-want-to-think-again-203306">change without warning</a>, so creators never know if their content will remain popular. If family vloggers choose to stop showcasing their children on their channels, they might <a href="https://www.popsugar.com/family/posting-kids-faces-social-media-privacy-49045872">lose viewership</a> and priority within the algorithm.</p>
<p>Existing U.S. laws are unequipped to handle this new form of child labour. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/08/25/illinois-child-influencer-earnings-law-history-jackie-coogan/">The Coogan Act</a> attempts to protect the income of child performers, but it does not account for the unique conditions of child social media stars. </p>
<p>Most recently, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/child-influencers-law-illinois-reaction-rcna99831">Illinois is the first U.S. state</a> to pass a law to ensure child influencers featured in monetized videos receive financial compensation. The law will take effect in July 2024, and there is hope that other states will follow suit. </p>
<p>This is a good start, but it is not enough. Policymakers should also look at the steps France has taken to protect child influencers. In 2020, the country passed a law that gives children the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54447491">right to be forgotten</a>. This means that child influencers can request that the platform removes content featuring them without their parent’s permission.</p>
<p>Laws need to include more than financial compensation for child influencers. There need to be regulations protecting children’s privacy, rights to have content removed and preventing children from being overworked. There also needs to be a call for greater regulation and transparency of social media algorithms that control and manipulate what is profitable.</p>
<p>Whether it is entertainment, exploitation or employment, family vlogging is a reminder of the complex interconnections between care work and wage work. As the households of strangers stream across our screens, parents and lawmakers must think carefully about the impacts on families and children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211093/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Hall receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Pilgrim does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Vlogging has emerged as a new source of intimate entertainment, and for creators, potential income. However, they also raise serious questions about exploitation and the privacy rights of children.
Rebecca Hall, Assistant Professor, Global Development Studies, Queen's University, Ontario
Christina Pilgrim, Master's student, Department of Sociology, Queen's University, Ontario
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213311
2023-09-21T15:09:17Z
2023-09-21T15:09:17Z
How BookTok trends are influencing what you read – whether you use TikTok or not
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549334/original/file-20230920-27-dsmzsn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C12%2C8218%2C5475&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/creative-collage-portrait-huge-hand-black-2170471681">Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’ve been in a bookshop recently, you may have seen references to BookTok – whether it’s stickers on books or whole tables dedicated to “BookTok favourites”.</p>
<p>BookTok is a community on the social media app TikTok. Creators make short videos recommending, reviewing, or just generally chatting about books. This community has become one of the biggest on the platform and its hashtag (<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/BookTok">#BookTok</a>) has been used on over <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemcneal/colleen-hoover-booktok-bestsellers">60 billion videos</a>. BookTok’s influence over the publishing industry and what young people are reading is staggering.</p>
<p>Online reading communities have been around for a while. <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/">Goodreads</a> – a social cataloguing platform where readers can follow friends and authors, get book recommendations and read user-submitted reviews – was launched in 2007, and there are other communities on sites such as YouTube (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/booktube">BookTube</a>) and Instagram (<a href="https://readerhaven.com/how-to-start-a-bookstagram/">Bookstagram</a>). </p>
<p>However, none of these sites seem to have captured the attention of readers, publishers and retailers quite like BookTok. Caroline Hardman, a literary agent at Hardman & Swainson, corroborates this, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/06/i-cant-stress-how-much-booktok-sells-teen-literary-influencers-swaying-publishers">telling The Guardian</a>: “It’s having a strong effect on what publishers look for.”</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.
_
_You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/friends-with-benefits-what-a-sex-and-relationship-therapist-wants-you-to-know-210854utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Friends with benefits – what a sex and relationship therapist wants you to know</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/girl-math-may-not-be-smart-financial-advice-but-it-could-help-women-feel-more-empowered-with-money-211780utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">‘Girl math’ may not be smart financial advice, but it could help women feel more empowered with money</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/love-or-hate-tiktoks-viral-bottle-smashing-trend-a-neuroscientist-explains-what-that-says-about-your-brain-211963utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Love or hate TikTok’s viral bottle-smashing trend? A neuroscientist explains what that says about your brain</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Is BookTok’s impact positive or negative?</h2>
<p>The main demographic of BookTok creators, viewers and authors is <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2023/01/02/never-underestimate-the-power-of-booktok/">young women</a>. While books popular with young women have gained immense broad popularity before – for example, the <a href="https://stepheniemeyer.com/the-twilight-saga/">Twilight saga</a> (from 2005) by Stephenie Meyer, and the paranormal romance fever that followed – young women have rarely been taken seriously as either critics and readers.</p>
<p>But times are changing. The books most popular with BookTok – such as romance, fantasy and the hybrid genre “romantasy” – are being <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/international/Frankfurt-Book-Fair/article/90668-frankfurt-book-fair-2022-romantasy-and-revelry-on-the-fair-floor.html">picked up more and more by publishers</a> and <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/login?Refdoc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ethebookseller%2Ecom%2Ffeatures%2Fpublishers%2Dand%2Dmarketeers%2Dlaud%2Dimpact%2Dof%2Dbooktok%2Din%2Dthe%2Dresurgence%2Dof%2Dromance#:%7E:text=Maddy%20Marshall%2C%20senior%20marketing%20manager,there%20are%20whole%20table%20displays">displayed more prominently in bookshops</a>. </p>
<p>Book series such as <a href="https://sarahjmaas.com/books/a-court-of-thorns-and-roses-series/">A Court of Thorns and Roses</a> by Sarah J Maas (from 2015) are immensely popular on BookTok – with some videos about the series amassing <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@itsthesuriel/video/7216831361120865578?q=A%20Court%20of%20Thorns%20and%20Roses&t=1694440196044">over a million views</a>. The series is marketed alongside new releases like <a href="https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-hurricane-wars-the-hurricane-wars-book-1-thea-guanzon">The Hurricane Wars</a> by Thea Guanzon or <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/261299-hades-x-persephone-saga">A Touch of Chaos</a> by Scarlett St. Clair, with Maas’s series appearing as “similar” or “recommended” on Amazon, Waterstones and Goodreads, as well as often being mentioned in readers’ reviews.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young woman in a yellow hoodie smiling at her phone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549337/original/file-20230920-15-h5u8vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young women are shaping publishing like never before.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-millennial-hispanic-teen-girl-checking-1734170210">Ground Picture/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mythology retellings are also immensely popular on BookTok, sparked by titles such as <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/song-of-achilles-9781526648174/">The Song of Achilles</a> by Madeline Miller (2011). Such titles now heavily feature on publishers’ new release and coming soon lists. </p>
<p>While it is fascinating to see that young women and their tastes can have such a big impact on the publishing industry, there’s a risk it may homogenise the industry. Literary critic <a href="https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/booktok-tiktok-books-community">Barry Pierce</a> has said that BookTok reads “all sort of have the same cover”. Meanwhile author <a href="https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/sweetbitter-author-stephanie-danler-booktok-instagram">Stephanie Danler said</a> of her foray into BookTok: “It seemed impossible to discover different fiction. It was the same 20 books over and over.” </p>
<p>BookTok also has a problem with diversity – in more ways than one. Its recommendations are <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2022/11/booktok-racial-bias-tiktok-algorithm.html">overwhelmingly by white authors</a>, and it is unclear what the long-term effects of this will be on both publishing and the young readers who flock to the app for recommendations. Furthermore, by catering to this huge audience of young women, publishers are forgoing books by men, <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/54863/1/where-have-all-the-young-male-novelists-gone">especially emerging writers</a>.</p>
<h2>Reviving books and identifying as ‘readers’</h2>
<p>BookTok is also proving a powerful tool for renewing interest in past titles. At the inaugural <a href="https://mashable.com/article/tiktok-book-awards-booktok-bolu-babalola#:%7E:text=The%20inaugural%20TikTok%20Book%20Awards,fans%20voting%20via%20the%20app.">BookTok Awards</a> held in August, Dolly Alderton’s memoir <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/306824/everything-i-know-about-love-by-alderton-dolly/9780241982105">Everything I Know About Love</a> won in the “best book to end a reading slump” category, despite being published in 2018. </p>
<p>These awards even had a “best BookTok revival” category, with the award going to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813). It’s funny to think that Austen, an author so revered that is she is printed on the <a href="https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/polymer-10-pound-note#:%7E:text=We%20first%20issued%20our%20current,features%20the%20author%20Jane%20Austen.">£10 note</a>, is being “revived”, but the younger demographic of BookTok may mean that new audiences are coming to even such established authors.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1692261746365411602"}"></div></p>
<p>It also makes startlingly clear how much BookTok and its creators are tastemakers who are shaping what and how young people read. As some creators themselves <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jun/25/the-rise-of-booktok-meet-the-teen-influencers-pushing-books-up-the-charts">have said</a>, BookTok favours “convincing you to read books based on their aesthetics”.</p>
<p>This might appear a shallow way to read but it is clearly very compelling, especially for a generation for whom countercultures have given way to microtrends and niche aesthetic identities. Young people are no longer punks, hippies or goths, but instead dress with a “<a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/what-exactly-is-cottagecore">cottagecore</a>” or “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-reading-dark-academia-novels-can-help-new-students-feel-more-at-home-at-university-213276">dark academia</a>” aesthetic.</p>
<p>Identity and aesthetics are potent tools that BookTok utilises to drive views, enthusiasm and sales – even if the latter isn’t the creators’ explicit aim. BookTok encourages people to <a href="https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/booktok-tiktok-books-community">identify as “readers”</a> rather than simply to read – indeed, to identify as specific kinds of reader such as “romance readers” or “fantasy readers”. </p>
<p>The constant supply of new content, book releases and ways to show yourself to be a reader – all displayed in visually compelling snippets – means that BookTok’s impact on what young people are reading is uniquely powerful.</p>
<hr>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213311/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Wall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Online reading communities have been around for a while but none of them have captured the attention of readers, publishers and retailers quite like BookTok.
Natalie Wall, PhD in English Literature, University of Liverpool
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/210257
2023-07-25T18:53:58Z
2023-07-25T18:53:58Z
What the ‘NPC streaming’ TikTok trend spells for the future of gaming and erotic work
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538915/original/file-20230724-20-6acg1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1194%2C619&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Livestreaming represents an increasingly important part of social media.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I54asYsgnRM">(KnowYourMeme)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/what-the-npc-streaming-tiktok-trend-spells-for-the-future-of-gaming-and-erotic-work" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>“Yes, yes… mmm, mmm ice cream so good,” coos a platinum-haired woman known on TikTok as Pinkydoll. Holding a hair straightener, she plays with popcorn kernels and audibly pops her lips. Your screen brightens with emojis of food, roses and stars purchased by her audience. What are we watching? Why?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/tiktok-npc-livestream-pinkydoll-1.6916479">Pinkydoll</a> is a Montréal-based social media creator who has become the face of TikTok’s latest trend: NPC streaming. The trend draws its name from the non-playable characters (NPCs) of video games. Think of background characters that might perform a few preprogrammed lines or actions.</p>
<p>NPC streamers perform a cycle of non-sequitur dialogue, cartoonish stares and physical jolts for no purpose besides ambience in a virtual world. In July 2023, videos featuring creators like Pinkydoll — mostly thin, conventionally attractive women — went viral to the confusion of millions.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/19/tiktok-npc-streaming-live-stream-pinkydoll">Top content creators can earn thousands of dollars a day</a> online. With this trend, more TikTokers have found incentive to become living game pieces for a digital public. <a href="https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/npc-tiktoker-onlyfans-star-pinkydoll-reveals-staggering-earnings-2218222/">Pinkydoll credits the backgrounds citizens of the <em>Grand Theft Auto</em> video game as the inspiration for her performances</a>. </p>
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<p><a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/3akvdw/npc-livestream-trend-pinkydoll-tiktok">Some touted NPC-ing as a triumph for “fetish videos</a>.” Others argue that <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/21/pinkydoll-npc-tiktok-sex-work-not-fetish-content/">labelling NPC content as “fetish” expands digital surveillance and moral panic against sex workers</a>.</p>
<p>A number of popular NPC streamers also produce paywalled adult content on sites like OnlyFans. The rise of NPC streaming showcases how gamer cultures and adult content make for lucrative bedfellows.</p>
<h2>Livestreamers as our ‘playthings’</h2>
<p>Livestreaming represents an increasingly vital part of the social media business models of companies like YouTube and Instagram. Their apps offer an easy interface between broadcasters and audiences, who interact with each other in real-time via voice and chat. </p>
<p>TikTok offers live video streaming to users with at least 1,000 followers. NPC streamers are thus already established creators familiar with commodifying our attention.</p>
<p>NPC streaming depends on the purchase and posting of “gifts.” Buying an NPC streamer a virtual gift triggers a chain reaction of the absurd: the gift will appear in a creator’s stream as emojis like ice cream cones, balloons, or even squids. NPC streamers then react accordingly to the specific image on their screen. Squeals, catchphrases, lip smacking and a myriad of gestures result. These broadcasts offer built-in incentives to keep engagement going.</p>
<p>Scholars have previously used “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276415619474">gift economy</a>” to describe the <em>unpaid</em> rewards that prompt us to share with each other (for example, writing fan fiction without remuneration). In NPC streaming, not only is gifting tied to real-world currency; but gifts incite the streamer to <em>move</em>. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The NPC streaming trend involves performing a cycle of non-sequitur dialogue and actions.</span></figcaption>
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<p>TikTok’s transactional approach to intimacy is not new. Amazon’s Twitch platform remains an exemplary case of a streaming platform that sells live interaction, <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/746173/monthly-active-streamers-on-twitch/">with more than seven million active streamers</a>. Dominated by professional gamers, Twitch operates a similar model where viewers accrue Channel Points for as long as they are watching a stream. With Channel Points, users can buy special emojis to be used in chats. They can also be redeemed to purchase subscriptions, which put real money in streamers’ pockets.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/13634607221103204">The parallels between livestreaming and webcam work have just begun to be academically recognized</a>. Like the NPCs of TikTok, Twitch gamers render their bodies as intimate interfaces. <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Twitch/comments/gszv8m/using_channel_points_to_workout_and_engage_with/">As reflected by one Twitch streamer’s advice for colleagues</a>, it is not uncommon for game streamers to set a “Bathroom Break” and “Hydration Break” as “achievements” (or commands) that viewers can purchase for their streamer to perform on demand.</p>
<p>Game streamers like Ludwig Ahgren have taken the sale of control further. In 2021, the Twitch creator broke records with <a href="https://screenrant.com/twitch-ludwig-subathon-money-total-time-cost-stats/">a 31-day continuous livestream from his home</a>. For every subscription received, Ahgren would extend the livestream by 10 seconds, <a href="https://screenrant.com/twitch-ludwig-subathon-money-total-time-cost-stats/">leading to over US$1.4 million from those who subscribed</a>. </p>
<p>In this context, NPC streamers are just the latest genre of creators who divide their bodies into marketplaces of intimacy.</p>
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<h2>What’s new is old in gamer patriarchy</h2>
<p>With their predilection for shocking wigs, filters and revealing outfits, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/welcome-to-planet-egirl/">NPC streamer aesthetics bear a stark familiarity to the archetypes of controversial gamer “e-girls”</a>: a once sexist slur from eSports that <a href="https://kotaku.com/young-women-are-reclaiming-the-word-egirl-1836738879">women gamers have reclaimed for themselves in recent years</a>. Like e-girls, NPC streamers have been received as anti-heroines who have gamed our eyeballs into profit. </p>
<p>When women gain our attention for money, we pay attention to the figures. The media fixation on Pinkydoll echoes back specifically to the scandalous reaction to e-girl creator Belle Delphine <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/15274764221080930">who made headlines in 2017 for selling her own “Gamer Girl” bathwater for US$30 a bottle</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, many commentators have quoted the US$7,000 per day Pinkydoll has earned from streaming. However, TikTok alone did not pay her bills. According to the creator, <a href="https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/npc-tiktoker-onlyfans-star-pinkydoll-reveals-staggering-earnings-2218222/">the money is a collective sum from her streaming and adult content</a>. </p>
<p>The economics of online fame are closely tied to a more invisible economy of online sex work. This is happening as the internet becomes increasingly unkind to erotic content creators. Anti-sex work movements such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-new-online-safety-bill-could-allow-censorship-of-anyone-who-engages-with-sexual-content-on-the-internet-154739">FOSTA-SESTA</a> legislation in the U.S. and <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/instagram-removing-sex-positive-accounts-without-warning">Meta’s purges of kink accounts</a> are linked to growing online hostility toward those who sell intimacy, regardless of if they identify as sex workers. </p>
<p>In gamer cultures, a similar paranoia pervades against women seen to be “weaponizing” their sexuality. Twitch’s female game streamers operate in the shadow of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/1/20/20808875/gamergate-lessons-cultural-impact-changes-harassm">2014 GamerGate</a> harassment campaign.</p>
<p>NPC streaming gives creators a new avenue to earn money online. Understanding how different bodies, practices and agencies are received — and strategically surrendered — is essential to building safer play and work in social media.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210257/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christine H. Tran receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>
There’s more to NPC streaming than strange gimmicks. The rise of the trend showcases how gamer cultures and adult content make for lucrative bedfellows.
Christine H. Tran, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/196445
2023-01-19T13:07:38Z
2023-01-19T13:07:38Z
Liver King: how the rise of mega-influencers has put consumers at risk
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505339/original/file-20230119-25-9o6dve.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C1982%2C970&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In his videos, Liver King is regularly seen eating platefuls of bull's testicles, raw animal livers and cows' brains.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/liverking/">Instagram/@LiverKing</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the age of vloggers, influencers and content creators it might seem hard to imagine a world without YouTube. But back when the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw&vl=en">first ever video</a> was uploaded in April 2005, showing a man visiting a zoo, it was not really clear who would want to watch it, or how YouTube could make money. </p>
<p>These days, anyone can make money online by building a brand around being themselves – or not – as Liver King, an extremely buff fitness creator recently found out. <a href="https://www.liverking.com">Liver King</a>, is the social media personality of Brian Johnson, a muscular and often shirtless TikTok star who promotes “ancestral living” as something he does to be “strong, healthy and happy (autoimmune-free, eczema-free, allergy-free, fatigue-free”. For Johnson, this means eating platefuls of bull’s testicles, raw animal livers and cows’ brains.</p>
<p>He sells his lifestyle in the form of nutritional supplements, personalised dietary advice, as well as workout exercises – and he also promotes different services and products to his 1.7 million followers on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/liverking/?hl=en">Instagram</a> and 3.8 million followers on <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@liverking?lang=en">TikTok</a>.</p>
<p>That is, he did until leaked emails revealed that Johnson’s looks were not so much explained by the performance of his products, but by a monthly <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11500623/Liver-King-45-admits-lying-taking-steroids-achieve-muscular-physique.html">US$12,000 (£10,000) investment in steroids</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKpmAGZQetc">which he hid from his fans</a>. Liver King is now being <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/12/28/ny-man-sues-liver-king-for-deceiving-consumers-about-diet/">sued for US$25 million</a> by his followers who feel they were tricked into buying his muscle-building supplements.</p>
<h2>How it began</h2>
<p>For as long as the internet has been in existence, users have been searching for creative (and sometimes scandalous) ways to monetise themselves. Back in the early days, some tried to ride the e-commerce wave, going as far as using auctioning websites to sell <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/01/nyregion/our-towns-a-boy-named-soup.html">the right to name their unborn child</a>, or <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=127755&page=1">their own virginity</a>. </p>
<p>Others went the advertising route, auctioning off parts of their face to become walking billboards for internet companies willing to pay them. <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/avyd8a/the-sad-saga-of-hostgator-m-dotcom-812">Hostgator M. Dotcom</a> was one of them. Between 2005 and 2008, he acquired around 30 ads on his face (mostly for porn websites and online casinos) before his body’s real estate value plummeted from four to two figures.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjQdrvSL1rR/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>The Liver King exposé may have been shocking to fans, but influencer-related scandals are nothing new. And one of the biggest, the infamous 2017 <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/7xwabq/fyre-fest-organizers-blew-all-their-money-months-early-on-models-planes-and-yachts">Fyre Festival</a>, that went bust after the organisers spent tremendous amounts of money on Instagram influencers and hidden advertising, marked a shift to the age of the mega-influencer. </p>
<p>Be they famous people from the “real” world – like sports stars and entertainers – or native internet celebrities such as YouTubers like <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/jenna-marbles-what-happened-youtube-nicki-minaj-b2133892.html">Jenna Marbles</a>, this was a time when influencer marketing became a desirable internet sales strategy. Anybody with a following, a phone and a YouTube account could start making (a lot of) money from brand deals. </p>
<h2>The internet entrepreneur</h2>
<p>These days mega-influencers are no longer the only stakeholders of an ever-growing industry. Instead, monetisation options on social media platforms have exploded, meaning that more and more people now make a living online. As mapped in <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2022/703350/IPOL_STU(2022)703350_EN.pdf">a recent study for the European Parliament</a>, subscriptions, donations from live streams and the selling of merchandise or digital content online is big business. </p>
<p>Even the terminology has changed: from the advertising-ridden “influencers”, to “<a href="https://reallifemag.com/name-of-the-game/">content creators</a>” – everyday internet entrepreneurs monetising their identity on the social media platforms of their choice. Just like the Liver King, who has fans and subscribers on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook, creators are often active on many platforms simultaneously. They combine whatever options they can to maximise their activity, depending on the algorithms of the platform as well as consumer trends. </p>
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<p>Through their content, creators establish trust, relatability and authenticity with their audiences. This one-sided relationship that a social media user engages in with a media persona is known as a “<a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-parasocial-relationship-5210770">parasocial relationship</a>”. This is where users form attachments with public figures that feel (and are) very real. <a href="https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA621689770&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=01444646&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7Edbc6efc">Research shows</a> that these kinds of relationships can influence a person’s beliefs, attitudes and purchasing behaviour as well as levels of trust in various groups.</p>
<p>And when creators withhold their commercial incentives or hide inconvenient truths (see Liver King) they lie to and mislead their audiences. From a legal perspective, this raises many questions. </p>
<h2>More transparency</h2>
<p>Branded content, paid partnerships and content creation can open up whole new worlds to online entrepreneurs but it’s also important to acknowledge that commercial activity comes with <a href="https://www.asa.org.uk/static/uploaded/3af39c72-76e1-4a59-b2b47e81a034cd1d.pdf">certain legal obligations</a> though currently the rules vary from one country to another. In the UK, for example, an influencer must disclose when they’ve received any form of monetary payment, a loan of a product or service, or have been given the product they’re posting about for free.</p>
<p>In my current <a href="https://erc.europa.eu/news/erc-starting-grants-2021-project-highlights">project</a>, which looks at how to tame influencer marketing, I want to find out what stricter transparency obligations on social media platforms might look like and if these are needed. </p>
<p>Many governments around the world, including in the <a href="https://ukparliament.shorthandstories.com/influencer-culture-DCMS-report/index.html?utm_source=committees.parliament.uk&utm_medium=referrals&utm_campaign=influencer-culture-report&utm_content=organic">UK</a>, <a href="https://www.ouest-france.fr/high-tech/instagram/pratiques-douteuses-conflits-d-interets-les-influenceurs-dans-le-viseur-du-gouvernement-979ec1e0-778e-11ed-8b33-be46011093e6">France</a> and the <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/advertising-marketing/endorsements-influencers-reviews">US</a>, have been already <a href="https://presse.economie.gouv.fr/section/les-ministres/bruno-le-maire/">investigating how to further regulate influencers</a>. And I believe that this is something that needs to happen sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>Indeed, given that many of us can struggle to tell the difference between <a href="https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/recognising-ads-social-media.html">ads and regular content</a> online it’s clear that influencers could be doing a lot more in the way of transparency.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catalina Goanta receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant). </span></em></p>
Liver King: scandal shows why more regulation is needed for TikTok and Instagram stars.
Catalina Goanta, Associate Professor Law, Economics and Governance, Utrecht University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/101037
2018-10-04T20:04:27Z
2018-10-04T20:04:27Z
Social media entertainment could be the future of the screen industry, so let’s not strangle it with regulation
<p>Until 2010, the pathway to success in the screen industry depended on convincing broadcasters and film producers to give to you airtime or production resources. These days, all you need is an internet connection and a laptop or smartphone.</p>
<p>A new creative industry has been born in the last decade called “social media entertainment”. It’s peopled by young entertainers and activists who you may never have heard of: Hank Green, Casey Neistadt, PewDiePie and Tyler Oakley.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236314/original/file-20180913-177950-6d135s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236314/original/file-20180913-177950-6d135s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236314/original/file-20180913-177950-6d135s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236314/original/file-20180913-177950-6d135s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236314/original/file-20180913-177950-6d135s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236314/original/file-20180913-177950-6d135s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236314/original/file-20180913-177950-6d135s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">PewDiePie on a panel with fellow creators at a gaming culture festival in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/camknows/20447150413">camknows/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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<p>These creators started out as amateurs, but have evolved into media professionals who make money from content they publish on social media platforms. They are incubating their own media brands, building global fan communities, and enhancing Australia’s profile among young people around the world.</p>
<p>The Australian government is currently conducting separate inquiries into the <a href="https://www.communications.gov.au/australian-childrens-screen-content-review">future of film and television content</a> in this country, and the <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/focus-areas/inquiries/digital-platforms-inquiry">market effects of digital platforms</a>. Any decisions we make in these domains could affect social media entertainment, so it’s critically important we understand the industry lest we inadvertently strangle it as it’s just getting started.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-social-media-stars-are-fighting-for-the-left-71691">How social media stars are fighting for the Left</a>
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<h2>The Australian market is growing</h2>
<p><a href="https://nyupress.org/books/9781479846894/">Social media entertainment</a> emerged soon after Google acquired YouTube in 2006 – around the same time as the launch of Twitter, and their counterparts in China, Youku and Weibo.</p>
<p>It can be a lucrative profession. More than three million YouTube creators globally make money from the content they upload. Then there’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Twitch, among others. The larger the audiences, the more money to be made. In 2016, content creators earned more than <a href="http://www.recreatecoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ReCreate-Creative-Economy-Study-Report.pdf">US$5.9 billion across nine digital and social media platforms</a> in the United States alone. </p>
<p>The majority of the highest paid creators are based in the US, but popular Australian creators include the Van Vuuren brothers, Wengie, and the SketchShe group. <a href="https://www.alphabeta.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Google_Bigger-Picture-Report_Dec2016.pdf">Estimates suggest</a> the number of content creators in Australia has more than doubled in the last 15 years. That increase is almost entirely driven by an extra 230,000 creators of online video content entering the industry. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">SketchShe’s ‘Mime Through Time Video’ has been viewed more than 42 million times.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>A new kind of revenue model</h2>
<p>Social media entertainment is certainly part of the gig economy. It’s inherently unstable, with huge growth over a ten year period. But the business models of social media entertainment have undergone fundamental changes during that time.</p>
<p>Creators have learned how to manage risk by diversifying their offerings in response to platform competition. For example, instead of making money from a single source – such as advertising income from YouTube – creators now earn revenue from multiple sources, including merchandising, licensing, crowdfunding and live appearances. </p>
<p>One of the biggest changes has been the rise of the “influencer” making money from brand integration. For example, when an Instagram star is paid to post pictures of themselves using a company’s product.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-copyright-law-is-holding-back-australian-creators-91390">How copyright law is holding back Australian creators</a>
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<p>Successful creators of social media entertainment engage in a model of entrepreneurial practice that pays as much, if not more, attention to building and maintaining a subscriber community as they do to actually creating content. These fan communities are passionate enough to follow creators through thick and thin. And feedback is in real time, constant, fulsome and often confronting. This includes negatives, such as trolling.</p>
<p>Every kind of revenue model in this practice depends on activated community support. Mainstream arts, culture and screen industries, with all their talk of audience building, have a lot to learn about this from creators. </p>
<p>Of course, this takes a lot of work. Creators often upload content several times weekly, build and maintain their communities, deal with the vagaries of algorithms, and risk-manage their authenticity with demanding brands, and even more demanding communities. But still they enter the industry, in their thousands.</p>
<h2>A new kind of engagement</h2>
<p>It’s premature to bracket social media entertainment in the same category as traditional entertainment formats, such as film, television, print and radio – all of which are subject to Australian content regulation or receive public subsidy. Nevertheless, there’s still a lot for industry, policymakers and regulators to get their heads around.</p>
<p>One difficulty is where to draw the line between amateur creators and professionals, which isn’t always clear. Taste and quality are firmly in the eye of the beholder when it comes to screen content. But to be useful for policy makers, debates about quality need a much stronger dose of demand-side thinking. It’s not only about the quality of the content, but also the quality and diversity of engagement.</p>
<p>The younger generation has largely switched off from linear television. But these young people, from eight to 22 years of age, constitute a huge video market – around 20% of the Australian population.</p>
<p>Social media entertainment engages this demographic. It also provides production and career building opportunity for new voices. That includes young, culturally, racially and ethnically diverse creators and audiences – most of whom have never been near a screen production course or a funding agency.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rude-comments-online-are-a-reality-we-cant-get-away-from-34560">Rude comments online are a reality we can’t get away from</a>
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<p>And there is a lot of social innovation practice going on. For example, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerdfighteria">Nerdfighters</a> is a global online community of young people that sprung up around a YouTube video series. Several thousand Australians are Nerdfighters, who often get together in real life to support each other.</p>
<p>Social media entertainers have arguably achieved levels of entrepreneurial professionalisation greater than many mainstream screen businesses. So it’s a mistake to perpetuate the “us professionals” versus “them amateurs” line, even if, for regulatory purposes, you have to draw the line somewhere.</p>
<h2>Supporting content creators</h2>
<p>There has been a great deal of movement globally around screen, broadcasting and arts agency support for social media entertainment. And support and enablement programs in this arena can afford to be more immediately responsive and experimental due to much lower production costs. </p>
<p>In 2016, RackaRacka, run out of Adelaide by brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, were <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/media-centre/news/2016/11-11-skip-ahead-2016">beneficiaries</a> of the <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding-and-support/television-and-online/production/special-initiatives/skip-ahead">Skip Ahead program</a>. By then, their work making action-packed videos full of choreographed fight scenes, comic violence, and pop culture references was already reaching a wide audience. Their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNlLAp2OGi8">Marvel VS DC video</a> alone boasted some 37 million views (it now has nearly 60 million). </p>
<p>Graeme Mason, the CEO of Screen Australia, has described RackaRacka as Australia’s most <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/screen-news/2016/11-16-the-good-the-bad-the-possible">successful content creators</a>, and they were <a href="https://www.afr.com/brand/afr-magazine/the-10-most-influential-people-in-australian-culture-in-2017-20170814-gxvlzn">rated</a> 5th on Australia’s Cultural Power Index in 2017, ahead of screen icon, Nicole Kidman.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">RackaRacka’s Marvel VS DC video has had almost 60 million views on YouTube.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>How social media regulation could hurt</h2>
<p>The big digital platforms that host these creators have been a provocative influence in the Australian communications and cultural policy space, to say the least. We have now entered a new era of potential regulatory oversight of the platforms.</p>
<p>While it’s not at all clear what benefits regulation might bestow on social media entertainment, it is abundantly clear how it could harm it.</p>
<p>Let’s not forget the “<a href="http://adage.com/article/digital/pewdiepie-declares-adpocalypse-youtube-makes-rules/308591/">adpocalypse</a>” and its unintended, but very unfortunate, consequences. In 2017, the revenue streams of numerous creators were lost when Google and Facebook changed the rules around the kinds of videos that could be monetised. It was done in response to some major brands withdrawing their advertising from the platforms after their ads were sometimes placed by algorithms beside extremist content.</p>
<p>RackaRacka’s content was caught up in the adpocalypse and the brothers lost hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue. They are now in Los Angeles pursuing international opportunities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/art-activism-and-our-creative-future-46185">Art, activism and our creative future</a>
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<h2>Policymakers should tread carefully</h2>
<p>The rapid response of the platforms was necessary to protect their major advertisers, but the consequences demonstrate how seemingly minor policy decisions can have widespread detrimental effects on this nascent industry, and the people driving it.</p>
<p>In media policy, we need better demand-side understanding of what young people have substituted for linear television. In screen support policy, we need greater attention to business model innovation, some of which must be modelled on social media entertainment. </p>
<p>We must take these creators seriously. With better recognition and support, the new voices found in social media entertainment will help to secure the generational future of Australian screen</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101037/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Cunningham receives funding from the Australian Research Council (DP160100086) to conduct research on which this article is based.</span></em></p>
Social media entertainers are creative, entrepreneurial and masters at building the communities that support them. But regulations currently under review could strangle this nascent industry.
Stuart Cunningham, Distinguished Professor, Media and Communication, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/96270
2018-05-09T04:16:22Z
2018-05-09T04:16:22Z
We must not punish content creators in our rush to regulate social platforms
<p>By harnessing social media, the teenage survivors of the Parkland, Florida massacre in the United States have <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/parkland-students-shooting-survivors-social-media">started a movement</a> that might finally shift the dial on gun control. </p>
<p>Using their cellphones and laptops, they’ve not only organised a march on Washington, but built a digital network of supporters who are putting unprecedented pressure on legislators. </p>
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<p>Social media platforms such as Facebook have richly earned our distrust. From <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/03/facebook-finds-more-evidence-of-russian-internet-research-agency-interference.html">Russian interference</a> in the 2016 US Presidential election, to the spread of <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/147174/youtubes-fake-news-problem-isnt-going-away">fake news</a> and the recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/cambridge-analytica-scandal-facebooks-user-engagement-and-trust-decline-93814">Cambridge Analytica scandal</a>, the news just keeps getting worse. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-screen-future-is-online-time-to-support-our-new-content-creators-82638">Australia's screen future is online: time to support our new content creators</a>
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<p>But the Parkland movement reminds us that digital platforms have also provided the infrastructure to give a new generation voice and influence for civic good. </p>
<p>Recent attempts to deal with the proliferation of fake news and extremist content on platforms has seen some creators lose both audience and revenue. Now that the pitchforks are out for the platforms, their facilitation of new voices should not be overlooked in the push for further regulation. </p>
<h2>Millions of creators and counting</h2>
<p>The Parkland teenagers <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/on-the-ground-with-parkland-teens-as-they-plot-a-revolution.html">were influenced</a> by established online creators like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClFSU9_bUb4Rc6OYfTt5SPw">Philip DeFranco</a>. DeFranco owns and operates his own social media brand, producing a daily vlog featuring commentary about topical events that are of interest to his online fan communities. And he’s just one of a number of young online leaders who are using social media platforms for good. </p>
<p>There are an <a href="http://www.recreatecoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ReCreate-New-Creative-Economy-Study-Report-508.pdf">estimated</a> 1.8 million YouTube creators, as well as 3 million using Instagram, in the US alone. The top <a href="https://socialblade.com/youtube/top/5000/mostsubscribed">5,000 YouTube channels</a> each have more than 1.2 million subscribers and over 360 million video views. US creators earned an <a href="http://www.recreatecoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ReCreate-New-Creative-Economy-Study-Report-508.pdf">estimated</a> US$5.9 billion across nine digital platforms in 2016.</p>
<p>We have been researching this rising global creative industry of social media entrepreneurs and entertainers – called variously influencers, YouTubers, micro-celebrities, or just creators. It is radically <a href="https://nyupress.org/books/9781479846894/">more diverse and egalitarian</a> than mainstream media, and has brought new voices to the public. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/government-regulation-of-social-media-would-be-a-cure-far-worse-than-the-disease-92008">Government regulation of social media would be a cure far worse than the disease</a>
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<p>In many instances, these online leaders have engaged in or facilitated social activism, raising civic awareness and funding for progressive causes. Videogame player and YouTuber, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7_YxT-KID8kRbqZo7MyscQ">Markiplier</a>, secured 20 million subscribers while also raising over <a href="https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2018/games/#69b663d41aeb">$US3 million for charity</a>.</p>
<p>The Green Brothers’ annual <a href="http://www.projectforawesome.com/">Project4Awesome</a> campaign has encouraged dozens of online content creators to dedicate their time and efforts to raise funds and awareness for social causes for over a decade. Ben Stiller, Colin Kaepernick, and Jerome Jarre’s <a href="https://www.lovearmy.org/">#LoveArmy</a> have raised millions for Mexican earthquake victims, Somalian famine sufferers, and Rohingyan refugees. </p>
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<p>At the corporate level, YouTube, through its <a href="https://www.youtube.com/yt/creators-for-change/">Creators for Change program</a>, has provided millions of dollars in support of the collective creative efforts of global multicultural creators. </p>
<h2>Demonetisation has already hurt them</h2>
<p>The capacity of online cultural leaders to pursue these agendas is vulnerable to the new appetite for regulation, and the need for the platforms to put their houses in order. </p>
<p>Both <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/17/extremists-ads-uk-brands-google-wagdi-ghoneim">The Guardian</a> and <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2018/04/19/technology/youtube-ads-extreme-content-investigation/index.html">CNN</a> criticised YouTube for placing mainstream brands’ advertising alongside extremist videos. In response, Google <a href="http://variety.com/2018/digital/news/youtube-changes-partner-program-google-preferred-advertisers-1202665815/">implemented</a> a filtration algorithm that would flag content deemed “brand-safe” for advertisers. </p>
<p>Though it may have been well-intentioned, the resulting “<a href="http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/12/can-youtube-survive-the-adpocalypse.html">adpocalypse</a>” led to the demonetisation of many of these progressive creators – including DeFranco – due to their use of language and content choices. </p>
<p>In another instance, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/caseyneistat">Casey Neistat</a> and #LoveArmy filmed a fundraiser for the victims of the Las Vegas shooting. However, it was <a href="https://thenextweb.com/google/2017/10/06/youtube-casey-neistat-las-vegas/">removed from YouTube</a> because of the platform’s improper flagging mechanism, which was created in an attempt to minimise the spread of conspiracy videos about the event. </p>
<p>When The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/business/media/youtube-conspiracy-video-parkland.html">highlighted</a> the rise of trending conspiracy videos about Parkland survivor, David Hogg, it failed to mention the numerous other videos created in support of the teens. These videos scaled five times faster and were likely also demonetised by YouTube’s filtering system. One <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tT3FhOA4-g">video</a> by DeFranco directly addressing these “disgusting conspiracy videos” has close to two million views. </p>
<h2>Regulation shouldn’t stifle voices for good</h2>
<p>As the call for greater regulation of these platforms gains momentum worldwide, it is critical to acknowledge that existing government regulation has already imposed greater constraint on many of these creators’ practices than those rules applied to more traditional media like television. </p>
<p>The US Federal Trade Commission <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/ftcs-endorsement-guides-what-people-are-asking">regulation</a> demands that online creators be transparent about sponsorship and branded content. But traditional celebrities are able to flaunt their own brands on the red carpet, on the court, and across their own online channels without prohibition. </p>
<p>For decades, Fox News operated with the tagline “fair and balanced” without any regulatory constraint. This despite the years of academic media <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2604679">research</a> that nailed the channel as a purveyor of media disinformation with a staunch conservative bent. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-metoo-to-ricebunny-how-social-media-users-are-campaigning-in-china-90860">From #MeToo to #RiceBunny: how social media users are campaigning in China</a>
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<p>These concerns are at their greatest in the policing and censorship of Chinese creators (known as “Wang Hong”). Operating on Chinese owned-and-operated platforms, their ability to raise critically sensitive societal issues is <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/41398423/social-media-and-censorship-in-china-how-is-it-different-to-the-west">firmly surveilled</a>. </p>
<p>In China, as in many parts of the world, LGBTQ content and creators remain <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/04/16/audacity-adversity/lgbt-activism-middle-east-and-north-africa">forbidden</a> in mainstream media. The only hope for this community rests on the ability of these creators to express and fund themselves across social media platforms. </p>
<p>Whether because of hubris or poor internal governance, the platforms deserve what is coming at them. Our hope is that those regulators in a position to demand that platforms behave more responsibly will not implement policy at the expense of those young online leaders harnessing these platforms for good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96270/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Cunningham receives funding from the Australian Research Council (DP160100086) to conduct research on which this article is based.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Craig does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The activism of the Parkland teens is a reminder of where social media gets it right. We mustn’t forget them in our rush to regulate.
Stuart Cunningham, Distinguished Professor, Media and Communication, Queensland University of Technology
David Craig, Fellow at the Peabody Media Center and Clinical Assistant Professor of Communication, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/86876
2017-11-15T11:51:48Z
2017-11-15T11:51:48Z
Why it matters when big tech firms extend their power into media content
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194613/original/file-20171114-26460-1sx4asd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A major shift is taking place in global media. Until recently, tech corporations were mainly involved in distribution rather than production. But now, instead of simply delivering TV shows, music and films onto our devices and screens, major firms are sinking huge amounts of money <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/20/business/media/tv-marketplace-apple-facebook-google.html">into the content itself</a>.</p>
<p>The herald of this change was Netflix. Here was a tech company <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/21/showbiz/gallery/netflix-history/index.html">from the heart of Silicon Valley</a> which in 2011 began to commission expensive middlebrow fare <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/03/netflix-moves-to-original-cont.html">for its video streaming service</a>. Amazon soon followed, and now Apple are <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/06/apple-moves-into-original-tv-programming/531063/">poaching star TV executives</a>, investing a billion dollars a year in production, and almost certainly planning a <a href="https://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple/apple-movie-tv-streaming-rumours-release-date-3610603/">new video streaming site</a>. Google and Facebook are <a href="https://www.economist.com/news/business/21727094-tech-firms-are-splashing-out-new-series-facebook-twitter-and-apple-get-television">developing content strategies, too</a>.</p>
<p>However, this shift is not, <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-apple-and-google-will-hasten-the-next-era-of-tv/">as some would have it</a>, a case of boring old “legacy” media companies giving way to smart, dynamic usurpers that will give the world better television. </p>
<p>It is better understood as a wholesale media power grab by the tech sector.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194593/original/file-20171114-26448-1jl426b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194593/original/file-20171114-26448-1jl426b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194593/original/file-20171114-26448-1jl426b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194593/original/file-20171114-26448-1jl426b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194593/original/file-20171114-26448-1jl426b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194593/original/file-20171114-26448-1jl426b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194593/original/file-20171114-26448-1jl426b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194593/original/file-20171114-26448-1jl426b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Taking over?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bangkok-thailand-september-06-2017-netflix-711279193?src=AdK5FhFP3uIhTPcH8fhFeA-2-73">Jesse33/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Blurred boundaries</h2>
<p>There is a precedent for media being dominated by a bigger, neighbouring sector. In the 20th century, many key developments in media and culture <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1340498">were driven by electronics</a> corporations. The recording and radio industries were essentially created in order to provide content to play on electronics devices – where initially the biggest profits lay.</p>
<p>Once content itself became sufficiently lucrative, electronics firms established themselves in production and distribution, forming the heart of vast media oligopolies. Key US broadcasting network NBC was <a href="http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1945408,00.html">an offshoot of General Electric</a>,
big record companies were often subsidiaries of electronics giants, and later, Japanese electronics group Sony became a massive media force.</p>
<p>Boundaries have blurred, but the electronics and tech sectors remain distinct, with their own cultures and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Technology_Association">industry bodies</a>. And the new tech oligopoly has even more power than the electronics corporations and media giants.</p>
<p>It is important to understand where the now ubiquitous tech sector came from. In truth, it grew out of huge Cold War computing and communication <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13x1fq5">state spending</a> as much as through bootstrap entrepreneurialism. But enthusiasts fervently believed that computers could serve well-being by decentralising communication, and were suspicious of the state. The industry’s rapid growth in the 1990s came as global policy-making decisively moved to the view that markets rather than democratic institutions were best at determining how people’s needs and desires might be met.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194604/original/file-20171114-26448-1enss0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194604/original/file-20171114-26448-1enss0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194604/original/file-20171114-26448-1enss0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194604/original/file-20171114-26448-1enss0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194604/original/file-20171114-26448-1enss0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194604/original/file-20171114-26448-1enss0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194604/original/file-20171114-26448-1enss0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194604/original/file-20171114-26448-1enss0b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">ENIAC performed ballistics trajectory calculations for the US Army.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computing_hardware#/media/File:Eniac.jpg">U.S. Army Photo/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this neoliberal version of capitalism, the new breed of tech companies were, unlike their established media and telecommunications peers, very <a href="http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/7051/6124#16a">lightly regulated</a>. This was the case not only in terms of competition, but also in terms of responsibility for what passed through their systems. </p>
<p>Under US and many Western legal systems, internet service providers, search engines and social media platforms have only very limited liability for the content they host and circulate. Compared with media companies, they have minimal obligations to prevent the circulation of problematic content such as hate speech. They also have considerable freedom to collect and sell data about their users. </p>
<p>What’s more, media companies have often been compelled by law and regulation to provide materials that serve <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Communications_Policy_and_the_Public_Int.html?id=wUyaINtt-DsC">the public interest</a>. They have been required to make available information relevant to people’s lives as citizens, and diverse entertainment and cultural programming. Crucially, the new platforms have no such responsibilities. </p>
<p>This minimal burden helped nurture the growth of vast US tech corporations, including eventually the Big Five: <a href="https://presse.ina.fr/les-gafam/">Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft</a>.</p>
<h2>Death sentence?</h2>
<p>The recording industry was the first place where Big Tech disrupted media. Apple of course was crucial, but the key innovation wasn’t the iPod and iTunes, it was the launch of the iPhone and AppStore. These made possible the new music streaming services, most notably Spotify and later Apple Music. For all <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/04/does-spotify-hurt-the-music-industry.html">the criticism it has faced</a>, music streaming did manage to stabilise a struggling business – and laid the basis for the normalisation of paid streaming.</p>
<p>Then Netflix arrived to begin the tech sector’s challenge to cable and satellite for monthly fees, ultimately with its own expensive content. Now <a href="http://www.amandalotz.com/portals-a-treatise-on-internetdistributed-television/">television is transmuting</a> into a system of rival subscription streaming services.</p>
<p>Like the electronics giants of the 20th century, the tech companies initially stayed away from media content. This is why recent developments are so significant. Companies like Apple and Amazon bring vast resources to the world of audio-visual production (though for now they are keeping away from the less profitable business of recording music).</p>
<p>The old media giants should not be mourned – partly because it’s not clear that they’re dying. Profits and revenues have diminished in music, publishing, and some parts of television, but vast businesses remain. </p>
<p>In the US, still the epicentre of global tech and media, there are now two oligopolies in place. Silicon Valley wields its might through software engineering, patents, start-ups and venture capital; Hollywood still deals in stories and images, copyright, and networks of talent management. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/11/08/att-time-warner-merger-trump-dashes-trust-in-media-and-government-at-the-same-time/?utm_term=.51c9f49e379e">Telecoms corporations too</a> are increasingly active. </p>
<p>These sectors <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/disney-will-pull-its-movies-from-netflix-and-start-its-own-streaming-services.html">sometimes compete</a>, and often cooperate. But tech will undoubtedly dominate because of their vast resources, international range and monopoly power.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194610/original/file-20171114-26440-l7f3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194610/original/file-20171114-26440-l7f3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194610/original/file-20171114-26440-l7f3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=154&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194610/original/file-20171114-26440-l7f3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=154&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194610/original/file-20171114-26440-l7f3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=154&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194610/original/file-20171114-26440-l7f3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=193&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194610/original/file-20171114-26440-l7f3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=193&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194610/original/file-20171114-26440-l7f3pl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=193&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sign of the times.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/736430206?src=tFDslWkqQjbljT5sxLzqbA-2-36&size=medium_jpg">Bernhard Richter/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Public service media have <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2243-the-bbc">many failings</a>, but were founded on principles of serving citizens with high quality information and entertainment. They will increasingly struggle against the vast budgets of Silicon Valley and their Big Media frenemies. </p>
<h2>Regular regulation</h2>
<p>But should you worry? Yes.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/16/facebook-fake-news-tools-not-working">“fake news” storms</a> have shown how little tech corporations appear to consider their responsibility to society and democracy. They <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41889787">avoid tax</a>. Like the electronics corporations, their business model involves creating cycles of obsolescence and replacement that are <a href="http://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/3058">deeply wasteful</a>. </p>
<p>The tech oligopoly is further extending its reach over our experience of the world, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/18/corporations-google-should-not-sell-customer-data">capturing huge amounts of data about us</a> as it does so. For all the <a href="http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/amazon-studios-jeff-bezos-roy-price-zelda-1202552532/">sumptuous content</a> that will no doubt be offered, we should heed <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/technology/five-tech-giants-upside.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Ffarhad-manjoo&action=click&contentCollection=undefined&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=collection">calls from commentators</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jun/27/google-braces-for-record-breaking-1bn-fine-from-eu">policy-makers</a> for careful critique and stronger regulation.</p>
<p>New laws and regulations <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1329878X1314600116">appropriate for a new era</a> are needed to control tech corporations’ operation of data about users, to make accountable the algorithmic processes <a href="http://www.danah.org/papers/talks/2016/EUParliament.html">by which the platforms operate</a>, and to ensure that in this new communications world, people have access to truly diverse understandings of <a href="https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780007525591/the-peoples-platform">other lives, cultures and societies</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86876/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Hesmondhalgh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Should you be worried that tech giants are making huge investments in cultural content?
David Hesmondhalgh, Professor of Media, Music and Culture, University of Leeds
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/82638
2017-08-20T19:21:56Z
2017-08-20T19:21:56Z
Australia’s screen future is online: time to support our new content creators
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182370/original/file-20170817-13501-s92x7y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">RackaRacka, a sketch channel on YouTube, have been called Australia's most successful content creators. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Screenshot from YouTube</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ever heard of Mighty Car Mods? Or maybe RackaRacka? Or perhaps Veritasium? These are a few of the most famous Australian screen creators you might never have heard of. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgJRL30YS6XFxq9Ga8W2J3A">Mighty Car Mods</a> are a couple of petrolheads who run the world’s number-one independent online DIY automotive show (their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbGWgvJN1_8">most-viewed video</a> has had 6.6 million views). </p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Therackaracka">RackaRacka</a>, run out of Adelaide by brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, creates action-packed videos full of choreographed fight scenes, comic violence, and pop culture references (their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNlLAp2OGi8&t=236s">Marvel v DC video</a> has had nearly 50 million views). Graeme Mason, the CEO of Screen Australia, has described RackaRacka as Australia’s <a href="http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/getmedia/aa9d4041-f0fd-45d2-8764-633d44d930d4/SPA-2016-speech.pdf">most successful content creator</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-web-series-are-shaking-up-australias-screen-industry-79844">How web series are shaking up Australia's screen industry</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>You might know <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/1veritasium">Veritasium</a> as Derek Muller, presenter of SBS documentaries on nuclear power, but who has been leading Australia’s contribution to popular science online and around the world (with 35 million views for his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OSrvzNW9FE">video on the Magnus Effect</a>). </p>
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<p>Last week the Australian government released a <a href="https://www.communications.gov.au/have-your-say/australian-and-childrens-screen-content-review">consultation paper</a> as part of its review into <a href="https://www.communications.gov.au/australian-childrens-screen-content-review">Australian and Children’s Screen Content</a>. The paper acknowledges the explosion of screen content available to Australians online, and the disruption this has caused to many traditional business models in the screen sector. However, it is fair to say there is no consensus on what, if anything, to do about it. </p>
<p>A new industry is emerging based on previously amateur creators turning pro and working across many platforms such as Youtube and other social media, building global fan communities and creating their own media brands. Established industry professionals worry about its lack of quality and that online content creation is not a sustainable career. Actually, it is a real opportunity for Australian creators.</p>
<h2>Dream numbers</h2>
<p>Screen creators such as RackaRacka are producing viewer numbers of which our broadcasters could only dream. At the same time these creators are exporting Australian culture to the world, and generating real export dollars from their huge overseas audiences through a mixture of digital advertising revenue, merchandising, live appearances and other innovative methods. These twin goals have proven very challenging over some time for Australia’s screen content industry.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-local-networks-retreat-netflix-is-filling-the-gap-in-teen-tv-81624">As local networks retreat, Netflix is filling the gap in teen TV</a>
</strong>
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<p>Worldwide more than three million YouTube creators earn some level of income from their uploaded content, and 3,500 YouTube channels have at least a million subscribers. In Australia, there are now <a href="https://www.communications.gov.au/have-your-say/australian-and-childrens-screen-content-review">65 online creators with more than one million subscribers</a>, and about 90% of their video views come from overseas.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.alphabeta.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Google_Bigger-Picture-Report_Dec2016.pdf">Google-funded study</a> by AlphaBeta estimates the number of content creators in Australia has more than doubled over the last 15 years, almost wholly driven by the entry of 230,000 new creators of online video content. The same study estimates that online video has created a A$6 billion consumer surplus, or the benefit of a service on top of what they’ve paid for it.</p>
<h2>New voices, new business models</h2>
<p>For its consultation paper, the government wants to know what its role in the screen industry, both traditional and online, should be. It’s long been accepted that the creation of content that tells uniquely Australian stories requires government support. </p>
<p>While that remains the case, the government needs to address the evidence that the creation of local Australian online video content is booming and that this has happened with very little government regulation or market intervention. This would suggest that regulation is not the answer to securing the benefits of online video content for Australia.</p>
<p>Platforms like YouTube have allowed creators to commercialise niche content by aggregating small audiences in many countries from around the world into large fanbases. There’s perhaps no better example of this than the YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA">Primitive Technology</a>. Videos on the channel record a man in remote far north Queensland making primitive huts and tools from scratch using only natural materials. </p>
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<p>The videos include no dialogue and you barely see the man’s face. This type of content would never interest a broadcaster, commercial or public. And yet the channel, which launched just over two years ago, has already attracted more than 4.5 million subscribers and its 26 videos have been viewed more than 270 million times.</p>
<p>The popularity of online content creators, and their ability to engage especially new and passionate viewers, explains why Screen Australia has partnered with Google on its successful <a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding-and-support/television-and-online/production/skip-ahead">Skip Ahead program</a> three times since 2014 to provide funding for popular online creators to “take their work to the next level”.</p>
<h2>A gap for government</h2>
<p>Australia’s media industry has changed since the current laws and regulations were drawn up, no more so than in the booming world of online video. As the government ponders its role in supporting Australian content, it should address the online challenge to historical models while also embracing the ongoing success of our online video creators and the stories they tell.</p>
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<p>The biggest gap in the consultation paper is a lack of attention to new online business models. What the paper calls “user generated content” is beginning to transform what Australian content is, and who is engaging with it. The review purports not to be a narrow review of only regulation. Funding support and the needs of the viewers are also on the table. Therefore, it should do three things. </p>
<p>First, it should consider how the government can get a true picture of what screen content Australians, especially the millennial generation largely lost to traditional television, are engaging with. </p>
<p>Second, it should consider a new content fund that facilitates new ways of producing content, and ensuring that creators have sustainable careers. While there are well-established models for film and TV funding, this requires a new approach. </p>
<p>Third, it should consider how to ensure this content fund supports new voices who can genuinely engage with those who have been lost to traditional television and cinema going. It is time to start taking so-called “user generated content” seriously.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>
Stuart Cunningham receives funding from the Australian Research Council to conduct research on which this article is based. He has also held a Fulbright Senior Scholarship to conduct research relevant as background to this article. He has also consulted for Google Australia. </span></em></p>
Online video is flourishing in Australia with very little government attention. Content creators like Youtube channel RackaRacka are getting millions of viewers, numbers the traditional screen industry can only dream of.
Stuart Cunningham, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.