Confessions Of A Radical Eclectic: Social Media Analysis

YouTube’s intended purpose is to serve as a platform to host user generated video content and share a variety of data such as education, knowledge and entertainment. Makeup tutorials are both a genre of education and entertainment that appeals to a wide demographic of users. In the article Confessions of a Radical Eclectic: Reality Television, Self-Branding, Social Media, and Autonomist Marxism, Alison Hearn defines the role of an influencer in the industry of self production, like YouTube. Hearn states “self-production is now directly mined for value by capital and the culture industries are at the epicenter of this shift, providing templates for the communicative and image skills required for profit-generating self-performance in all sectors

The micro-celebrities form an illusion of ‘friendship’ with their viewers and encourage them to trust their opinion on the best cosmetics to use. Jonathan Ford discusses YouTube’s micro-celebrities’ ability to sell product, he states, “Advertisers have spotted the ability of YouTube stars not only to drive audiences but also to shift products. When YouTubers recommend something, their followers listen and often act” (2014). An example of this is when a beauty blogger recommends a new product that has been sent to them for free or as a paid promotion, corporations encourage a positive connotation and in return content creator receive a percentage of the revenue similar to a commission. Beauty Blogger, Zoella is a brand ambassador for Unilever, she earned about $42,000 last year according to her inaugural set of accounts at Companies House (Ford, 2014). Zoella, recommends Unilever products on her social media, including YouTube and is paid for her encouragement to promote positive associations with her audience. Knoche describes how the commodification of the world has driven development in communicative mediums such as social

Van Dijck defines the user as “[an] active internet contributors, who put in a ‘certain amount of creative effort’ which is ‘created outside of professional routines and platform” (49). User agency is used a method for the consumer to connect with the content creator, this is strongly encouraged by YouTube. Van Dijick states, “On the face of it, ‘community’ strongly connotes the inclination of users to belong to a (real-life) group and be involved in a common cause. YouTube’s owners promote their site as the home of many such communities” (45). This is significant because the influencer is actively creating the illusion of a ‘friend’ by giving them a sense of belonging to a group. In the article, App Consumption: An Exploratory Analysis of the Use and Gratifications of Mobile Apps, Nicholas Gerlich, discusses the impact of mobile applications and how they alter consumers social and psychological communication behaviour. He defines the term, “para-social” interaction as, “a preconceived social interaction with mediated characters, [that] has become an important construct as reality television has increased popularity and alters the user’s experience when able to more closely identify with program characters” (Gerlich, 71). In relation YouTube, the audience has a “para-social” connection to the content creator which leads the viewer to believe in an