Conventions of a Blog

• Regularly updated

• Entries posted in reverse order with the latest first

• More interactive than traditional media forms

• Use of Hyperlinks

• Navigation bar

• Ability to comment on posts allowing for interaction wit the blogger and other consumers

Types

• Can be political, personal, instructional, or journalistic

• Some are amateur and some are professional

• Commercial and non-commercial

• Wide range of topics

• Popular type of blog is fashion, beauty, and lifestyle that offer insight into the bloggers life, building more intimate relationship

The Rise in Online Media

• In recent years, digital technologies and the rise of the internet have dramatically altered the media landscape, challenging traditional understanding of the relationships between media products, producers, and audiences

• The emergence of new online forms of media such as blogs, vlogs, and social media reflect a cultural shift towards:

  • Interaction

  • Participation

  • Connection

• Collaboration - this is said to characterise the Web 2.0

• Web 2.0 is also called Participative (or Participatory) and Social Web - an alternative of the past passive web

• User-generated content, usability (ease of use, even by non-experts), participatory culture and interoperability (operates well with other products, systems, and devices)

• A Web 2.0 website may allow users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community

A Cultural Change

• The growing cultural significance of content creators is highlighted through high numbers of subscribers and their immersion within the mass media and mainstream culture (e.g., Zoella appearing on magazine covers)

• Both Zoella and Alfie Deyes appeared on the charity single ‘Do They Know Its Christmas’ in 2014, becoming the first non-music stars to appear on a Band Aid charity single

• Wax figures of the YouTube were also unveiled in Madame Tussauds in 2015

How has the internet impacted on social media industries?

• Disrupted the power structures that traditionally operate within the media (Curran and Seaton)

• Yet, it could be argued that the commercial potential of internet has been exploited by major corporations to consolidate their economic and cultural power

• Democratised the media by enabling ‘ordinary’ users to create and distribute their own content, removing the traditional gatekeepers and allowing for greater levels of democracy

• For example, all a vlogger needs is a digital camera, webcam, and access to the internet to produce content

• Growth of User Generated content

Regulation Theory: Livingstone and Lunt

• The idea that there is an underlying struggle in recent UK regulation policy between the need to further the interest for citizens (by offering protection from harmful or offensive material), and the need to further the interests of consumers (by ensuring choice, value for money, ad market competition)

• The idea that the increasing power of global media corporations, together with the rise of convergent media technologies and transformations in the production, distribution, and marketing of digital media, have placed traditional approaches to media regulation at risk

How is this theory relevant to Zoella?

• Advertising sex toys - parents of consumers upset as GCSE students study her and had access to the advertisement - which was deemed inappropriate

• Her content is easy to access as she uploads onto the internet - very hard to regulate

• If her platforms did get taken down, it is easy for her to make another channel/page/website/account

Economic context: The Price of Being Free

• Democratisation is a key benefit of online media platforms

• However, democracy comes at a price

• Vloggers generate large amounts of web traffic (consumers)

• This has led to the rise of multi-channel networks (MCNs) who act on behalf of hundreds or thousands of different channels

• They offer marketing, promotion, and monetising techniques in return for percentage of advertising revenue

Zoella and Alfie Deyes (PointlessBlog)

• Zoella is no longer attached to any particular MCN, instead opting for independence

• In 2018, Zoella and Alfie Deyes launched their own creative agency called A-Z Creatives

• This will allow them to manage themselves and other talent outside of the framework of the larger conglomerates