Influencers and celebrity culture: blog tasks

1) Media Magazine reading


Media Magazine 72 has a feature linking YouTube influencers to A Level media theories. Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM72 and scroll to page 60 to read the article ‘The theory of everything - using YouTubers to understand media theory’. Answer the following questions:

1) How has YouTube "democratised media creativity"?

  • Clay Shirky suggests that modern audiences are no longer just passive consumers of media content; they can create and participate too.
  • The division between audience and presenter is blurred.
  • The YouTube platform has democratised media creativity, with ordinary users uploading their own content: they are ‘produsers’ (producer-users) and ‘prosumers’ (producer-consumers).

2) How does YouTube and social media culture act as a form of cultural imperialism or 'Americanisation'? 

  • We could argue that YouTube influencers encourage the spread of US cultural references, language and attitudes. This form of globalisation implies a dominance of Western cultural attitudes (cultural hegemony) – ‘the West vs the Rest’.
  •  Most globally popular YouTubers also promote materialism and consumption.
  • Their posts illustrate the commercialisation or commodification of entertainment which, although in some ways more honest and explicitly done than the subtle product placement of the past, still channels audiences into conformist ways of thinking and behaving, encouraging them to buy products and aspire towards material improvement.

3) How do influencers reinforce capitalist ideologies? 

4) How can YouTube and social media celebrity content be read as postmodern, an example of hyperreality? 

5) What are the arguments for and against regulating online content such as YouTube?

6) How can Hesmondhalgh and Curran & Seaton's ideas be linked to online media debates? 

7) How can Gauntlett's ideas around identity and audience be applied to YouTube and influencer content?

8) What is YOUR opinion on celebrity influencers? Are they a positive, democratic addition to the contemporary media landscape or a highly constructed product promoting hegemonic capitalist ideologies?   


2) How to build a social media brand: case study


1) What are the different ways celebrities manage their social media accounts? Give examples. 

2) Why is 'voice' important in celebrity social media content and what examples are provided? 

3) What different goals may celebrities have for their social media accounts? 

4) What types of content can be found from celebrity social media posts? 

5) How does social media allow influencers to interact with fans? Give examples.  


3) Guardian article: Social media harming young people


1) What did the YMCA's report suggest about social media content and celebrity culture?  

2) What examples are provided of how this can have a damaging effect on young people? 

3) What is YOUR opinion on this topic? Do you feel social media is dangerous to young people? Should age restrictions be enforced? Explain your answer. 

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