Thanks for joining our life: Intimacy as performativity on YouTube parenting vlogs

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2022.jul.07

Keywords:

Social media, Intimacy, Performativity, YouTube, Platforms, Vlogs, Influencers, Content creators, Family, Sharenting

Abstract

YouTube is currently becoming one of the main international platforms for amateur creators attempting to attract followers through a multiplicity of audiovisual content and engagement strategies based on search and algorithmic recommendation systems. In many cases, this environment, and especially its users, try to adapt to a celebrity network pattern on the basis of the construction of seemingly authentic and close relationships, leading to relevant phenomena such as parenting vlogs. This kind of content is focused on the presence of intimate moments that reflect the daily life of influencers or micro-influencers, capturing large numbers of followers, as well as important communication and information strategies. From this perspective, and through a quantitative content analysis of 1,034 videos and more than 900 viewing hours on two very popular YouTube family influencer channels, this study explores the degree of intimacy portrayed in their video content as performative strategies that configure the profiles´ post through interactions with followers, brands, and self-promotion. The results suggest that the degree of intimacy shown in this content becomes a performative process for these family youtubers, whereby the more intimate the exposure, the more popular the information offered to the user. In short, this type of content prioritizes the routines of the youtubers, who include their closest family members and friends as a means of attracting attention, while dedicating their time to interacting with brands (advertising) and recording, editing, and submitting a vast amount of personal and private information on the platform (dissemination) in a sort of promotional-private performativity.

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Author Biographies

Patricia De-Casas-Moreno, Universidad de Extremadura

Patricia de-Casas-Moreno is PhD in Communication in the field of Media Literacy by the University of Huelva. She is Professor at the University of Extremadura (Spain). BA in Journalism. MA in Communication and Audiovisual Education, specializing in Communication 2.0 and Social Media. She is member of the Comunicar Group and the Technical Council of the Media Education "˜Comunicar´ journal (JCR·JIF-Scopus Q1). She is member of the "˜Agora Research Group´ (HUM-648). Associate Editor of the University Scientific Journal "˜Ágora Digital´. Her line of research focuses on media quality, stereotypes, information language and the habits of the audience as a starting point for educational proposals for better consumption by society.

Daniela Jaramillo-Dent, Universidad de Huelva

Daniela Jaramillo-Dent is Doctoral Candidate in Communication at the University of Huelva and Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her research explores the mediated representations of immigration on social media platforms. She has received awards at the local and European levels for her research on migratory narratives and content creation practices on Instagram and TikTok. She is a Key Regional Leader of the TikTok Cultures Research Network. Her academic career holds a degree in Communication (University of Maryland) and postgraduate studies in leadership and education. She is an expert in various teacher training programmes in Spain, the United States and Ecuador. She collaborates in European projects on media literacy and in a digital innovation project with ACNUR on social media and digital entertainment opportunities for refugees.

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Published

2022-08-03

How to Cite

Vizcaí­no-Verdú, A., De-Casas-Moreno, P., & Jaramillo-Dent, D. (2022). Thanks for joining our life: Intimacy as performativity on YouTube parenting vlogs. Profesional De La información, 31(4). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2022.jul.07

Issue

Vol. 31 No. 4 (2022): Media psychology

Section

Research articles

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