Content creation as writing: Exploring the work of YouTube video essayists

Many scholars (Turkle, 1984; Haraway, 1991) have characterized Web 1.0—the early age of the internet, spanning roughly the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s—as a virtual playground for creative self-expression beyond the limits of embodied reality. In contrast, Web 2.0—marked by the introduction of social media platforms in the mid-2000s to today—has seemingly recast that creative expression as “user-generated content” circulated through social media. Creative labor (Duffy, 2017) is increasingly commodified through this “platformization” (Helmond, 2015) of the internet, leading to normativized forms of expression that are “advertiser-friendly.” Further, creators are encouraged to market themselves in “authentic” ways that will make them legible to potential audiences, including non-human audiences like algorithms. Drawing from writing, media, and queer studies, my dissertation examines these evolving writing practices and dynamics. Through interviews and content analysis, I focus on YouTube video essayists as a case study to explore how creators shape their self-presentation for audience consumption, navigate algorithmic surveillance mechanisms, and perceive their relationality to both corporate power and audiences. I argue that writing studies must expand its scope to consider the impact of social media platforms on creators' composing practices, acknowledging how creators negotiate corporate imperatives and their own ideals. I explore how creators navigate platform-driven ecologies, both conforming to and challenging corporate pressures, to assert their individual agency and foster queer possibilities in multimedia texts.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Lafond, Bri

Contributors dc:contributor

• Moussawi, Ghassan
• Mortensen, Peter L
• McKinney, Charlesia
• Beauchamp, Toby

• Social Media
• Multimodality
• Content Creation
• Social Media Platforms
• Composition

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Bri Lafond

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125680

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F125680