Garcia-Rapp, F. orcid.org/0000-0001-5692-6505 and Roc-Cuberes, C. (2017) Being an online celebrity: norms and expectations of YouTube's beauty community. First Monday, 22 (7). ISSN 1396-0466
Abstract
This paper is based on 22 months of online fieldwork examining YouTube's beauty community, specifically the beauty guru Bubz, her uploaded content, and user comments. We aim to conceptualize central community-specific dynamics and practices, particularly those related to self-presentation and identity management and their affordances for legitimized online popularity. We explain how the guru's successful online persona is based on a performative blend of relatable, down-to-earth values paired with a more aspirational and worthy of emulation side. Being an "ordinary-user-turned-famous" is seemingly an advantage given the high relevance of authenticity when judging online celebrities. However, her inherent ordinariness also increases expectations of trustworthiness and honesty, precisely because she is, and continuous to perform daily, a regular user.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 First Monday. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in First Monday. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | online celebrity; digital cultures; YouTube |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Journalism Studies (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 11 Apr 2019 10:47 |
Last Modified: | 11 Apr 2019 14:48 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | University of Illinois at Chicago Library |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.5210/fm.v22i7.7788 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:144839 |