In the last two decades, YouTube has completely revolutionised the dynamics and formats of content creation and media consumption, even being recognised recently as the ‘new media’. A virtual playing field for all diverse genres of content that range from underground niche topics to global viral trends. Today, I will explore the widespread appeal for content creation and the pressures of creator labour. 

True Crime Creators and Reaction Channels

Eleanor Neale

Originating from Yorkshire, Eleanor is a 25 year-old true crime content creator who mainly explores unsolved cases, missing people investigations and celebrity/ high-profile stories. With thorough research, Eleanor breaks down each story with the utmost respect and sensitivity for the victims and their families while engaging her audience on a personal level with a clear and conversational tone.

Bailey Sarian

Bailey is an American true crime YouTuber, popular for combining makeup tutorials with storytelling, focusing on unsolved mysteries, historical crime and infamous serial killer stories. She has a series ‘Murder, Mystery & Makeup’ where she communicates stories while doing her makeup which is an interesting way to multitask while engaging the audience.

Daz Games 

Daz Games is a reaction channel, originating from the Vine platform in 2014, creating short-form content then moving onto YouTube where he focuses on gameplay and reaction videos. His hilarious reactions and infectious humour is what he is known for and his videos on average get over a million views per video.

Like all reaction channels, they must often involve not just reacting or watching content but editing, researching and performing their reactions in an entertaining way that resonates with their audience. (Byrd McDaniel, 2020)

Algorithm and Economic Pressures

All content creators must juggle conforming to YouTube’s strict guidelines while remaining relevant as well as regularly engaging with their audience through an unpredictable algorithm. Content creators are not only content producers but also entrepreneurs maintaining their visibility, finance and audience engagement and this creator labour is empowering but precarious (Cunningham and Craig, 2019)

By: Francesca Rodriguez-Broadbent 33752271

References:

Stuart Cunningham and David Craig (2019), ‘Creator Labor’, Social Media Entertainment: The New Intersection of Hollywood and Silicon Valley, 65-114

Byrd McDaniel (2020), ‘Popular music reaction videos: Reactivity, creator labor, and the performance of listening online’, New Media and Society, 23:6, 1624-1641