Abstract
Creator Culture: An Introduction to Global Social Media Entertainment stimulates in-depth, globally focused engagement with the social media entertainment (SME) industry and helps to establish a dynamic research agenda attractive to scholars, teachers, and students, as well as creators and media professionals across the media, communication, and social media industries. The editors, Stuart Cunningham (distinguished professor of media and communication at the Queensland University of Technology) and David Craig (clinical associate professor at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and visiting professor in the Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries at Shanghai Jiao Tong University) want to encourage fields of studies to evolve alongside industries. This book does not form a unified perspective, but rather introduces the differences and similarities between SME and traditional media forms.
The text is divided into 14 chapters with 21 contributors and is organized in three broad heuristic domains: frameworks and methods, genres and communities, and industries and governance. This layout allows readers to better understand the formation of creator cultures through a new industry lens, along with the theoretical, methodological, cultural, social, textual, and political issues involved. While many chapters cross-reference each other, there is also linkage to information outside the book’s contents to help readers explore deeper connections and encourage adding to this new body of research.
The foreword by Nancy K. Baym explores how we need to move past the idea of looking at description or explanation when dealing with SME and start looking more intently into the relationships creators have with their audience. In the introduction, the book’s editors define “content creator” and the history of the SME labels. Following a synopsis of the book’s chapters, they explain the book’s purpose is to provide resources for understanding, studying, and researching creator cultures in the emerging industry of SME. The book is organized so readers can form a comprehensive understanding of who can be a content creator for differing areas of interest, and the writing is engaging, clear, and effective. The chapters are thorough and detailed, using case studies and research to explain how these areas have been examined and should be examined in the future, depending on what form of engagement or content is being studied.
Jean Burgess (Chapter 1) discusses various digital and hybrid methods that have been used to study platforms, pointing out that because platforms are closed systems, it is challenging for creators and researchers alike to have a collective understanding of how they work and how users experience them. Zoë Glatt and Sarah Banet-Weiser (Chapter 2) use feminist YouTuber research to explain that content creators aspire to change social norms, challenge discrimination, and disrupt power systems that entail brand deals and partnerships. Brent Luvaas (Chapter 3) explores researching social media from an autoethnographic approach, helping readers to avoid what he calls “social media bondage,” which refers to the emotional investment into social media that has the user caring about how many likes were received or how many people recently followed or unfollowed their accounts. If we learn how to break social media bondage, social media and the effectiveness of content creators’ influence will drastically decrease.
Carlos A. Scolari, Damián Fraticelli, and José M. Tomasena conducted a semio-discursive analysis of Spanish-speaking BookTubers (Chapter 4) to differentiate between BookTubers and YouTubers operations. BookTubers have a thematic dimension involved with their videos revolving around the world of books and there is a predominance of humor as they propose the audience to laugh at themselves for the setbacks brought on by the love of books and reading. The editors of the book and Junyi Lv complete a case study of Chinese live streaming in Chapter 5, arguing that critical media industry studies provide a framework to examine cultural and economic opportunities from the lens of the individual and small business agents. Hector Postigo (Chapter 6) discusses how videogame commentary research methods should be immersed in the techno-culture of creator communities, carefully observing creative works, comments, and tweets through scraping and analysis that shows how they increase their views and social credibility. In Chapter 7, Brooke Erin Duffy and Megan Sawey use the March 2019 message from the White Banana to evaluate the value, service, and precarity of Instagram influencers. Jarrod Walczer (Chapter 8) dives into the phenomena of family and children YouTubers that focus on toy unboxing videos, showing how these creators maintain prosocial values and commercial viability.
Sangeet Kumar, Sriram Mohan, and Aswin Punathambekar (Chapter 9) analyze video production practices, consumption, and circulation of YouTube to explore the consequences on South Asian cultures across political boundaries. Mohamed El Marzouki (Chapter 10) adds to the cultural experience, focusing on Arab creator expression and production from a sociodemographic and politico-economic context. In Chapter 11, Elaine Jing Zhao elaborates on the four layers of liminality that can be used to explain and investigate wanghong (internet famous) and other creator experiences. Arturo Arriagado (Chapter 12) focuses on tensions regarding content creators’ advertising that challenges the traditional intermediary role of advertising agencies between brands and consumers. Jeremy Shtern and Stephanie Hill (Chapter 13) summarize the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) monitoring and guidelines attached to content monetization, arguing that more stabilization of sponsorship regulation will exist in the next few years. The book’s editors dive deeper into creators’ rights and governance (Chapter 14) to discuss the top-down power in creator governance.
This diverse collection of research and insight into creators helps readers establish how culture is impacted in this monetized but highly disruptive industry. By delving into this impact, the contributors also elaborate on new paradigms, methods, and areas of study that greatly help academics and readers alike understand and interpret how the burgeoning world of social media is both similar to and different than traditional, well-established media.
