In week three, I continued to think about authenticity and vlogging. In week two, I became more interested in how vloggers create communities and fan bases, and how authenticity or inauthenticity plays a role in that. I recently read another article that continued this. However, it also made me aware that I want to spend the majority of my time researching authenticity and its impacts. So, for example, a tight-knit community could be one of many results of their authentic performance, but I also want to explore the other impacts as well. I latched onto this fascination with the “cynical” and “sincere” performances after reading an article by Kimberly Ann Hall on a famous YouTube scandal. One of the first ever vloggers, this girl’s channel thrived as she posted videos of herself going through her day. However, people questioned whether it was a real, authentic vlog or a fabricated script (it ended up being the latter). So, using this example, does the fact that it was fake change how meaningful the messages delivered can be? Can a “cynical” performance be used to make a positive impact? And, of course, what is authenticity for vloggers? Do they have to be amateur? These are the questions I’m now zeroing in on, because I feel like they’re more in line with what interests me most about the vlog style of media.
I don’t want to abandon completely they type of questions I was asking last week regarding community-building. I still think it’s useful to think about how these communities are close enough to comment supportive messages on serious, heartfelt videos. However, I want to answer that by thinking about authenticity. How does authenticity drive this? Are there things that vloggers do that make their performances seem more “sincere” and thus bring out a feeling of trust and comfort? If so, what are they? And, if they don’t do these things, will people in their “community” of subscribers and commenters still respond the same way to their videos? Asking these questions and using the articles I’ve collected so far on authenticity, as well as using my own content analysis on some vlogs will help me. So far, I was struggling to ask the questions that got at my underlying fascination for vlogs and why they are so popular. I’m happy, though, because now I feel like after a few weeks of tweaking and modifying I’m on the exact train of thought that I wanted.
I’ve also considered changing the nature of my project. I still think it will be useful to write a standard research paper on authenticity and its impact on vlogs (number of subscribers, popularity, income, community-building, etc.). However, I’m also thinking about making a short vlog of my own – something I’ve never done and have never remotely wanted to do. But, the more I think about it, I think it may be a fun way for me to understand these performances better. It would allow me to be in the shoes of the content creators and understand how and why they may choose to show certain things, act particular ways, etc. I’m not positive I’ll be doing this and I want to schedule a meeting with Prof. Greene to discuss, but I think it may be an interesting way to learn more.