Social Media in the Online Age - Zoella

Social Media in the Online Age - Zoella

Overview

Zoe Sugg is a well-known British social media influencer, known by the name of 'Zoella'. She began uploading videos to Youtube in 2009 and gradually attained popularity and many views. At the same time, she had also created a blog page involving lifestyle, fashion and cosmetics which also gained her many blog visits. She worked as an apprentice for an interior design company after finishing her A-Levels in college. She suffers from anxiety disorder which was one of the reasons why she did not attend university.

Content

Zoella's content is based mainly on YouTube although she also has a large audience on her blog page. Her videos are typically focused on vlogs as well as videos on shopping trends. Her 'personal vlogs' involve her opening up to the audience in a less-enthusiastic manner as she explains her personal thoughts and experiences. These types of videos shine a light on the 'realistic' situations people may experience and attracts a relatable audience. Other videos are mainly based on fashion and beauty reviews of various brands which her audience may purchase from if recommended by her. 

Much of her content is sorted algorithmically which is compatible and appropriate for her audience. She uses exaggerated titles to attract a much larger and new audience, which is known as 'clickbaiting'. These videos on her shopping sprees maximises her advertising revenue and potentially less-famous brands to collaborate with her to gain popularity and promotion. Zoella is well-known for her Primark shopping spree videos where she shops in Primark and chooses specific outfits in line with the current fashion trends. These videos prove to be successful due to the affordability as well as encouragement by her for her audience to shop for the clothing she picked out. This could mean she has a large working-class audience which she might not be able to relate to as her popularity and wealth allows her to shop for higher-end brands. 

Audience

Zoella is a young woman and her videos are aimed for young women in general in terms lifestyle and beauty. Her viewers tend to be females around the 14 - 20 age range and attracts this target audience through her passionate and enthusiastic appearance combined with her use of 'family-friendly' language. She converses with her audience in a way that makes the viewer feel like they're talking to a friend and since she's older than her targeted audience, they look up to her as a role model. 

Despite her young targeted audience, she has met controversy for her incongruous blogs on sex toys as part of her 'Sex and Health' category. The unusual posts involving this was questioned by many, as her viewers do tend to be very young and 'too' young to be exposed to her 'adult-appropriate' content.

Representations

Zoella's videos follow the typical code conventions of an online blogger through the camera shots and narrative of her videos. The camera shots are mainly close ups with high-key lighting which makes the audience focus on her rather than the background. She also does this to make the audience feel as if they are having a conversation with her which allows the audience to be fully engaged with what she's saying. There are also edits which consist of the videos seeming chopped up which happens during the times she doesn't speak and is done to ensure she consistently converses with her audience. 

Levi-Strauss' 'binary opposition theory' could be applied to her content as on some of her blogs and videos, she opens up about her anxiety and panic attacks which contrasts with her high-spirited and vibrant content on fashion, beauty and an ideal lifestyle. Her videos on her disorder reflect the aspects of a life experience that the audience could relate to. 

Stuart Hall's theory of representation could also be applied to her presentation of herself to the audience. Through her presentation, she is seen as a stereotypically attractive woman from her petite and feminine acts and demeanor. Additionally, her videos promoting beauty products contribute to reinforcing expectations of how women should look to be considered 'attractive'. Besides this, Zoella does not sexualise herself and can be seen through her casual, non-revealing clothing as well as not using any strong language to construct her soft and caring personality. In terms of ethnicity, it is not taken into consideration in her videos as they consist of a hegemonic construction which assumes her beauty and fashion products are aimed for a white audience since the standard of beauty for people of colour is not seen in her videos. 

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