For my BCM241 Digital Artefact, my media niche is travel vloggers Eamon and Bec. I chose Eamon and Bec because I have a passion for travel and am intrigued by their van living.
Through an ethnographic lens, my goal is to understand why and how I consume their content. Eamon and Eamon and Bec’s largest field site is their social media, so I plan to spend time observing and immersing myself in their YouTube and Instagram.
Research to back my investigations includes understanding the uses and gratifications of watching Eamon and Bec. Uses and gratifications looks at why we choose the media we do and the motives for those choices. Thus, it is important to understand my motives for watching Eamon and Bec and what needs it gratifies.
Further research includes the impact of travel content on social media. As this project is being conducted during COVID19, I will investigate how travel vloggers can be resembled as virtual tour guides and how this could attract a larger audience than ever before. Research to back this include ‘Screen Gems: How to Weave Video Into Your Travel Content Strategy’ by Stephanie Vermillion and Travel Vloggers as a Source Of Information About Tourist Destinations by Johan Birch Jensen.
I am keen to combine this secondary research and primary research together to thoroughly understand my role as a consumer of Eamon and Bec’s content. Furthermore, I hope to be a resource for travel vloggers who may need guidance or insight as to how best to reach their target audience.
It is time to look at the secondary research and ethical responsibilities which come with my ethnographic research journey on Eamon and Bec. My aim is to effectively understand the processes, maps, algorithms and reasons as to why Eamon and Bec produce content and why people consume their content. As mentioned in previous posts, primary research through observation and autoethnography is a crucial aspect of this. However, secondary research is also important to guide my results and to draw upon reliable previous findings. This may be in the form of academic articles, previous studies in the field or news articles.
I intend to research two key aspects in inform my own research; audience behaviour and social media algorithms and processes. To kickstart this project, I looked up some articles which will be useful in my research.
Uses and Gratifications of YouTube: A Comparative Analysis of Users and Content Creators by Diana-Maria Buf & Oana Stefanita
This article analyses the uses of YouTube and rewards obtained by its consumers and content. The two key components to analyse this included to 1) identify the main uses and gratifications that determine consumers and content creators to use YouTube, and 2) to examine the reasons why people want to become content creators. The term ‘uses and gratifications’ is commonly used in the media realm, as it looks at why we choose the media we do and our motives for those choices. It deems media audiences as engaged and active. Through qualitative research, this article investigates how consumer and content creators needs are gratified through YouTube. It identified that that consumers mostly watch YouTube for information and/or relaxation, and for content creators it’s a means for recognition and social validation. This information is relevant to my research and I am keen to further draw upon it during this project.
Audience : Marketing in the Age of Subscribers, Fans and Followers- by Jeffrey K. Rohrs and Morgan Stewart.
This article looks deeply into social media subscriber, fan and follower behaviours. Rohrs & Stewart suggest that to keep consumers coming back to their content, creators must give their fans something in return. This is two-way relationship can be applied to Eamon and Bec; they create videos for their fans, and as a result, fans keep coming back. This article also interestingly separates subscribers, fans and followers into different categories with different meanings. Note Eamon and Bec have all three. The article explains subscribers are ‘consumers who provided something of value in order to receive exclusive information from them’. Thus, by subscribing to a YouTube channel. You expect exclusive information delivered to you in a convenient fashion because you have signed up for it. Fans, on the other hand, are more emotionally invested. Fans want to express their passion for what they are invested in and are often involved in communities with like-minded people. Unlike fans, followers don’t particularly have to have a passionate relationship with the content, but instead still seek and are somewhat interested in their information.
“I maintain that couch surfing and crowdsurfing are basically the same thing. You’re falling into the audience and you’re trusting each other”– Amanda Palmer, page 41.
I plan to also find research on the algorithms of YouTube and Instagram to not understand why people consume Eamon and Bec’s content, but how.
There are ethical issues which must be considered in my primary research. As I am observing people’s behaviours without their knowledge, I must represent all parties fairly and anonymously. To overcome this, although challenging, I will need explain and paraphrase what they have said instead of quoting them. I must also ensure I represent Eamon and Bec in a fair matter. To avoid representing them unfairly, I must stick to the straight facts and avoid exaggeration.
It is also important that I am an active listener in this project. To prevent biased information, I must be open and represent all different voices, even if they contradict. I also intend to be an adaptive listener and consider the different backgrounds people may come from to better understand their perspectives. This means I have to document my experience as my own and not talk on behalf of other people’s experiences, as everyone has different backgrounds and reasons for consuming their content. I can draw upon scientific research which may give suggestions explaining consumer behaviours but cannot apply it on behalf of all Eamon and Bec’s consumers.
Now the planning process is coming to an end, I am excited to dive into observing and participating in Eamon and Bec’s ethnographic social media realm.
References
Buf, D. & Stefanita, O 2020, ‘Uses and Gratifications of YouTube: A Comparative Analysis of Users and Content Creators’, Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations, vol. 22, no. 2, pp 75-89.
Rohrs, J. & Stewart, M 2013, ‘Audience : Marketing in the Age of Subscribers, Fans and Followers’, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, first edition.
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