Social Media

• Social media influences

  • Their vlogs on YouTube
  • Their websites and blogs
• Typical conventions of social media influence vlogs

  1. Person talks directly to camera

  2. One camera setup

  3. Use of lights

  4. Filming on phone

  5. Point of view shots

  6. Encourage audience interaction
• Intertextuality


  Constantly referring to makeup products, films, music artists
• Zoella's online media products

  • Self-awareness that she is a media product
  • Fragmented narratives
  • Emphasis on realism and authenticity
• Continuity editing

  Editing a scene from different angles to create one smooth motion
• Editing in vlogs


  Jump cuts, dip to black, noticeable errors/pauses left in
• Zoella's tone of voice and verbal language


  Informal, direct address to audience as friends
• Parasocial relationship


  Social relationship/interaction that feels real but isn't
• Zoella's video settings


  • Personal spaces like homes, bedrooms, bathrooms
  • Overtly feminine aesthetic
• Zoella's website also echoes the feminine, glittery aesthetic of her videos
• Zoella's video setting


  • Often features her personal spaces like cars, homes, bedrooms, bathrooms
  • Very feminine with pastel pinks, purples, golds, glitter, fairy lights
  • Adds to representation of her as a person
• Zoella's website


  • Uses feminine colours, glitter, gold
  • Feminine font
• Zoella's main focus

  • Makeup and hair tutorials
  • Transitioned to more generic lifestyle vlogging over the years
• Zoella's on-screen behaviour

  • Touches her face a lot
  • Flicks her hair around
  • Feminine actions associated with looking good
• Zoella's video content

  • Features normal, relatable activities like cleaning, cooking, makeup
  • Shows her with no makeup or messy house
  • Adds to idea of her being a normal, relatable person
• Zoella has posted videos about mental health issues like depression and anxiety
• Zoella's videos involve editing, lighting, and makeup choices that construct a mediated version of her
• Typical gender stereotypes of women being represented in domestic or sexualized ways


  May apply to Zoella's representation
• Zoella's videos and content are generally family-friendly to avoid demonetization or filtering
• Gender performativity theory (Judith Butler)


  The performances Zoella goes through (hair, makeup, cleaning, cooking) reinforce her feminine identity
• Representations of masculinity in Zoella's videos

  • Alfie and other male friends doing activities like going to the gym, driving cars
  • Reflects traditional ideas of men not being domestic
• Zoella's videos also show metrosexuality, with male friends doing feminine activities like face masks and sleepovers
• Zoella tries to challenge gender stereotypes, e.g. in her "Who Run the World" blog post celebrating successful women
• JJ Olatunji


  Better known as KSI, a British (with Nigerian heritage) YouTuber, rapper, entrepreneur, and boxer
• KSI


  • Co-founder of British rap band The Sidemen
  • CEO of Misfits Boxing
  • Co-owner of Prime Hydration, XIX Vodka and restaurant chain Sides
  • Holds the ICB Cruiserweight Championship in professional boxing
• KSI's rise to fame

  1. Uploading comedic gaming–commentary videos of the FIFA video game series

  2. Diversifying to include a vlog and comedy clips

  3. As of August 2022, has over 24 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, and almost 6 billion video views across his channels
• KSI as a recording artist


  His second album All Over the Place debuted at number one on the UK Album Chart
• KSI as a 'product' to study


  • Represents a 'brand' more than a particular genre
  • Takes pride in the diverse range of media products (in different genres) he produces
• KSI's media products


  • 'Let's Play' videos
  • Comedy clips (with the Sidemen)
  • Prank videos
  • 'Diss tracks' (songs that mock and insult other YouTubers)
• YouTubers operate quite differently to traditional celebrities. Instead of attracting fans with their beauty and luxurious lifestyles, influencers rely on two main qualities: authenticity and relatability.
• Conventions used by KSI to suggest authenticity and relatability

  • Direct address to camera, sat in a bedroom or small studio – cheap, lo-fi production
  • Use of language associated with young urban men: slang mixed with street dialect and gaming/social media terms
  • Regularly has guests – sometimes these are members of his own family (particularly his brother Deji) or other internet celebrities
  • In earlier videos, the video is based around banter between Olatunji and his brother. The language and humour are crude, but unpolished, and this adds to the authenticity
  • Some of the humour borders on racist or homophobic – this adds to the 'unpolished' feel of the video
• KSI's image has changed over time

  • In recent years, he has produced media products in more mainstream genres: hip-hop albums, music videos and live sporting events that are produced using professional crew
  • He has also appeared as a guest on broadcast TV shows like The Big Narstie Show, Celebrity Bake Off and even Blue Peter
• KSI's values have changed over time, particularly regarding becoming a role model
• KSI has become far more sensitive to the way he represents different social groups in his media products
• KSI's 'cocky, cool older brother' persona


  Combination of many traditionally masculine traits: highly competitive (sports and videogames); suspicious of femininity; motivated by success and victory; lack of compromise; 'rude' and impolite humour; physical strength and endurance
• KSI represents a very positive portrayal of young, Black, British men
• KSI's boxing career


  Represents positive values of dedication that leads to success, from underdog to victor, a traditional narrative in the sports movie genre, especially boxing dramas like Rocky
• KSI has a very blunt, honest relationship with his fanbase, and often personally responds to comments they make about his media products
• Like many YouTubers, KSI knows the value of shocking, politically incorrect material for gaining hits on the site, and therefore popularity and success
• Jean Baudrillard asserts that in our media-saturated contemporary culture, it is difficult to discern what is 'real' and what is 'artificial'