The Boyfriend Tag: An Exploration of YouTube Participatory Culture and Gender, Sexual, and Relationship Ideologies

• In Event: 338 - Section on Communication and Information Technologies Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Paper Session: Table 05.

Abstract

Recent investments in social media, both by large companies and the everyday person, are transforming social interactions. Web users are participating in a new form of economy, where social interactions, such as merely liking or sharing a video, could lead to profits for the creators of "viral" content. The popular social media site, YouTube, hosts this form of participatory culture, which gives us a unique view into these social processes. Everyday people are beginning to record themselves interacting with a camera (and other "guests") to post online for people to watch, like, and comment on. With an analysis of a popular YouTube trend, The Boyfriend Tag, this project aims to understand how the social interactions taking place on social media sites are influencing social norms and ideologies around gender, sexuality, and relationships. The structure of the social media site, the content in the videos produced on this “tag”, the number of views and likes/dislikes the videos got, and the amount/content of comments will help in the understanding of how the power structures of YouTube influence the (re)construction of these norms and ideologies.

Author

• Trenton James Lee, University of Michigan