Managing visibility on YouTube through algorithmic gossip

TY - JOUR

T1 - Managing visibility on YouTube through algorithmic gossip

AU - Bishop, Sophie

PY - 2019/11/1

Y1 - 2019/11/1

N2 - Beauty vloggers’ feminised outputs often position them outside of traditional spheres of technical expertise, however, their strategic management of algorithmic visibility makes them an illuminating source of algorithmic knowledge. I draw from an ethnography of beauty vloggers and industry stakeholders to study the collaborative and directive processes used to formulate and sustain algorithmic expertise – algorithmic gossip. Algorithmic gossip is defined as communally and socially informed theories and strategies pertaining to recommender algorithms, shared and implemented to engender financial consistency and visibility on algorithmically structured social media platforms. Gossip is productive: community communication and talk informs and supports practices such as uploading frequently and producing feminised beauty content to perform more effectively on YouTube. Taking gossip seriously can present a valuable resource for revealing information about how algorithms work and have worked, in addition to revealing how perceptions of algorithms inform content production.

AB - Beauty vloggers’ feminised outputs often position them outside of traditional spheres of technical expertise, however, their strategic management of algorithmic visibility makes them an illuminating source of algorithmic knowledge. I draw from an ethnography of beauty vloggers and industry stakeholders to study the collaborative and directive processes used to formulate and sustain algorithmic expertise – algorithmic gossip. Algorithmic gossip is defined as communally and socially informed theories and strategies pertaining to recommender algorithms, shared and implemented to engender financial consistency and visibility on algorithmically structured social media platforms. Gossip is productive: community communication and talk informs and supports practices such as uploading frequently and producing feminised beauty content to perform more effectively on YouTube. Taking gossip seriously can present a valuable resource for revealing information about how algorithms work and have worked, in addition to revealing how perceptions of algorithms inform content production.

KW - Algorithms

KW - gender

KW - optimization

KW - platforms

KW - vloggers

KW - YouTube

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85067891293

U2 - 10.1177/1461444819854731

DO - 10.1177/1461444819854731

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85067891293

SN - 1461-4448

VL - 21

SP - 2589

EP - 2606

JO - New Media and Society

JF - New Media and Society

IS - 11-12

ER -