Abstract

DE CARVALHO, Barbara Janiques  and  MAROPO, Lidia. “I'm sorry you don't flag it when you advertise”: audience and commercial content on the Sofia Barbosa YouTube channel. Comunicação e Sociedade [online]. 2020, vol.37, pp.93-107. ISSN 1645-2089.  https://doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.37(2020).2394.

The main theme of the article is the context of digital microcelebrity experienced by children and adolescents, particularly on social networking sites such as YouTube. The purpose of the study is to understand how young audiences of the popular Portuguese channel Sofia Barbosa on YouTube construct meaning about the commercial content and authenticity that the youtuber presents. The methodology used is qualitative bias and netnography is employed in analysing 1.961 comments made by subscribers on 10 videos posted between January and October 2018. As a means of better understanding the context of the comments we also analysed the visual, verbal and commercial aspects of the videos. The comments demonstrate a perception on the part of followers of closeness and intimacy in relation to Sofia and a strong acceptance of the commercial content promoted by the young woman. However, critical reflections about the marketing practices of the youtuber can at various times be perceived, namely on the lack of transparency in commercial relations; this presents itself as an opportunity to balance a romanticised view that many subscribers have of microcelebrities with a more rational understanding of the industry that sustains them.

Keywords : young people; microcelebrity; authenticity; commercialism; YouTube.

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