Week 3:
While discussing YouTube, José van Dijck argues that the site’s interface influences the popularity of videos through ranking tactics that promote popular favourites (Reader, page 94). How do ranking tactics impact on the formation online ‘communities’?
I have scrawled through online newspapers, journals, blogs and youtube clips to piece together opinions, recounts and observations of the marriage, and am now very well read on the disgust at Beatrice and Eugenie’s hats, the extravagance of the cathedral trees and Harry’s humorous best man speech. It has come to my attention that the Internet not only facilitates global connectivity and instant information internationally, it facilitates a feeling of involvement. The wedding is increasingly becoming ‘defined by evolving identities'(Van Dijk 2009:44), identities relating to the common peoples enthusiasm at a middle class girl marrying into the royal family.
During the Wedding smart phones enabled British enthusiasts lining the streets to ‘share “mediated” experiences’ (Van Dijk 2009:44) and stream wedding telecast instantaneously. This sense of closeness and intimacy is a new technological concept where it is possible to enjoy the patriotic ambience while experiencing the visual splendour of an event, literally in the palm of your hand.
Youtube videos were uploaded by ABC News (USA) on April 29th 2011, shortly after they were aired and have received over 1 million views. Most views are from Commonwealth Countries, and the USA but are seemingly scattered all over the globe. The uploading of User Generated Content (UGC) (including reputable media corporations) contributes to this ranking and sorting process, and can be identified as contributing on ‘different levels of participation” (Van Dijk 2009:44). Van Dijk discusses low levels of “active contribution” (Van Dijk 2009:44) on Social Networking Sites and later claims that ‘rankings and ratings are vulnerable to manipulation” (Van Dijk 2009:45), which may seem to negate the idea of UGC, but at the end of the day, being involved in a community is about the feeling of being ‘involved in the common cause’ (Van Dijk 2009:45), not creating it. Members of online communities just want to be surrounded by people of ‘shared” (Van Dijk 2009:44) identity.
Van Dijk claims that ‘YouTube users are steered towards a particular video’ (Van Dijk 2009:45), yet the Royal family have devised their own channel, an intentionally created community. The Royal Channel: The official channel of the British Monarchy brings together a number of official videos and updates of the British royal family.
This represents the formation of an online community, and displays that a televised/videoed event especially like that of The Royal Wedding can accumulate massive numbers in support of, and having an interest in the uploaded media. The uploads are monitored, managed and updated by the Royals, but are admittedly subject to view counts, favourites and recently watched categories.
In this instance The Royal Channel delivers to its enthusiast community, by complying with Hennion’s idea of ‘taste communities, groups who share a communal preference'(2007:Van Dijk 2009:45). This is exactly how I came across the video link to The Royal Channel! I liked the clips and clicked on similar links, without knowing it I had become a user contributing to ‘ranking tactics’ (Van Dijk 2009:45). Every time I searched for a similar clip I was strengthening the idea of a community formed simply by views.
So when you look at any of these clips, you (possibly without knowing it) are contributing to the Royal Wedding frenzy. Have you bought your Kate and Will teacup?
José van Dijck, 2009, ‘Users Like You?’ Theorizing Agency in User-Generated Content’, Media, Culture and Society 31: 41-58
Cyber Snippets 
