Managing visibility on YouTube through algorithmic gossip
Zotero / D&S Group / Top-Level Items 2022-11-14
Type
Journal Article
Author
Sophie Bishop
URL
https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819854731
Volume
21
Issue
11-12
Pages
2589-2606
Publication
New Media & Society
ISSN
1461-4448
Date
2019-11-01
Extra
Publisher: SAGE Publications
DOI
10.1177/1461444819854731
Accessed
2022-11-14 20:48:58
Library Catalog
SAGE Journals
Language
en
Abstract
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.