Influencer commerce has experienced an exponential growth, resulting in new forms of digital practices among young women. Influencers are one form microcelebrity who accumulate a following on blogs and social media through textual visual narrations their personal, everyday lives, upon which advertorials for products services premised. In Singapore, predominantly women whose commercial most noted Instagram. response, users beginning to model after tags, reposts #OOTDs (Outfit Of The Day),...

Taking seriously the global trend of selfies becoming marketable and entangled in ecologies commerce, this article looks at Influencers who have emerged as (semi-)professional selfie-producers for whom taking is a purposively commercial, thoughtful, subversive endeavor. Based on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork grounded theory analysis, I examine Influencers’ engagements with Instagram their appropriations salable objects, tacit labor, an expression contrived authenticity reflexivity. Through...

Abstract With its rapid uptake among young people around the world, it is no surprise that TikTok buzzing with cultures and practices of internet celebrity. Most notably, platform becoming more commercial professionalized rise Influencers, advertising networks, agencies dedicated to monetizing content embedding on TikTok, top Influencers raking in millions income annually. However, little known about constitution celebrity yet, existing models predecessor apps like Instagram YouTube do not...

Following in the celebrity trajectory of mommy bloggers, global micro-microcelebrities, and reality TV families, family Influencers on social media are one genre microcelebrity for whom “anchor” content which they demonstrate their creative talents, such as producing musical covers or comedy sketches, is a highly profitable endeavor. Yet, this commerce sustained by an undercurrent “filler” wherein everyday routines domestic life shared with followers form “calibrated amateurism.” Calibrated...

(2021). ‘#OkBoomer, time to meet the Zoomers’: studying memefication of intergenerational politics on TikTok. Information, Communication & Society: Vol. 24, The Playful Politics Memes, Guest Editors: Mette Mortensen and Christina Neumayer, pp. 2459-2481.

Reflecting on a decade (2009–2020) of research influencer cultures in Singapore, the Asia Pacific, and beyond, this article considers potential “below radar” studies for understanding fast evolving growing potentials subversive, risky, hidden practices social media. The updates technology media scholar danah boyd’s foundational work “networked publics” to offer framework “refracted publics.” While arose from communication network sites during 2000s, focused platforms, infrastructure,...

This Special Issue of “TikTok and Social Movements” emerges from an attempt to map out the landscape social movements happening on TikTok, drawing online symposium hosted in September 2021 by TikTok Cultures Research Network, a research portal for interdisciplinary scholarship cultures. The recent growing popularity has transformed cultures practices worldwide. Through platform’s participatory affordances, many users find meaningful ways engage with platform its cultures, leading...

As COVID-19 broke out across the Asia Pacific from December 2019, media coverage on its impacts proliferated online. Among these discourses, influencers was prominent, likely as many of issues arising contingencies – such digitalization, public messaging, and misinformation are cornerstones this digital economy. In response, cross-cultural study draws a corpus Australian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean online news articles published between January May 2020, to understand how local ecologies were...

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This article takes the “Fox Eye” challenge that trended on social media in 2020 as a case study anti-racism activism by (East) Asian users TikTok. The was trend which both celebrities and ordinary users—often predominantly White women—posted photos short videos how to wear specific styles of make-up achieve almond-shaped eyes or “fox eyes.” often accompanied with “migraine pose” where user pushes their index middle fingers up against temples sides head “lift” corners upper eyelids,...

Babies and toddlers are amassing huge followings on social media, achieving microcelebrity status, raking in five figure sums. In East Asia, many of these lucrative “micro­-microcelebrities” rise to fame by inheriting exposure proximate microcelebrification from their media Influencer mothers. Through self-branding techniques, mothers’ portrayals young’ children’s lives “as lived” the canvas which (baby) products services marketed readers as “advertorials”. turning investigate this budding...

In this paper, we investigate memes about student issues. We consider the as expressions of a new networked public that contain discourses may fall outside mainstream discourse on higher education. The paper is based content analysis 179 posts in Facebook Group ‘Student Problem Memes’, combined with nine-month media watch and discussion workshop 15 students. Through self-deprecating humour, students create an inverse attention economy competitive one-downmanship, where goal to display...

This special issue collects the confessions of five digital ethnographers laying bare their methodological failures, disciplinary posturing, and ethical dilemmas. The articles are meant to serve as a counseling stations for fellow researchers who approaching media ethnographically. On one hand, this issue’s contributors acknowledge rich variety articulations reflected in lexicon “buzzword ethnography”. other, they evidence how doing ethnographic research about, on, through is most often...

Since the onset of COVID-19, incidents racism and xenophobia have been occurring globally, especially toward people East Asian appearance descent. In response, this article investigates how an online community has utilized social media to engage in cathartic expressions, mutual care, discursive activism amid rise anti-Asian during COVID-19. Specifically, we focus on 1.7-million-strong Facebook group “Subtle Traits” (SAT). Throughout COVID-19 pandemic, 1,200 new posts it publishes daily...

Celebrity advocacy for environmental causes has grown dramatically in recent decades. An examination of this expansion and the rise such as climate change reveals shifting politics organization advocacy. We address these changes to construction interpretation celebrity detail how they have produced a rich variety advocates. also account differences between legacy (e.g., radio, TV, newspapers) online celebrities their practices hashtag publics, brandjacking, communities). Environmental...

This paper provides a small snapshot of some the issues regarding LGBTIQ+ experiences and identities. Of particular importance are political personal agencies personhood expression – how do individuals perform experience gender sexuality outside both heteronormativity homonormativity? analyses fluidity across geographies mobilities, with specific emphasis on age, categorisation identity expression. It also looks at sexual in dominant Western culture, as well post-modern expressions queerness...

Since the global virality of ‘Renegade’ dance on TikTok and beyond in 2020, concerns regarding erasure Black girls have been noted. This paper extends conversation by considering how teenagers may continue to wrestle with visibility suppression even within a more intimate in-group community TikTokers. In this paper, we assemble an original corpus posts purposively sampled from #BlackGirlTikTok apply content analysis guided critical technocultural discourse analysis. Our findings reveal that...

At the TikTok & Children Symposium, Cultures Research Network initiated a dialogue with Trust Safety personnel to learn about their provisions and priorities for young people. The industry fireside chat was attended by scholars of cultures intended facilitate research agenda real-world applications researchers respond market issues as they unfold. Such cross-sector conversations provide rare opportunity glean insight on backend processes, query how decision-making is structured consider...