The Value of Affective Labour in the Culture of Internet Celebrities

Abstract

Posting about depression, psychological problems, illness, and traumatic experiences has become an organic part of social media along with flawless photos and success stories. Hardships and negative personal experiences grew into daily content and a way to establish trusting long-term relationships with the audience. The field of social media, primarily Instagram and YouTube, is far more complex and diverse in terms of showcasing feelings, and affective labour plays a much more significant role in blogging than the continuous demonstration of optimism and success. For a long time, it was believed that social media is about showing the «best version of yourself», broadcasting optimism, working in trendy industries, and mimicking the tropes of traditional celebrity culture. The author of this paper explores how Internet celebrities use affective labour to build relationships with their audience.

The study focuses on popular bloggers and their subscribers' reactions to the display of affect. The first part of the paper provides an overview of existing research on the concept of affective labour, followed by an examination of individual affective labour strategies based on the materials from eight blogs. The author analyses photos and videos, as well captions and comments. The timeframe of the study is limited to the period from 2017 to 2020. Using methods of empirical research and practical visual analysis of photo and video materials from Russian and foreign Instagram and YouTube accounts, the author answers the following questions: why emotional and affective labour plays a central role in Internet celebrity culture; how are emotional labor and authenticity related; how does the constant demonstration of emotions help to win an audience and create a loyal community of subscribers.