African American Girls on MySpace : Artistic Expression, Viral Marketing and Corporate Presence

ISBN-13: 9783639138092 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 64 str.

Michelle McCormick

Opis

This study examined 50 MySpace profiles constructedby 14-17 year old African American females attendinga Los Angeles public high school during the 2007-8academic year. The text, images and multimediaapplications found in these profiles were analyzed inrelation to gender and racial ideologies thatpermeate popular mass media. These public profilesfunction as intersectional digital bodies whereinsigns and messages used to communicate and socializewith others are publicly broadcast on the Internet.MySpace is a corporate entity ripe for viralmarketing and although advertising is part of itssocial fabric, most profiles in this sample werelargely devoid of logos and did not link to corporateprofiles as friends within the network. Theseprofiles did reveal images and text that wereideologically aligned with white, heterosexual love,Western standards of beauty and constructions offemininity. However, they did not transmit racistor homophobic ideologies via images, text ormultimedia applications. Ultimately these profilesrepresent the creative and multifaceted digitalidentities constructed by a select group of youngAfrican American females on MySpace.

O autorze

Michelle earned a B.A. degree in Sociology with minors in Women
Studies and African American Studies from the University of
California, Irvine and a M.S. degree from the School of Justice &
Social Inquiry at Arizona State University. She now serves as the
Academic Success Specialist for the Film & Media Studies
program at ASU.