José M . Tomasena

This study analyses YouTube videos about delivery riders in Spain as well as the channels in which the videos were uploaded. The aim is to understand the ways that riders are represented in the videos and determine the labour imaginaries that emerge in the context of platformization, which includes work that depends on platforms that use computer architecture and automation systems to arrange exchanges between people, goods, and corporations, such as the work of delivery riders. This article shows how platformization of labour intersects with cultural production because delivery riders’ work has become a video theme in the YouTube platform. Moreover, in some cases riders (or aspiring ones) use YouTube and other social media to interact, share knowledge and organize their job. Based on a thematic analysis of delivery riders' YouTube videos ( n = 40) from 26 channels mined with YouTube Data Tools, this study presents a typology of channels in which riders appear. It also categoriz...

This article's main aim is to analyse public discourses about tax avoidance in Spain by studying the scandal stirred up by the announcement by ElRubius (the most popular YouTuber in Spain, with 40.3 million subscribers) that he was moving to Andorra to pay lower taxes. To fulfil this aim, we use thematic analysis to study the most viewed and commented videos posted on YouTube by both YouTubers and the traditional media, as well as their comments sections, to identify how taxes are defined, how YouTubers and their audiences are portrayed and what forms of identification these stories offer. Our results show that ElRubius’ announcement sparked a polarised debate. On the one hand, traditional media framed the debate as a moral one, attacked ElRubius using a ‘naming and shaming’ strategy and defended redistributive taxes as a means of financing public services and achieving wealth redistribution. On the other hand, YouTubers defended a neoliberal agenda by portraying taxes as a burden, promoting self-interest and denouncing the Spanish state as too big, inefficient and corrupt. The analysis of the comments shows how the traditional media strategy of shaming ElRubius failed, as audiences mostly identified with him and endorsed the discourse of YouTubers who defended him. Thus, although the welfare state is still very much legitimised in Spain, we can see how new hegemonies are being created and promoted in the context of social media.

This study analyses YouTube videos about delivery riders in Spain as well as the channels in which the videos were uploaded. The aim is to understand the ways that riders are represented in the videos and determine the labour imaginaries that emerge in the context of platformization, which includes work that depends on platforms that use computer architecture and automation systems to arrange exchanges between people, goods, and corporations, such as the work of delivery riders. This article shows how platformization of labour intersects with cultural production because delivery riders’ work has become a video theme in the YouTube platform. Moreover, in some cases riders (or aspiring ones) use YouTube and other social media to interact, share knowledge and organize their job. Based on a thematic analysis of delivery riders' YouTube videos (n = 40) from 26 channels mined with YouTube Data Tools, this study presents a typology of channels in which riders appear. It also categorizes the main representations of riders as well as the imaginaries that emerge about this type of labour in YouTube videos. The analysis indicates that delivery riders’ work has a transitory nature, which is expressed in the analysed videos. Moreover, the study demonstrates that immigrants are the people who tend to do this type of work in Spain, and shows how being an immigrant plays a particular role in the way riders are represented or gain their social conceptions and aspirations about this kind of work.

This article's main aim is to analyse public discourses about tax avoidance in Spain by studying the scandal stirred up by the announcement by ElRubius (the most popular YouTuber in Spain, with 40.3 million subscribers) that he was moving to Andorra to pay lower taxes. To fulfil this aim, we use thematic analysis to study the most viewed and commented videos posted on YouTube by both YouTubers and the traditional media, as well as their comments sections, to identify how taxes are defined, how YouTubers and their audiences are portrayed and what forms of identification these stories offer. Our results show that ElRubius’ announcement sparked a polarised debate. On the one hand, traditional media framed the debate as a moral one, attacked ElRubius using a ‘naming and shaming’ strategy and defended redistributive taxes as a means of financing public services and achieving wealth redistribution. On the other hand, YouTubers defended a neoliberal agenda by portraying taxes as a burden, promoting self-interest and denouncing the Spanish state as too big, inefficient and corrupt. The analysis of the comments shows how the traditional media strategy of shaming ElRubius failed, as audiences mostly identified with him and endorsed the discourse of YouTubers who defended him. Thus, although the welfare state is still very much legitimised in Spain, we can see how new hegemonies are being created and promoted in the context of social media.

En este artículo se presenta una reflexión metodológica sobre una etnografía digital entre BookTubers en lengua española realizada entre 2017 y 2020. A partir de esta experiencia, el artículo presenta un repaso de las principales formas de entender el paradigma etnográfico en el contexto digital, específicamente en YouTube, y plantea una reflexión metodológica alrededor de cinco aspectos: 1) el campo como un constructo de participación abierta, 2) el rol de los afectos en la etnografía digital, 3) la construcción de vínculos sociales a partir de la afinidad, 4) la datificación de las prácticas y las relaciones sociales, y 5) las implicancias de la exposición pública del investigador. Con ello, se busca contribuir a la comprensión de las formas de prosumo literario en YouTube, a la práctica de etnografías digitales y auto-etnografías en plataformas digitales y a los debates metodológicos sobre el estudio de creadores de contenido en plataformas digitales.

Using Bakhtin's concept of genre (1982), this article presents a quantitative analysis of the most popular genres among the productions of Spanish-speaking BookTubers (Book + YouTubers). Its aim is to determine which discourses are the most dominant discursive forms in their production and the repercussions these audiovisual genres have on their audiences through quantitative indicators of popularity (views, likes/dislikes/comments). We quantify the presence of audiovisual genres in a random sample of videos published in 2017 (n=368) using digital methods, through the informatic script YouTube Data Tools to obtain information about the videos (Title, Description, Number of Views, Comments, Likes and Dislikes). Evidence shows that BookTubers are able to use a great variety of audiovisual genres that come both from other YouTubers (such as vlogs, challenges, hangouts, hauls or unboxings) and from other media (reviews, rankings, lists, interviews). The most prominent in our corpus ...

A partir del concepte de gènere desenvolupat per Mikhaïl Bakhtín (1982), aquest treball analitza quantitativament els gèneres audiovisuals dels booktubers (book + youtubers) en llengua espanyola, amb l'objectiu de determinar quines són les formes discursives predominants de la seva producció i la repercussió que tenen entre les seves audiències mitjançant indicadors de popularitat (vistes, likes/dislikes/comentaris). Per a això hem fet una mostra de vídeos publicats l'any 2017 (n = 368) i hem obtingut diversos indicadors quantitatius de popularitat (nombre de vistes, de comentaris, likes i dislikes) amb mètodes digitals. Els resultats demostren que, discursivament, els booktubers han estat capaços d'adaptar a la temàtica llibresca una gran varietat de gèneres audiovisuals que provenen tant d'altres youtubers (vlogs, challenges, hangouts, hauls, unboxings) com d'altres mitjans de comunicació (ressenyes, rànquings, llistes, entrevistes). Els més presents en el corp...

A partir del concepto de género desarrollado por Mikhail Bakhtin (1982), este trabajo analiza cuantitativamente los géneros audiovisuales de los booktubers (book + youtubers) en lengua española, con el objetivo de determinar cuáles son las formas discursivas predominantes en su producción y la repercusión que tienen en sus audiencias, a través de indicadores de popularidad (vistas, likes/dislikes/comentarios). Para ello hemos realizado una muestra de vídeos publicados en 2017 (n = 368) y obtenido diversos indicadores cuantitativos de popularidad (número de vistas, comentarios, likes y dislikes) por métodos digitales. Los resultados demuestran que, discursivamente, los booktubers han sido capaces de adaptar a la temática libresca una variedad enorme de géneros audiovisuales, que provienen tanto de otros youtubers (vlogs, challenges, hangouts, hauls, unboxings) como de otros medios de comunicación (reseñas, rankings, listas, entrevistas). Los más presentes en el corpus de análisis son...

En este artículo se presenta una reflexión metodológica sobre una
etnografía digital entre BookTubers en lengua española realizada entre 2017 y 2020.
A partir de esta experiencia, el artículo presenta un repaso de las principales formas de entender el paradigma etnográfico en el contexto digital, específicamente en YouTube, y plantea una reflexión metodológica alrededor de cinco aspectos: 1) el campo como un constructo de participación abierta, 2) el rol de los afectos en la etnografía digital, 3) la construcción de vínculos sociales a partir de la afinidad, 4) la datificación de las prácticas y las relaciones sociales, y 5) las implicaciones de la
exposición pública del investigador. Con ello, se busca contribuir a la comprensión de las formas de prosumo literario en YouTube, a la práctica de etnografías digitales y auto-etnografías en plataformas digitales y a los debates metodológicos sobre el estudio de creadores de contenido en plataformas digitales.

BookTubers (from the acronym book + YouTuber) have become key players for the publishing industry, given their influence on children and teens to promote reading and book consumption. Based on an 18-month digital ethnography that combines direct observation, digital interactions on YouTube channels, and other social media and semistructured interviews with 17 Spanish-speaking BookTubers, this study uses Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of field and capital to analyze how BookTubers negotiate their practices with other agents of the publishing world. This article characterizes the challenges the Spanish-language publishing industry is facing in the context of digitalization to attract readers; describes the position that BookTubers have within the YouTube ecosystem, and how they relate with the platform’s actors, politics, and affordances; and analyzes the exchanges that BookTubers establish with publishers—often referred as collaborations—and their implications for their autonomy. This ca...

This is a BA final paper that discusses Pierre Bourdieu’s book “On televition” from the author’s experience as a mexican journalist. The first part analyses the estructural factors that conform the journlist habitus (core concept in Bourdieu’s theory); the second part discuses Bourdieu’s media analysis through the concept field; the third part analyses the relations between journalism field and other social fields.

Este artículo ofrece una descripción estadística de los booktubers en lengua española—jóvenes que usan YouTube y otras plataformas digitales para hablar de libros—. Para saber sus características demográficas, la distribución de su popularidad y la evolución de su producción articulamos dos métodos complementarios: en primer lugar, usamos métodos digitales para obtener información de 464 canales y 51.322 videos a través de la API v.3 de YouTube; en segundo lugar, lanzamos una encuesta online (n=71) que describe aspectos de su consumo cultural. Los resultados muestran que la mayoría de las booktubers son mujeres, de entre veinte y veintinueve años y con estudios universitarios. Los países con más presencia en la comunidad de booktubers son México, España y Colombia. El auge de estos canales de BookTube se dio entre 2013 y 2015; su producción después se ha estabilizado. A pesar de la gran variedad de canales, más del 90% de las vistas se concentran en el 20% de canales más populares. ...

Esta tesis presenta un estudio sobre las prácticas mediáticas de los BookTubers: personas que usan YouTube (y otras plataformas digitales) para compartir contenidos relacionados con los libros y la lectura. La investigación sistematiza sus prácticas, analiza su discurso audiovisual, las motivaciones y roles de su participación, y las relaciones que establecen en el ecosistema de YouTube y con el campo literario. Por medio de una etnografía digital de 18 meses, que incluyó observación participante en contextos online y offline, entrevistas semi-estructuradas y auto-etnografía, complementado con análisis semiótico-discursivo y estadística descriptiva, esta investigación explica cómo los BookTubers negocian sus prácticas entre dos lógicas culturales distintas —la de YouTube y el ecosistema de medios conectivos, por un lado, y el campo editorial, por otro— y contribuye a los debates contemporáneos sobre el concepto de cultura participativa, la explotación y la cooptación de la creatividad de los usuarios y la plataformización de la producción cultural.