2026-09-22T06:49:35Z https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/125680 2026-02-03 col_2142_5131 col_2142_8906 com_2142_5130 com_2142_8904 com_2142_8903

application/pdf en text Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2026-08-01 The student, Bri Lafond, accepted the attached license on 2024-06-28 at 09:31. The student, Bri Lafond, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2024-06-28 at 09:32. This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2024-06-28 at 14:16. DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #20893 on 2025-02-04 at 21:16:11 Content creation as writing: Exploring the work of YouTube video essayists Lafond, Bri 2024-06-28 Moussawi, Ghassan Mortensen, Peter L McKinney, Charlesia Beauchamp, Toby Social Media Multimodality Content Creation Social Media Platforms Composition eng Many scholars (Turkle, 1984; Haraway, 1991) have characterized Web 1.0—the early age of the internet, spanning roughly the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s—as a virtual playground for creative self-expression beyond the limits of embodied reality. In contrast, Web 2.0—marked by the introduction of social media platforms in the mid-2000s to today—has seemingly recast that creative expression as “user-generated content” circulated through social media. Creative labor (Duffy, 2017) is increasingly commodified through this “platformization” (Helmond, 2015) of the internet, leading to normativized forms of expression that are “advertiser-friendly.” Further, creators are encouraged to market themselves in “authentic” ways that will make them legible to potential audiences, including non-human audiences like algorithms. Drawing from writing, media, and queer studies, my dissertation examines these evolving writing practices and dynamics. Through interviews and content analysis, I focus on YouTube video essayists as a case study to explore how creators shape their self-presentation for audience consumption, navigate algorithmic surveillance mechanisms, and perceive their relationality to both corporate power and audiences. I argue that writing studies must expand its scope to consider the impact of social media platforms on creators' composing practices, acknowledging how creators negotiate corporate imperatives and their own ideals. I explore how creators navigate platform-driven ecologies, both conforming to and challenging corporate pressures, to assert their individual agency and foster queer possibilities in multimedia texts. 2024-08 Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125680 Copyright 2024 Bri Lafond English English University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Ph.D. Dissertation