ZOELLA : Audience in detail

Heavy use of Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube - these sites fit with the social media applications most prominently used by 13-24 . Deliberate amateur aesthetic suggests authenticity to this media saturated audience segment. Everyday activities of this demographic are incorporated into narratives to create connections with the target audience (shopping, stopping at drive-through, eating at fast food restaurants). Fan connections showcased in uploads - fans represent the real target audience. Use of YouTube commentary to create intimate connections with the target audience. Emotive content - the show appeals to its female audience through narratives that engage with subject matter emotionally. Zoella continuously tells us how she ‘feels’ about the problems she faces. Zoella foregrounds stereotypical female based activities in her presentation: fashion, make-up, relationships. Costume stereotypically female - female colour palette deployed in mise en-scène. Use of pets and pet orientated references. Presenter constructs a version of ideal beauty - highly stylised, lots of makeup, attention paid to costume. Intimate confessional tone - creates a relatable female character. A quiet/passive presentation style that fits with target audience expectations and female presenter stereotypes.

All the previous points show how Zoella shows off as a quite simple stereotypical girl, maybe influencing her fans on how they should be. Her fans are mostly girl based who like girl coded things like make up, fashion and positive things, their is usually no complex genders or stereotypes in her content. However, a stereotype of a man is usually strong, hard working who likes men coded things however, the men in Zoella's content are represented with the stereotypes of a girl, as they are trying out make up and fashion. Gauntlett's theory of people using the internet or other media texts to help create a identity for them, today we have more of a variety of representations to identify with which relates to Zoella as her fans are influence by her and choose to be like her and some boys choose to be like how the boys are represented in her content which is different compared to the main stereotype of men.

Many social media's have made it easier to create your own content. Fans not only can interact with the person in the comments of their post or their youtube video, but can create their own channel/page and post their own stuff. Their content may be influenced by who they follow or could be completely different. This point is reinforced by both theories of Shirky and Jenkins, where fans use the internet to gather and create their own content and easily share it, instead of just consuming the texts, as fans get inspired by creators and want to try it out to.