For this assignment, you will choose a specific type of content creator (kidfluencers,
momfluencers, asmrtists, podcast hosts, etc.) or a specific platform (reddit, Instagram,
Foxnews.com, Pornhub, etc.) to research and develop an argument about some aspect of the
attention economy.
For instance, Berryman and Kavka wondered what role the non-monetizable content—in which
creators reveal their personal struggles, discuss controversial subjects, or have emotional
breakdowns—plays in the attention economy of YouTube.
Tufekci recognized that nowadays topics sometimes don’t get covered by traditional mass
media, yet still receive widespread attention on social media. This attention by social media
often leads to the story eventually being picked up by broadcast media. She wondered how
that dynamic worked.
You can choose any subject matter you want within the broader theme of the attention
economy. You might ask a research question like:
Is celebrity truly democratic on [platform of your choosing], or do the top influencers
share certain characteristics which are limited to the few?
Can attention on [platform] lead to real-life political change?
What enables asmrtists to sustain attention in a market saturated with competition?
Whatever your research question, make sure to limit your research to one type of creator or
one platform. Of course, many so-called influencers use multiple platforms, but just as the
authors whose work we’ve read this unit have done, you must limit your focus to one.
As for the argument, that will depend on what you discover. You won’t know what to argue
until you’ve spent some time examining your chosen subject and reading source material to
help point you answer your research question. We will spend much time in class working on
finding a direction to take your research.
Artifact Analysis: I would like you to include screenshots or video clips as physical examples,
just as previous authors we’ve looked at have included images, tweets, etc. into their articles.
These will be your Artifacts. Use them just as you would quotations—as objects of analysis to
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support your argument. They should be discussed within the paragraphs in which they appear
and be cited both in-text and on a Works Cited page. We will discuss how to do this in class.
Length: 5-6 pages
Sources
You must use at least two scholarly sources, one of which can be a course reading
You must use at least three examples of your chosen online discourse and incorporate
them into your paper
You may use any non-scholarly sources you find useful, but don’t over-rely on them.
You are making a scholarly argument, so scholarly sources should be your foundation
