Plan:
My main goal for this project is to analyze three rhetorical aspects of the specific internet phenomena: vlogging. I plan on delivering my analysis in the form of a podcast because I think it will be the best fit for my own personal learning and presentation style. First, I will need to establish a baseline for anyone listening by speaking briefly about YouTube and how this occupation even came to be. Next I am going to mention a couple of famous Vloggers and give a small description of what they talk about, who their audience is, what their message is (if any) and what kind of motives they may have behind their message. I am going to talk a bit about the extremes and dangers of internet vlogging as well as what it takes to claim internet fame.
For the second part of my podcast I’m going to talk about Logan Paul and the video he posted a number of years ago about visiting a Japanese suicide forest. This is going to be my main artifact in my podcast. The video itself has since been taken down from YouTube due to its graphic nature but copies of the video are still available on other websites. That’s the double-edged sword of the internet: nothing truly disappears from the internet. In the video, which was a part of a series of vlogs in Japan made by Paul and a group of his friends, Paul tells his viewers that he hopes he and his “squad” find someone contemplating suicide and that they are able to talk them out of it. His statement is a somewhat weak attempt to establish his views about suicide to his fans. However his demographic on YouTube is primarily young children. Later in the video, he and his friends come across the body of a deceased individual. Paul blurs out the face of the dead man but still includes the footage in his video. This begs several questions. Why is Paul choosing to talk about such an adult subject (suicide) when his audience is primarily young children? Why did Logan Paul deem it okay to film a person who has commited suicide in a country he is visiting? What does Paul’s video say about internet fame and what one has to do if they want to become internet famous? I am going to argue that vlogging can be a bad influence in the lives of young viewers and the amount of power internet celebrities have over their fans should be considered before they post any kind of influential content.
Analyzing Vlogging: A new age way to make money living your life….or so they say.
What to establish-
- What is a Vlog?
- How do you make money vlogging?
- Who can vlog?
- How do you build a successful following?
- What are the pros of vlogging?
- What are the cons/downfalls?
- What are the extremes?
- What is the situation?-Internet advancement created this job
- Who is the intended audience?
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