Content creators: the self and the branded self

The project will explore how digital users perceive human brands. It will focus specifically on the distinction between the self and the branded self in online settings. In the current digital climate, content creators can accumulate person-brand capital through the textual and visual narration of their personal lives and lifestyles. Self-branding in this way commodifies privacy and monetizes followers. The project aims to explore the implications of this phenomena, and will explore how the 'self' is affected when it is branded.
The method will follow an inductive design. Data will be collected using immersive digital ethnography, observation, and in-depth interviews with consumers and content creators. The phenomenon of human brands will be explored holistically from the perspective of both the producer (content creator) and the consumer (digital user). The contextual field of content creators will be examined through four distinct groups: social media influencers, YouTubers, bloggers, and podcast creators. The collected data will go through hermeneutic and visual analysis to identify emergent themes, key issues, user understandings and user practices.
This project extends beyond the realm of business and management to explore the social, cultural, and physiological ramifications of a digital mediated life. It will contribute to knowledge surrounding the branded self during a time where increasingly "the many watch the many, and the many perform for the many" (Eagar and Dann, 2016).
Keywords: human brands, persona branding, content creator, social media, digital, ethnography, self, branded self