Media Mimicry - How ‘Mimic Vlogs’ Emulate User-Generated Content in Online Stories

Abstract

Mimic vlogs are a form of fictional web content produced to replicate the style and feel of the video blog (vlog), a user-generated format popularised on YouTube. Mimic vlogs predominantly adapt well-known, existing stories, and many of the web series are very successful with some having millions of views across the series. As many mimic vlogs are transmedia texts, existing literature in the field tends to approach these texts with a focus on their transmedia elements, which limits our understanding of the videos and how audiences respond and interact with them. However, while formats associated with user-generated content such as mimic vlogs offer an opportunity to tell online stories in novel and interesting ways, they also have the capacity to mislead audiences who take them at face value. In this research, I take an exploratory, audience-centred approach to mimic vlogs in order to understand how audiences perceive this format. With the aim of examining what audiences look for when identifying mimic vlogs, I surveyed and interviewed participants to gather primary data that unpacks how audiences perceive speakers and what key factors they use to determine if something is fictional. Furthermore, given mimic vlogs are one piece of a wider replica content phenomenon, I questioned participants on how they viewed these mimic vlogs in comparison to other types of content that replicates ‘authentic’ styles. My findings highlight how mimic vlogs, much like mockumentaries, make use of the “false signifiers of reality” that make the formats’ factual counterparts (standard vlogs and documentaries, respectively) seem real. Participants frequently relied on their subjective perception of content to identify the format, rather than seemingly concrete factors. The participants often came to different, or opposing, conclusions about the videos, despite referencing the same details. This multiplicity of responses supports audience reception theory which states that all viewers bring their own understanding to a text. Additionally, some participants view this more banal form of mimicry to be of little to no consequence for them personally. This dismissiveness has ramifications for audiences’ abilities to identify more ‘malicious’ forms of replica content, such as deepfakes and disinformation. While mimic vlogs as a YouTube format were in their prime during the mid-2010s, they set the precedent for emerging storytelling techniques on other platforms that feature user-generated content. Similar stories are now appearing on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, and my research on mimic vlogs helps to explicate how newer formats of replica content work, and how audiences make sense of what they are seeing. In understanding what factors mislead audience members, we can better ensure that viewers are equipped to identify content which replicates user-generated formats, including those on emerging platforms.