“And Now, a Word from Our Sponsor”: Attracting Advertisers, Building Brands, Leveraging (Free) Labor
“And Now, a Word from Our Sponsor”: Attracting Advertisers, Building Brands, Leveraging (Free) Labor
This chapter argues that social media economies are unfolding in ways that are highly uneven, favoring particular subjectivities of race, class, and body aesthetics. In particular, the chapter considers activities that might be defined as word-of-mouth marketing or—to use a more voguish term—“brand evangelism”: sharing products and messages within one's networked communities. And it's no small wonder that contemporary marketers seek to incorporate social media producers into their promotional arsenals: their built-in audience furnishes social capital and enables companies to leverage ostensibly “authentic” or “organic” brand communication. However, the picture that emerges is one where existing social hierarchies are exacerbated both inside and outside these branded worlds.
Keywords: advertising, brand evangelism, word-of-mouth marketing, networked communities, social capital, brand communication, social hierarchies, social media
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