10. VLOG – LONELYGIRL15

Lonely Girl 15’s You Tube “vlogs” have become a cult internet phenomenon since they first debuted in June 2006. When Lonely Girl 15 first started it was thought by all that she was Bree, a home schooled, American girl and her daily vlogs became compulsive viewing for millions. However, cynics believed that she was faking it, and a debate on the LG15 forum uncovered the truth that Bree was in fact New-Zealand actress Jessica Rose, the work of 3 wannabe script writers who wanted to tell a realistic fictional story. Despite all of this being revealed Lonely Girl 15 still continues to post blogs and her popularity is still huge. As well as being the most subscribed to vlog, she also won the biggest web hit award on VH1’s big in 2006 awards. Vlogs are replacing the conventional blogging on the internet by allowing the audience to share their thoughts through videos rather than just text. This is relevant to show the increase in internet use, the development in blogs, and how the big the development of a cult phenomenon can become amongst fans.

The main people who watch Lonely Girl 15 are female teenagers who feel that they can relate to Bree’s story. However since Lonely Girls 15s reveal many feel cheated and don’t watch her anymore however, this has also gained more exposure for her meaning even more people are interested in her “life”. They watch it as it allows them to act as a voyeur – they can get insight into a real persons life, and share her thoughts and feelings. They may also be able to relate to the situations she is in, as even though it has been discovered that the whole thing was made up, it was made to be as realistic as possible, allowing the audience to relate. They also use the bog to meet new people, who are interested in the same thing as them. Fansites such as lonely girl 15 can be created due to this interest in her life by some people. However, not everyone consumes Bree’s life in the same way. Whilst some are fans who are just interested in Bree’s blogging others take their interest further by joining the fan site and commenting within it.

The company behind the idea are involved, however the main institution involved is youtube, who act as a platform for Bree to display her videos to the world. The website has slightly helped to increase youtubes exposure, as fans of Bree who log on to see her videos, may then stay and explore other parts of the websites. The main technology involved is a high quality webcam, which allows the videos posted to be of a good quality for people to watch.

Lonely girl 15’s blog is a good example of interactivity. As well as allowing Jessica Rose to post her life on the internet, people can comment on this as well as subscribe to her videos in order to receive updates when they are updated. This is also an example of persoanlisation, as she has edited the colours of the page in order to suit her tastes and included the websites that are of nterest to her on it. Qulaity has also improved, as the webcam quality we receive here is different to the old webcams, that had a much poorer quality. The website is also a key example of democratisation. The fact that Jessica Rose was easily able to set up her own vlog, and then post videos on it shows how easy it is for anyone to get in on the act and join the internet revolution. Reach is also apparent as people all over the world can access lonely giril 15’s blog by logging on to youtube. This has allowed for a world wide fanbase to be set up. However regulation, was a factor in the blogs, as Bree used to play RIAA controlled music in the background such as Nelly, however, she soon moved on to using music that could be used legally , largely under the creative common licence such as CC Mixter, due to refgulation rules.