Fieldwork
Continuing my research throughout the Aussie nostalgia niche, I've primarily been taking field notes in a OneNote document. When I find content which i wish to utilise within my research, I have been downloading the video to my phone and storing it on Google Drive. This has been a relatively simple process for me, however, something that Andreas Schellewald notes in his digital ethnographic account of TikTok, is that an ethically responsible way of gathering data is to copy links to user's videos on the platform and store them in a document. This process "leaves control over the content with the users that have uploaded them" (Schellewald, 2021). I will use this method moving forward.
Content Observation and Creation: Conceptualising
In my fieldwork, I've been comparing content on Instagram and TikTok within my niche. Instagram has less content, necessitating manual searches rather than relying on algorithmic suggestions like on TikTok (Schellewald, 2021). When planning my own content, I study existing norms and audience preferences (Moore, 2023). My goal is to offer a blend of popular trends and unique offerings. By listening to audience feedback and questions, and obtaining permissions for unique content, I aim to create posts that are both new and engaging.
Interactive: Zoom in and move around to see my updated field-site map
Focusing the Niche: Narrowing
Given that my niche is quite broad, I've applied the ethnographic technique of narrowing. I've decided to focus on sharing promos for ABC3 shows, which are short clips made by ABC to announce when a particular show will air on their ABC3 channel. I've noticed that this specific type of content is underrepresented on both TikTok and Instagram (Moore, 2023).
Audience Engagement: Exploring
As I've posted content, I've gained insights into what my audience appreciates and what they don't. While these platforms are algorithm-driven, popular videos still share certain common traits. Based on audience requests from comments, I have prepared three clips for posting next week on both TikTok and Instagram. As I've mentioned in previous posts, my posts perform better when uploaded on weekdays—specifically, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Click to view content generated this week
Key Moments
Community Building: One key moment was when I enabled Direct Messages on TikTok, which led to numerous questions and contributions from my community. This experience reminded me that social media is interactive, not just a platform for passive consumption. I see myself not just as a content creator, but as a community builder (Andari, et al., 2023).
Content ID & Copyright: Another key moment was a close call with copyright infringement. A video I had scheduled for TikTok was flagged for containing content copied from YouTube. It turns out the clip was embedded with YouTube's invisible Content ID, which can flag videos as copied. Had I not scheduled the video in advance, my account could have faced penalties, such as being shadow-banned or flagged for copyright violations (Kaye, et al., 2021).
Last Updated: 10/10/2023 @ 10:48am
Reference List
Andari, D. N., Robbani, H. & Alianny, A., 2023. Overview of Tiktok Live Streaming Host Talent Engagement and Earning Commissions. FOCUS: Journal of Social Studies, 4(2), pp. 101-111.
Moore, C., 2023. Lecture - Content Generation and Blog Post, Lecture YouTube Video, BCM241, University of Wollongong. Viewed 04/09/2023)
Figma & McTaggart, J, 2023. Figma: Field Site Map (Aussie Nostalgia). [Online]
Available at: https://www.figma.com/file/EhPzInbDKq1LIzJZIVULRA/Field-Site-Map-(Aussie-Nostalgia)?type=whiteboard&node-id=0%3A1&t=S9fSiyR2zyGSASlg-1
[Accessed 06 09 2023].
Hootsuite, 2023. Create engaging and effective social media content. [Online]
Available at: https://help.hootsuite.com/hc/en-us/articles/4403597090459-Create-engaging-and-effective-social-media-content
[Accessed 06 09 2023].
Kaye, D., Rodriguez, A., Langton, K. & Wikstrom, P., 2021. You Made This? I Made This: Practices of Authorship and (Mis)Attribution on TikTok. International Journal of Communication, Volume 15, p. 3195–3215.
Microsoft , 2023. Microsoft OneNote. [Online]
Available at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/microsoft-365/onenote/digital-note-taking-app
[Accessed 06 09 2023].
Schellewald, A., 2021. Communicative Forms on TikTok: Perspectives From Digital Ethnography. International Journal of Communication, Volume 25, p. 1437–1457.
Too Lost, 2021. How Does YouTube Content ID work?. [Online]
Available at: https://help.toolost.com/hc/en-us/articles/360054818411-How-Does-YouTube-Content-ID-work-
[Accessed 06 09 2023].
