Commodifying the self: a multimodal analysis of college YouTubers’ first day videos

ABSTRACTYouTubers focusing on college-related content have gained traction in recent years. This study explores the ways College YouTubers establish their personal branding online using a social semiotic perspective. Focusing on how two YouTubers of different cultural backgrounds, from the United States and Singapore, document their first day of college amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, a multimodal discourse analysis is carried out on the two videos to identify the prominent modes utilised to make meaning. We analyse the multimodal discourse of the videos of the College YouTubers and discuss the impression management strategies the online content creators adopted from the dramaturgical perspective. Our study seeks to contribute towards understanding how online content creators engage in digital labour and present themselves successfully in self-commodification through personal branding.KEYWORDS: College YouTuberssocial semioticsmultimodalityvlogsView correction statement:Correction Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Correction StatementThis article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (https://doi.org/10.1080/13216597.2023.2254667)