This presentation demonstrates the importance of digital influencers within public service media.

1. The University of Sydney Page 1
Understanding Public
Service Media Value
Beyond Audience
Metrics:
Influence, vanity metrics and
critical analytics
Presented by
Dr Jonathon Hutchinson
Department of Media and Communication
@dhutchman

2. The University of Sydney Page 2
Should Moretoki be the face of PSM?

3. The University of Sydney Page 3

4. The University of Sydney Page 4
‘Generation Notification’
– They have created an ecology,
which contain enormous, engaged
audiences
– Excellent (high-level) media literacy
– They contribute content, insights,
trends
– In terms of fandom, this audience is
the upper level
– Conversations are influential: to and
from audience
– Typically not engaging with
broadcast content
– They display an enormous level of
‘social talent’

5. The University of Sydney Page 5
Connor Franta
– Aged 23
– ‘American Entrepreneur,
writer & YouTuber’
– +2m Facebook Likes
– +5m Instagram Followers
– 4.8m Twitter Followers
– 5.5m YouTube
subscribers
– ‘coming of age’ videos?

6. The University of Sydney Page 6
Troye Sivan
– Aged 21
– ‘Australian singer,
songwriter, actor and
YouTuber’
– 4.6m Instagram followers
– 4m Twitter followers
– 2.2m Facebook fans
– 4.2m YouTube
Subscriptions
– Vlogger

7. The University of Sydney Page 7
@babyariel
– 15 yo
– In the game for about 9
months
– 330k Twitter followers
– 3.6m Instagram followers
– 1.4m YouTube
subscribers
– 13.3m Musical.ly fans

8. The University of Sydney Page 8
@babyariel

9. The University of Sydney Page 9
MCNs – Multichannel Networks

10. The University of Sydney Page 10
Nude by Nature
“Calling all natural beauty lovers! We are looking for those of you in the Vamp
Collective who would like to collaborate with Nude by Nature on a campaign to
promote the launch of their brand new Contour & Highlight Collection.
The Goods:
Nude by Nature Contour & Highlight Collection (worth $199)
Including:
- The Contour Palette
- The Contour Fluid Trio
- 3 luminous, light-weight powder shades (including bronze, rose & champagne)
- Touch of Glow Highlight Stick
- The Pointed Precision Brush and Ultimate Perfecting Brush
$60 paid into your Paypal account upon successful completion of the brief.
The Brief:
1 photo featuring the Nude by Nature Contour & Highlight Collection posted on
your Instagram account between Monday 6th to Sunday 12th June 2016
Include in the body copy of your post: @nudebynature & #TBC
Do not remove the photo from your Instagram account after the end of the
campaign”
Vamp Collective, 2016

11. The University of Sydney Page 11
Vidcon
How do they do it? The basics of social
talent…
– Consistent message
– Understand the language
– Work the platform
conventions
– Conversation first,
branding second
– Increased exposure
through intermediaries
(MCNs & collabs for
example)

12. The University of Sydney Page 12
Social Talent:
Towards Cultural
Intermediation

13. The University of Sydney Page 13
Social Talent
– Content creators
– Large audiences
– Influential
– Operate across multiple
platforms: e.g. Insta =
main, YouTube = B Role
– Humorous (mostly)
– ‘collabs’Louis Cole, ‘Fun for Louis’

14. The University of Sydney Page 14
stampylongnose – Minecraft video influencers
Who are these people?
– Change Agents
– Digital Influencers
– Cultural Intermediaries
Fashion bloggers, brand
ambassadors, musicians, etc.

15. The University of Sydney Page 15
Change Agents
Change agents, e.g. opinion leaders, peer educators,
community facilitators, counsellors, outreach workers etc.,
can assist in building and strengthening these influence
relationships and can also shape behavioural norms
(Kempe, Kleinberg, & Tardos, 2003).
Many programs make use of change agents – e.g. peer
educators, counsellors, opinion leaders and community
health workers – to disseminate messages within target
communities. (Goodwin, 2015).

16. The University of Sydney Page 16
Digital Influencers
“Influencers — everyday, ordinary
Internet users who accumulate a
relatively large following on blogs
and social media through the
textual and visual narration of
their personal lives and lifestyles,
engage with their following in
“digital” and “physical” spaces,
and monetize their following by
integrating “advertorials” into their
blogs or social media posts and
making physical paid-guest
appearances at events” (Abidin,
2016).
Jennifer Lam , Bamboo Garden:

17. The University of Sydney Page 17
Hutchinson, 2016.
Cultural Intermediaries:
“are the taste makers defining what
counts as good taste and cool culture in
today's marketplace” (Smith-Maguire,
2014).
“are specific in how they source emerging
creativity, and make this type of cultural
production accessible for larger
audiences. They enable consumers and
producers of cultural texts to engage in a
two-way dialogue: producers are exposed
to fringe, and highly creative, practices by
non-professional creative practitioners,
while contributors are published to larger
audiences” (Hutchinson, 2016).

18. The University of Sydney Page 18
Cultur(al
intermediation) and a
network society

19. The University of Sydney Page 19
Network Society
– The symbiotic relationship between technology and
society
– Post-industrialization: information and knowledge
societies, based on (private) networks
– Network society: new social structures based on
technological paradigms
– “The tools to master our own condition” (Castells, 2005)
– Representative of how ICTs are central to the ever
evolving range of societies that embody social, political,
economic, cultural practices, institutions, and
relationships

20. The University of Sydney Page 20
Culture within a networked society
Williams (1989) notes that culture is specific to each
society based on finding the common meanings and
direction. Culture is very much present within a networked
society, which Castells notes is the connection of “major
social, technological, economic, and cultural
transformations (…) to give rise to a new form of society,
the network society” (Castells, 2007: xvii).

21. The University of Sydney Page 21
Network Making Power Switchers
“(a) the ability to constitute network(s)
and to program/reprogram the
network(s) in terms of the goals
assigned to the network; and (b) the
ability to connect and ensure the
cooperation of different networks by
sharing common goals and combining
resources while fending off
competition from other networks by
setting up strategic
cooperation”(Castells, 2011, p. 776).
– 1st characteristic: Common goals
– 2nd characteristic: Switchers
“control the connecting points
between various strategic
networks” for example “the
connection between the political
networks and the media networks
to produce and diffuse specific
political-ideological discourses”
(Castells, 2011, p. 777).

22. The University of Sydney Page 22
Public Service Media,
Participation, &
Digital Influencers

23. The University of Sydney Page 23
Public Service Media (PSM)
– “has been tasked to serve the societal and cultural
needs of each member nation and to promote
democracy and participation within the national
geographical boundaries” (Głowacki, 2015, p. 26)
– Built on PSB, which “was to inform, educate and
entertain with total independence from political power
and commercial pressure” (Tremblay, 2016, p. 194)
– The thematic shift from PSB and towards PSM is taken
as “common parlance as services are extended across
‘new’ media platforms and experiments undertaken into
new interactive content forms” (Debrett, 2015, p. 557).

24. The University of Sydney Page 24
PSM: tokenistic participation?
– Głowacki and Jackson (2014)
highlight that websites are
often ‘bolt-on’ extras for
marketing purposes
– Jakubowicz (2014): “seems to
remain in most cases [as]
marginal forms, either
designed to obtain input … that
professional journalists use in
producing their programmes,
under their exclusive control,
or web pages … serving as a
display case for UGC” (p. 229)
– ‘Maximalist’ participation
– Carpentier (2009) notes
for user participation to
be useful, it needs to be
‘socially relevant’ and ‘of
professional standard’
– This moves participation
within PSM beyond
‘trophy case’ or ‘bolt-ons’

25. The University of Sydney Page 25
The ABC
– Dual licensing regime
– Fully government funded
– Not ‘crowding-out’
– Rather ‘distinctive
innovation’ (Cunningham,
2013)
– The broader media
environment can learn
from ABC

26. The University of Sydney Page 26

27. The University of Sydney Page 27

28. The University of Sydney Page 28
Digital Influencers for #7DaysLater
1. @7DaysLaterTV
2. @Daley_Pearson
3. @HarrisonTheFan
4. @Mwhalan
5. @henry_and_aaron
6. @bajopants
7. @ABC2
8. @WASHINGTONx
9. @JordanRasko
10. @tomandalex

29. The University of Sydney Page 29

30. The University of Sydney Page 30

31. The University of Sydney Page 31
@mentions > 56

32. The University of Sydney Page 32

33. The University of Sydney Page 33

34. The University of Sydney Page 34
1. You Can’t Ask
That – Australian
Muslims
2. Anh’s Brush With Fame
3. You Can’t Ask
That - Transsexuals

35. The University of Sydney Page 35

36. The University of Sydney Page 36
PSM Cultural
Intermediary Models

37. The University of Sydney Page 37
How should PSM operate in a Network
Society?
– Work with digital influencers to understand important
public issues ( Cultural intermediation for PSM value)
– Leverage digital influencer audiences to bolster the PSM
universality remit
– Acknowledge PSM’s importance as an operator within a
neoliberal environment (and this OK)
– Learn from those around them that excel in social media
spaces

38. The University of Sydney Page 38
So what does all this mean?
– PSM do reasonably well on social media
– PSM still treat it like traditional, top-down broadcast,
which is against the core of the network society
– They need to embody the success of the MCN model
– PSM needs to employ and bolster the digital influencer
role – tis is key to operating as ‘switchers’ within the
network society

39. The University of Sydney Page 39
So should Moretoki
be the face of PSM?

40. The University of Sydney Page 40
Dr Jonathon
Hutchinson
jonathon.hutchinson@sydney.edu.au
@dhutchman