Card Stories on YouTube: A New Frame for Online Self-Disclosure

[摘要] This paper deals with the phenomenon of so-called (note) card stories on YouTube. Card stories can be described as self-disclosing videos or confessions, using a new frame for telling one’s own story audio-visually to the public by combining ‘old�? (hand-written messages) and ‘new�? media (video, computer mediated communication). In 2012/13, a qualitative and exploratory study with a sample of 25 card story videos on YouTube was conducted. The content and visual analysis revealed (1) that these videos are bound to a very specific frame of presentation, (2) that they deal with specific topics, and (3) that the presenter does not remain (visually) anonymous. These findings question previous research results that stressed a strong correlation between online self-disclosure and (visual) anonymity; further, the findings show that this special frame of textual confessions via video supports deep self-disclosures.

[学科分类] 电子、光学、磁材料

[关键词] anonymity;card story;computer-mediated communication;frame;self-disclosure;video;YouTube