Week Eight: Digital Reputations

I found myself particularly interested in Alison Hearn’s article “Structuring feeling: Web 2.0, online ranking and rating, and the digital ‘reputation’ economy.” Throughout her article, Hearn considers the effectiveness of the digital reputation and how Human Resources Professionals have grown to take this reputation seriously (sometimes even valuing the social and digital networks of an individual more than their employee skills due to the “hire and wire” motto). Business aside, I find the social empowerment of people online extremely interesting. My sister subscribes to many YouTube channels and I have become familiar with the scope of people she follows. There is one channel in particular, by Bethany Mota, that has caught my attention, and I feel Hearn’s article spoke to it. Mota—an Average-Joe, like many of us—began her YouTube career in 2009 by sharing videos on fashion purchases to DIY projects. Mota’s fan base has been dubbed “Motavators” and has contributed to her estimated $40,000 monthly income from her videos, Aeropostale clothing line, and appearance on Dancing With The Stars. Clearly, Mota is one of the few mentioned by Hearn whose personal digital reputation materialized into a profitable venture. Aeropostale’s acquisition of Mota was an innovative business move. Using Mota to promote and market their store attracted many “Motavators” into the clothing store to purchase from Mota’s line and contribute to the economic success of the organization. In addition, I found Hearn’s comparison of online forums to the Greek agora interesting. Thinking back, society was able to meet in these Greek markets (agora) to commence in open conversation and express their feelings and opinions and this is similar to the 21^st century where people can participate in these conversations online. There had to have been some notable places for this type of open conversation between the time of the Greek agora and the online world but I can’t seem to think of any of the same significance off the top of my head. Maybe we can leave some comments listing popular places these discussions occurred pre-Internet?

Source used: Hearn, Allison (2010). Structuring feeling: Web 2.0, online ranking, rating & the digital ‘reputation’ economy. Ephemera 10(3/4): 421-38.