Attitude and Zoella: exam question

EXAM QUESTION : Attitude and Zoella

Clay Shirky argues that audiences in today’s online age are no longer passive consumers of media content. Evaluate this ‘end of audience’ theory.
Refer to Zoella and  the Attitude website to support your answer. [30]

You need to :

• Explain the key points of the  theory including how modern online audiences are described as active,interactive and individual "prosumers".
• Use specific and relevant examples from the key texts to explain how audiences can be seen as active (website features , content of articles and pages, specific  links to social media, range and type of opportunities for feedback and interaction )
• Do both texts encourage their different audiences to be equally genuinely  active or interactive and to "talk back" to the producer ? Are more traditional methods and media used ?  How does this relate to their different target audiences ?
• Evaluate how far you agree with the theory and whether it fully explains how the texts relate to their audiences .  Are all modern and young audiences active ? What is the main purpose of the texts?  Is there a single clear target audience for both texts?  Is social or online media different from traditional media in how it treats its audience  You can use other theories and concepts such as parasocial interaction to support your points .

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sherky's end of audience theory explains that we are more likely to respond to texts using social media as it has become a very common and crucial factor in modern society. This could mean audiences respond to Zoella and Attitude's content by creating their own content on a fanbase, online and in real life, like posters or drawings.

Zoella's audiences are considered active as they respond to her through social media, whether it is Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. They respond in both negative and positive ways, for example on her Q&A videos they express their feelings or opinions towards the things she says. This shows her Q&A videos are a successful way to ensure her audience engages with her and creates a parasocial interaction. Attitude, on the other hand, doesn't expect audiences to interact on social media as they are older and do not use many social media platforms but only the basic ones, for example Facebook and Twitter which are linked on their website. Attitude audiences are considered more "socially modern" even though they are older, as they have views that are more modernly accepted in society, for example homosexuality.

Zoella's audience can be seen as more traditional in their attitudes as they are are mainly younger females and may follow the more tradition stereotype that young girls are into hair, beauty and pink. 

Zoella's audience tend to be active and individual "prosumers" in the way they follow in the steps of Zoella and create their own YouTube account, whether it is to watch Zoella's videos and be subscribed or to create their own content in the style of Zoella. This shows a big portion of her audience are responding to her content and making sure their opinions or feelings are expressed and being a parasocial audience. However, Attitude tends to be more formal with their audience reposing through letters, newspaper, email or the more older forms of social media, which many younger people no longer use.