Mommy Vloggers

             According to some of the blogging advice we’ve been looking into these past couple of weeks, sharing personal information on blogs is advocated for as a key way to engage viewers who want to “get to know “ the person behind the blog. It’s one way to potentially create a sense of identification between reader and writer. What better way to do this than to actually show the person behind the blog…which brings us to vlogging (video blogs). Mommy vlogging is increasingly popular on platforms like YouTube and although many of the practices are quite similar to text based blogging, there are some differences and some unique privacy concerns when uploading videos for public consumption.

                It almost goes without saying but vlogging is nearly entirely image based with the occasional use of text in a supplementary manner (captions, titles, comments, etc) making it a much more voyeuristic activity. Showing video clips and visuals of children and their activities increases their public exposure more so than text or verbal description making them more identifiable in real life by any viewer.   

“Niche” was a big thing when discussing starting a blog and it applies to vloggers as well. When researching this post I found that many mommy vloggers had channels focused on topics outside of parenting and motherhood (mainly beauty or health based) but had incorporated their identity as a mother into their vlogs in some way. For example a makeup artist’s channel like msroshposh that has a “daughter does my makeup” video or a “what my vegan toddler eats in a day” vlog on vegan lifestyle channel WholeVeganLiving. I find that vlogging, especially on YouTube, tends to primarily take on one or two of a few main forms: instructional, performance (often music or comedy), reporting (news or culture), and personality/lifestyle based. Mommy Vloggers generally fall under the personality/lifestyle category which is what enables the most successful YouTubers to not only have popular channels but become another kind of celebrity. Popularity is important for blogs that need page views and loyal readers to stay profitable and it is twice as important for vloggers who have to sell themselves as well as their content to the sea of potential viewers and channel subscribers (because we can see them, judge their looks, hear their voice, etc).

Vlogs can also be a means of income just like regular blogs with paid ads (YouTube has a “Monetization” tab in their account settings which when enabled by a user allows them to place ads on their videos which they pay for per view and/or ad click), sponsored videos, product reviews, etc. This may be a personal opinion but I find YouTube videos in general to be even more commodified than blogs. For example, many videos use branded items and viewers then watch the vlogger as she incorporates those specific products into her routine. A hotel resort could (and has) sponsor a vlogger who then goes on to show how much fun her and the family are having at said resort on their vacation.  Commercials tend to have a much more profound effect than print ads in general and YouTube videos often essentially are commercials just in a much less corporate format. 

Vlogging seems to have a much higher potential for crossing the line as it magnifies the danger for exploitation and over sharing. In many ways YouTube vlogging has become a grass roots version of reality TV shows with vloggers directing, starring in, and publishing a version of their life online. The mommy vloggers that choose to include their children and other family members in the videos make them active participants. This could range from a child’s unplanned entrance into the frame while a parent was filming that didn’t get cut out in the editing process to something much more extreme as when a parent makes their child the primary face of a vlog. I have yet to come across a mommy blog in which the child does even a part of the actual writing or the work (it may have happened in some capacity but I think it’s safe to say it would be very uncommon). Mommy Vlogger TheMomOf6Boys posted a “prank” video about 3 years ago in which she asks her sons to spell their names only to interrupt them repeatedly pretending they are spelling them wrong. It’s an uncomfortable three minutes watching these young boys get increasingly confused in front of the camera showing physical signs of awkwardness like twirling their hair while they repeatedly try to spell out their name as they don’t seem to suspect that their mother is toying with them and for what? “Lighthearted” laughs or just more views (it had 18, 084 as of today)? In the corner of the video is a text box calling on others to repeat the prank with their kids and post the results. It’s not hard to see how the privacy and ethical concerns of mommy blogging apply to vlogging as well, and arguably even more so due to the visual medium.