%0 Journal Article
%T Constructing the Platform
%A Brooke Erin Duffy
%A Leah Scolere
%A Urszula Pruchniewska
%J Social Media + Society
%@ 2056-3051
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/2056305118784768
%X With the widespread uptake of social media, discourses and practices of self-branding have become a pervasive feature of social and economic life. However, the way in which the digital self-brand gets reproduced across a sprawling social media landscape remains comparatively under-theorized. Our paper therefore draws upon in-depth interviews with 52 online content creators¡ªincluding designers, artists, writers, and marketing consultants¡ªto examine how cultural workers present themselves across the panoply of social networking sites. As we show, workers¡¯ self-presentation activities were structured through the production of a platform-specific self-brand, which was based upon the imaginations of (1) platform affordances, (2) audiences, and (3) the producer¡¯s own self-concept. Our findings highlight producers¡¯ compulsion to engage in continuous, cross-platform labor¡ªdespite widespread uncertainty about its economic outcomes. We conclude by addressing the stakes of a social media moment when workers of all stripes are prodded to incessantly curate, monitor, and ultimately invest in their online personae
%K social media
%K self-branding
%K affordances
%K labor
%K audience
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305118784768