A Content Analysis of the Commodification and Exploitation of Black Internet Content and Product

A Content Analysis of the Commodification and Exploitation of Black Internet Content and Product Chiamaka Okoye, Christopher Medina M.S Department of Language and Communications

Introduction

The Internet has granted unprecedented access to black culture and content; however, it has also become the breeding grounds for its exploitation. The cultural misappropriation and subsequent commodification of minority culture refers to when a majority culture exploits the cultural contributions of a minority. Specifically, within the context of black internet content and product, this trend has boomed with the rise of social media. Black creators produce fashion, dance, vernacular, and even musical, cultural contributions that are popularized on social media then commodified without any credit or share of the profits given to the originators.

Objectives

Use findings of content analysis to outline ethnography . Use content analysis methods to analyze replies viral tweets to determine general attitudes or beliefs about the commodification and exploitation of black products and ideas. Utilize the Hegelian dialectic to explore general attitudes regarding commodification and exploitation of black products and ideas.

Methods

Created a content database of 662 tweets in reply to viral accusations of cultural appropriation/ commodification of black internet content/product Tested Intercoder reliability using ReCal2 software Utilized a simple coding system of yes (1) and no (0) to place tweets into 6 main codes Analyzed results to identify patterns and themes in data

Intercoder Reliability Test

Strong reliability rating

Virility vs Discussion

The more viral a tweet is the more discussion is centered around it

Hypothesis

The divide within the public’s opinions allows for the continued misappropriation and commodification of black content/products

Tweet Selection Criteria

Criteria for both viral tweet and replies Results

Percentage Breakdown of Tweets

Slight majority in support of claims of exploitation

Future Studies

 Future studies include an ethnography detailing the experiences of those who’ve suffered from the exploitation of black internet content and products

 Some key areas to question during the interview would be their perception of public support since content analysis revealed patterns of its existence but also patterns of public denial

Conclusion As the exploitation of black internet content and products rises with the boom in social media use, so does its opposition. While there is a slight majority opinion that acknowledges and opposes such exploitation, ultimately, the lack of a clear majority(over 50%) renders the hypothesis correct. Thus revealing that the divide within the public's opinion not only exists but is a probable reason for the continued misappropriation and commodification of black content/products. Acknowledgements

• R&I’s Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR and Undergraduate Medical

Academy, Prairie View A&M University.

A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE COMMODIFICATION AND EXPLOITATION OF BLACK INTERNET CONTENT AND PRODUCT

Chiamaka Okoye and Christopher Medina M.S | Department of Language and Communications

Introduction

Upon beginning research, it became clear that while the two areas of research: content analysis and ethnography, are interrelated, the two have a sequential order. Researchers discovered that content analysis could be used to establish the framework of an ethnography, precisely the questions. This report is centered around the content analysis portion of the research project. The Internet has granted unprecedented access to black culture and content; however, it has also become the breeding grounds for its exploitation. The cultural misappropriation and subsequent commodification of minority culture refer to when a majority culture exploits the cultural contributions of a minority. Specifically, within the context of black internet content and product, this trend has boomed with the rise of social media. In their 2019 report, the Congressional Black Caucus foundation found that black 28.4% of black businesses are negatively impacted by access to capital, a rate nearly three times higher than their white counterparts (Howard, 2019). The combined effects of exploitation and systemic barriers to business make this issue all the more damaging to victims: their ideas do not receive investment while others exploit and profit from their ideas. This research utilizes the Hegelian dialectic to explore general attitudes regarding commodification and exploitation of black products and ideas through content analysis. It is hypothesized that the divide within the public’s opinion allows for the continued misappropriation and commodification of black content/products.

Materials and Methods

• Cr eated a content database of over 500 tweets in reply to viral accusations of cultural appropriation/ commodification of black internet content/product • T ested Intercoder reliability using ReCal2 software • Utilized a simple coding system of yes (1) and no (0) to place tweets into six principal codes • Analyzed results to identify patterns and themes in data.

1 Software utilized established procedures of Cohens Kappa and Percent agreement to generate robust intercoder reliability and validate results

Results and Discussion

After coding for 160 tweets in the database, preliminary results reveal that most tweets are in acknowledgment and support against the exploitation of black internet content and products. Indicating that over 50% of opinions posted online not only acknowledge this wrongdoing but also are against its occurrence. Unexpectedly a majority of the discongruity within the public opinion comes from posts that neither support nor deny claims of exploitation. This result could have many implications, whether it be the need for definite opinions online or even just the need for more discussions. Ultimately though, the lack of overwhelming majority opinion on the subject reveals the gap in public opinion and thus renders the hypothesis correct. In comparing the virility of each result with the amount of relevant discussion generated while there is a general increase in the amount of relevant discussion as virility increases discussion on average still lags far behind virility. Meaning although these accusations of exploitations are going viral, meaning being shared, they are not discussed nearly enough.

Conclusion

As the exploitation of black internet content and products rises with the boom in social media use, so does its opposition. While there is a slight majority opinion that acknowledges and opposes such exploitation, ultimately, the lack of a clear majority(over 50%) renders the hypothesis correct. Thus revealing that the divide within the public’s opinion not only exists but is a probable reason for the continued misappropriation and commodification of black content/products. This content analysis has identified the pattern of public dissent to the exploitation of black internet content and products as a primary point of investigation in future ethnographic research. Moreover, as a result, it has achieved its goal of identifying public opinion of exploitation of black internet content and products by utilizing content analysis of Twitter.

References

Howard, T. (2019, April). THE STATE OF BLACK ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AMERICA. Retrieved from https://www.cbcfinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ CPAR-Report-Black-Entrepreneurship-in-America.pdf

Chiamaka Okoye is a Junior majoring in Biology. Christopher Medina is an associate professor in the communications department with research interest in social media contents.