Open Access Journal

ISSN: 2183-2439

Article | Open Access

Card Stories on YouTube: A New Frame for Online Self-Disclosure

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Abstract:  This paper deals with the phenomenon of so-called (note) card stories on YouTube. Card stories can be described as self-disclosing videos or confessions, using a new frame for telling one’s own story audio-visually to the public by combining ‘old’ (hand-written messages) and ‘new’ media (video, computer mediated communication). In 2012/13, a qualitative and exploratory study with a sample of 25 card story videos on YouTube was conducted. The content and visual analysis revealed (1) that these videos are bound to a very specific frame of presentation, (2) that they deal with specific topics, and (3) that the presenter does not remain (visually) anonymous. These findings question previous research results that stressed a strong correlation between online self-disclosure and (visual) anonymity; further, the findings show that this special frame of textual confessions via video supports deep self-disclosures.

Keywords:  anonymity; card story; computer-mediated communication; frame; self-disclosure; video; YouTube

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v2i1.16


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