In Christine Balance’s article, How It Feels to Be Viral Me: Affective Labor and Asian American YouTube Performance, she analyzes the role that Asian Americans play in viral media, such as YouTube, Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. Balance argues that the roles and significance of Asian Americans in viral media depends on the individuals’ ability to appeal to their audience through relatability and ability to catch attention. She also argues that YouTube and other media are a faster way for Asian Americans to obtain a level of stardom that they would not be given the opportunity to do so in main stream media.
The influence of Asian Americans in viral media is apparent, as Asian American channels like NigaHiga, KevJumba, and Wong Fu Productions dominated YouTube, which is very different than the representation that Asian Americans have in main stream media. Balance presents the argument of “YouTube as a launching pad for Asian Americans” as opposed to Asian Americans shaping the popularity and style of vlogs today (pg. 140). I believe that both arguments are valid, as there were many trailblazing Asian Americans in viral media when the popularity of this type of media began to rise, while also creating a space for other Asian Americans to succeed in the same way. To be successful in viral media, Balance argues that it depends on “(1) a niche or subculture’s active participation through online networks (i.e., websites, blogs, and social networking directed at its particular needs/concerns) and (2) its knowledge of and ability to craft emotional hooks, key signifiers that touch upon a shared set of affective investments and affiliations” (pg. 145). The tendency for Asian Americans to use the internet for information at a higher rate than other ethnicities creates an abundant audience for Asian Americans to succeed in viral media.
Some key terms that Balance uses are ethnoburbs, grassroots, and the minority myth. In the context that she uses ethnoburb, I believe that it refers to suburbs of large cities that are composed of mostly Asian Americans, such as San Gabriel and Cerritos. The term grassroots refers to the way that organizations participate in the economy through outreach and secondary forms of engagement using little to no budget. Balance defines minority myth as “once promises U.S. citizenship and belonging to those Asian subjects… who must also perform a racialized script that marks them as forever foreign” (pg. 144).
Balance relates viral media to other forms of media discussed in class, such as journals and magazines. She references the magazine KoreAm and draws a connection between magazines of the 90s and viral media today. Both forms of media gave Asian Americans of the time the opportunities to be more accurately and more frequently represented in the media. They both give Asian Americans the voice that main stream media does not allow.