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How far can aspects of identity be seen to affect the way in which audiences use online media? Discuss, with reference to Zoella and Attitude. [30] 

Identity is essential for media products, due to it constructing a reputation and target audience for the company selling. Zoe Sugg is a social media icon who gained popularity from youtube videos she begun creating in 2009, she has since then grown her brand 'Zoella' into selling merchandise and more to her target audience of typically Teenage Girl. Zoella's youtube channel and website features multiple forms of interactivity such as hyperlinks to her social media or the comment section in her blog posts and youtube videos. Attitude, A gay British lifestyle magazine, enables interactivity in almost the exact same way, except it targets a Gay Male audience between 20 to 30 years of age. The new form of online media has enabled identities to not only be constructed by the media product being presented, but also by how audiences use online media and how they express it so easily with Internet.

When viewing the Attitude website, the 'Boys' section in particular shows Stuart Hall's theory of representation by using consistent thumbnails of a stereotypical fetishism for a gay man. The mise-en-scene of this section is very similar to a typical tabloid newspaper website such as 'The daily mirror' however the thumbnails and language are apprioated to the identity of their target audience.  This is purposely done to increase views and clicks on their articles in which they gain income from advertisement placed around the webpages. The perspective of a Gay man's identity reading these articles may alter negatively and be led to believe they must look like this in order to appeal to other homosexuals. This is completely false and essentially Attitude are objectifying men in order to increase their income and popularity. This is commonly portrayed by conglomerate companies or even artificial intelligence, which ignore the moral of what media is presented and how it may effect the identity of someone, because they know it will still achieve success for their company. An example of this related to Zoella's platform 'Youtube' is the multiple kids cartoons made with innuendoes and violent messages that receive millions of views from vulnerable children.

Zoella's 'cult beauty haul' blog post features comments that perfectly template how audience interaction can construct a negative identity for her audience to be exposed to. With minimal regulation, a comment by an account named 'Fuck Zoella' attacks her haul and claims how she is cultivating her target audience of teenage girls into capitalism with little value for money. The comment features inaaprioate slurs such as 'Cunt' and 'Bitch' in which her audience is easily able to view. This example of hate is an example of how the audience use online media to interact against a certain media product like Zoella. This is an example of Clay Shirky's end of audience theory in how online media takes the audience away from passive viewing and speak back to the media they are viewing. Particularly with social media, individuals have access to hyper links in which they can share these blog posts which gives the website free publicity which could be positive or negative. 

A wide range of Attitude's articles use David Gauntlett's theory of identity, or more specifically the pick and mix theory. This enables the target audience of Gay men between 20 to 30 to construct their own identity that expresses their sexuality. For example, the magazine's website features an article of fashion with a mise-en-scene of stereotypical clothes gay men would wear. The hypermodal article gives them immediate access to purchase these items online, making it much easier for a reader to physically construct their identity. The target audience is able to pick out particular items of clothing and inspiration from other articles to generate a look that the attitude magazine has made based on stereotypes of gay fashion. Attitude know their target audience through their statistics and sell this to investors on their press pack. The attitude website or magazine does not openly define their readers as this would minimize any unconventional readers of the magazine yet they do define their audience in their press pack which anybody can read. However it is only commonly being read by investors wanting to buy the magazines audience to advertise their own products. This creation of identity attitude have defined themselves almost generates s cult following to their magazine and in a positive way form a sense of community through their social media too with readers of the website, digital print or physical print of Attitude.

Zoella's 'apartment' video is used to sell her branched out products from her youtube channel like scented candles. The format of the video is in a vlog style with elements of uncut footage especially at the beginning of close up shots of her face that show her commonly trying to focus her camera. This constructs a hyperreal world to her target audience and is almost like she is trying to convince she is human too which would seem unnecessary in other forms of media like film and TV. This is purposely done so her target audience of teenage girls can relate or aspire to her. She purposely presents a very chaste persona which is highly unlikely to be her genuine personality, yet it caters to her young impressionable audience and receives an approval from parents of the target audience. Yet, her motive is criticised by many as purely financial aspects with remarks to her novel 'girl online' not being written by her and reports of her not openly stating when a instagram post is paid promotion.

In conclusion, the expansion of online media is almost definitely the most influential way audiences today construct their own identity. With the depth of interactivity through comments and social media. Our opinions and perspectives are not only inspired by media industries like Stream Publishing Ltd or Youtube, but also through the sharing and commenting of other consumers of media products like Zoella and Attitude.