My Media Niche Is Pretty Clean - No, Literally.

As someone who loves fashion and lifestyle, the media I consume and participate in is subsequently representative of this. Thus, when asked what my media niche is, my mind immediately starting filtering through all the niches i've stumbled across. Utah mums? Crunchy granola mums? Almond mums? What is with all the mums? None of these felt true to the media I enjoy consuming. Therefore, let me introduce you to the clean girl fashion niche. Get ready to discuss all things Djerf Avenue button ups, slick buns and oversized blazers.

Image Source: (Djerf, 2023)

First, let me explain and define what a media niche is. Traditionally, media niches were defined as the segmentation of differing media forms that cater towards different interests (Lamar 2019, p. 134). However, as media forms are now overwhelmingly complex and interrelated, mutualism between audiences and creators is key to understanding the concept of niches. Therefore a media niche can be defined as a genre of content that is bound together by audience members and creators with shared interests, demographics, location, values or beliefs (Connell 2023).

Clean Girl Fashion Niche - Moodboard (Pinterest, 2023)

Now, let's unpack my niche. Listen below to hear me explain the clean girl fashion niche!

Within the clean girl fashion niche, portraying this 'clean' aesthetic is the primary goal. Therefore, making this niche extremely intriguing as it raises questions as to why it's audience members want to appear this way and what actually influences this desire? By exploring these questions through a personal lens, this will inevitably add to the invaluableness of my ethnographic research (Marvasti, 2014). Further audience behaviour in this niche is that it's members are more likely to use comment sections as a tool to expand their knowledge of fashion brands, rather than supporting the creator. For example, asking where an item is from rather than complimenting the creator (although, this is certainly done a lot as well).

Instagram Content Example of Clean Girl Fashion - (Djerf, 2023)

What is Media Ethnography?

In relation to ethnographic research, Airoldi (2018) states that the ever changing nature of the digital landscape requires media ethnography to involve both online and offline observations through fieldwork. This is relevant to my niche, as whilst creators convey this clean girl persona online, it has also been observed that members of this niche share similar lifestyle values based around this aesthetic. As a result, making it extremely interesting to explore!

REFERENCES

Airoldi, M 2018, 'Ethnography and the digital fields of social media', International Journal of Social Research Methodology, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 661-673

Burrell, J 2009, 'The Field Site as a Network: A Strategy for Locating Ethnographic Research', Field Methods, vol. 21, no. 2

Connell, J 2023, ‘BCM241 WEEK 1’ Tutorial PowerPoint Slides, BCM241, University of Wollongong, viewed 6th August 2023

Djerf, M 2023, Instagram Post, Instagram, viewed 6th August 2023, <https://www.instagram.com/p/CnfNx3pr0sc/?img_index=2>

Lamar, T 2019. The Anime Ecology: A Genealogy of Television, Animation, and Game Media. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press

Marvasti, A 2014, ‘Analysing Observations’, The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysi