The case of lonelygirl15 serves an interesting intersection of relationship factors, digital deception and the media frenzy that goes along with it. As a case of digital deception it's certainly unique because of the collaborative effort and number of participants. While most cases of digital deceptions are the work of an individual looking to escape their own lives, lonelygirl15 was the work of a number of producer/story editors in addition to several actors all operating under a non-disclosure agreement. Despite the vast departure from a standard internet deception case, this example was perpetuated in much the same way all digital deception is. It relied on the truth bias. We believe, by default, that the things we are told by others are the truth and lonelygirl15 aimed to exploit that very element of human nature.
lonelygirl15 made many people rethink the relationships they had developed online and used a variety of methods to manipulate traditional relationship factors.
- In an effort to gain a rapport with viewers, the videoblog was reasonably interactive. Bree would often mention real bloggers by their SN's and reply to user comments in an effort to both build more personal relationships and to seem grounded in reality.
- As Bree often discussed very personal topics on her videoblog the degree of self discloser was very high.
- Bree also had a high level of virtual saliency. She has a tremendous number of youtube entries and was a frequent commenter on some other blogs. She also had a myspace profile to further develop her online presence.
- In perhaps their most effective method of artificially developing online relationships, the creators of the show chose to cast the very attractive Jessica Rose as the "headlining" character. It is hard to believe (and also a bit sad) that America would not have been as riled up over an unattractive "lonelygirl".
In the end, it seems that the masterminds behind lonelygirl15 did their research (and perhaps even read Patricia Wallace's book), because they marched out every trick in the book to manipulate relationship development and facilitate online deception.
2 comments:
Hey Nick, great post! I love how you addressed a little bit of everything in your post, and linked it to one case. I myself can say that I was tricked by lonelygirl15. I remember hearing about her from a friend, and watching a couple of her videoblogs. Her issues that she discussed seemed so real, it was hard NOT to believe that she was being truthful. When I found out that she was just an actress, and the directors were just a few guys, I was shocked. I think you're right when you say that they probably read Wallace's book.
Hey nick, really interesting post. Believe it or not, I have never seen lonelygirl15’s video blog. However, I’ve definitely heard of her story and have discussed the phenomenon you mentioned (in less theoretical terms) with some friends. I think we see deception in nearly every facet of the internet. In fact, I would be curious if there is any relationship between internet familiarity/internet experience and amount of deception/lying by that person. I really like how you broke down all the different ways the videoblog and entire production used the internet to deceive, from the blog itself to a myspace profile. Truth bias is a really powerful thing. It’s amazing how hard it is to avoid being deceived. If you take any one factor you discussed, it would likely be enough to deceive a person. Lonelygirl15 and I am sure many other people, websites, and services use way more than just one form of digital deception to trick us into who knows what.
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