YOUTUBE AND PROPOSITION 8

The present study uses California's Proposition 8 campaign as a case study for an exploratory investigation of video activism online. We conducted a content analysis of a sample of Proposition 8 videos drawn at random from the results of a keyword search of YouTube. Main findings from the analysis (N = 801) show that a majority of the videos were made up of original content and took a position against Proposition 8. The results also show that video posters on different sides of the debate drew on different mixes of video forms as the election debate progressed. A greater proportion of ‘Yes on 8’ videos were scripted and professionally produced while ‘No on 8’ videos were more often amateur creations and served to witness the widespread protests in the aftermath of the election.

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