Features and types of self-presentations in educational video blogging

Introduction

Interest in video blogging from both teenagers and adult users has grown significantly over the past few years. This was facilitated by the development of video hosting platforms, the professionalization of content, as well as the performance format used by video bloggers. According to I. Hoffman's concept of self–presentation in relation to video blogging, the YouTube platform can be considered as a platform (stage), video hosting users as performers, and the practice of creating video content as a social interactive production ^[4].

According to official statistics, as of October 2023, the age groups of the Russian YouTube audience are distributed as follows: 18-24 years – 15%, 25-34 years – 20.7%, 35-44 years – 16.7%, 45-54 years – 12% and 55-56 years – 8.8% ^[12]. The active inclusion of middle-aged and older people can be explained by the appearance of higher-quality content, a variety of topics and the presence of different formats.

RBC published an article about how YouTube is used for training. The author gives arguments in favor of using YouTube as another source of knowledge and talks about launching a new YouTube Learning channel with educational playlists ^[6]. The article also notes that universities, realizing the influence of YouTube, began to actively distribute their content through videos or resort to the help of influencers – bloggers who talk about their studies at this institution.

Review of scientific literature 

Studies of YouTube video hosting are relatively few. The work of J. Burgess and J. J. Burgess, J. Green is among the scientific studies of cultural meanings and forms of using YouTube ^[15]. Due to the desire of people to always look in the best possible light, in the digital environment, a person has more time at his disposal to hone self-presentation to perfection than in a physical, non-digital environment. According to R. Belk, the reincarnation of the "I" in the digital environment affects visual self-presentation ^{[14, p. 481]}.

Many researchers believe that YouTube is a potential tool for influencing the consciousness of both young people and the general population. The level and scope of this influence are quite diverse. Murphy (D. Murthy) analyzes YouTube as an influential resource in the dissemination of terrorist content ^[18]. Russian researchers also actualize the issue of the influence of YouTube video hosting on the political views of modern youth ^{[2] [3]}.

Another vector of research on the influence of video hosting is consumer preferences of Internet users. The study by I. Vanwesenbeck, L. Hudders and K. Ponnet (I. Vanwesenbeeck, L. Hudders, K. Ponnet) presents the results of an experiment to study the reaction of preschool children to video ads on different YouTube channels ^[24]. W. Tafesse studies the motivation of viewers to watch a particular video blog on YouTube ^[23]. Some publications demonstrate interest in the activity and creativity of teenagers, for example, on the YouTube channel. Thus, T. S. Malyuk sets the task of creating a portrait of a Russian teenager on YouTube and notes that "a video in the form of a blog has a special appeal for teenagers, in which the chosen idol, blogger, opinion leader shares information about his life in an accessible format" ^{[9, p. 213]}. Video blogging is one of the most familiar formats of communication and content consumption for a young user, along with podcasts, streams, forums, etc.

According to R. Olsson, the creation of video content on YouTube is considered as an interactive social production, including behavior, manner of communication, clothing, tone of voice, environment, editing features, background music and effects ^[20]. YouTube video hosting is considered by the researcher as a platform (stage), and audiovisual content as a stage production. The basis of most YouTube videos are two forms of self-presentation: "mobile self-portrait / demonstration of creativity" and "voice of reason". The first form reflects the self-presentation of YouTube users in the video, not necessarily the content as such. A form of self-presentation can be either a self-portrait or a landscape or a video about wildlife. A video of this type aims to enhance the impression that a YouTube user seeks to make on viewers. "The Voice of Reason" as a form of self-presentation on YouTube is also aimed at enhancing the impression of the viewer. Self-presentations of the "voice of reason" type depend more on written speech preparations, and rely less on visual elements. Style, structure, manner of expressing thoughts, tone of voice, rhetorical creativity are important.

The situation with the spread of coronavirus infection has actualized the issue of distance learning. And this, in turn, increased the interest of researchers in the topic of educational video blogging ^{[5] [8] [12] [13] [17]}.

Within the framework of the research project, we identified three main approaches to the interpretation of video blogging in a pedagogical context – video blogging as a means (teaching technology), video blogging as a means of communication between a teacher and a student, and video blogging as a means of promoting the teacher's profession, improving pedagogical skills. Most of the publications we have studied have been prepared in line with the first approach, both in English and Russian ^{[19] [21] [22] [25]}. The remaining interpretations, as a rule, are not singled out by researchers as separate, independent subjects of study, but are woven into the general context of digitalization of the educational process (e-learning), the training of future teachers.

A separate area of research is related to the study of the digital identity of teachers, their self-presentations in social networks.

E. L. Soldatova, D. N. Pogorelov, N. S. Kozlova, L. F. Kosenchuk presented the features of virtual identity, which is formed in two ways: "either by transferring identity elements from the real world to the virtual world and creating an identity on the Internet based on it, or through the active position of the subject of activity in the Internet space" ^{[8] [7] [11]}. The authors associate virtual identity with self-presentation and self-determination of the individual.

L. I. Selivanova in the context of I. Hoffman's concept of social dramaturgy characterizes the features of the presentation of personal information in accounts ^[10]. To the "personal facade" associated with social status and roles, she refers "visual verbal information: name, gender, age, marital status and relationships, place of residence, level of education, place of study, profession, place of work and position; visual non-verbal information: appearance, travel and hobbies, income level, bad habits; audio-visual information: musical, artistic, political and religious preferences". Self-presentation may reflect information about education, career achievements, status positions held, etc.

The purpose of our research is to analyze the practices of self-presentation of educational video bloggers and their typologization.

Research methodology

In the course of the study, we compiled a list of blogs on YouTube, which were reported in interviews and focus groups by teachers and schoolchildren, respectively. In total, we conducted 9 focus groups among students of grades 9-11 in Novosibirsk and Vladivostok (N=69), 10 expert interviews with teachers leading educational blogs (Novosibirsk, Moscow, Vladivostok, Chelyabinsk). The list of blogs was supplemented by YouTube channels of bloggers who are members of the Council of teachers-bloggers at the Ministry of Education of Russia, and blogs listed in the ratings of educational channels that are published on the Internet.

The final list included 48 o-bloggers. A selection of the five most popular videos on 1.03.2023 was compiled for each video blogger. In total, there are 240 videos in the archive of the study, for each of which the developed forms for content analysis were filled out. Of the 240 videos, 90 clips were recorded by foreign video bloggers, 150 by Russian ones.

The table shows some quantitative characteristics of the video channels of educational video bloggers selected to describe the cases (Table 1).

Table 1 - Quantitative characteristics of video channels of educational video bloggers on 01.03.2023

To identify and substantiate the types of self-presentation of educational bloggers, in addition to analyzing the content of videos and describing the author's channels, interview methods with teachers leading blogs were used.

Research results and their discussion

Self-presentation and identity of an educational blogger

Hoffman calls managing the perception of other people in accordance with his own desires impression management ^{[4, p. 132]}. In the digital environment, it is extremely common due to the availability of tools for honing the desired image. The video blogger is faced with the task of not just "relaying" his personality into a video diary, but constructing his own image. When creating a video, the author can control the quality of verbal and non-verbal means of communication, use various animation effects that enhance the emotional component of the video. Even the overlay of background music affects how the viewer perceives the video content.  In the virtual space, deliberate and well-prepared spontaneity is important.

The peculiarity of educational video blogging is the emphasis on the learning process, so in our sample there are 55 videos without actors in the frame, for example, a screen with a Google classroom is shown and a blogger talks about how to create a new course in it.

To highlight the ways of self-presentation of educational video bloggers (hereinafter referred to as o-bloggers), we selected videos with an acting hero.

Self–presentation is not only appearance, i.e. style, clothes, makeup, etc., but also behavior, attributes used (youth subculture, educational and scientific, etc.), organized background, visual and sound effects, etc. N.F. Anokhina notes, "that a professional self-presentation of a teacher should contain such elements such as a personal photo, a biographical reference, contact information that allows you to establish feedback, educational, methodological and scientific materials, information about research projects in which the teacher has participated or is taking part, areas of professional cooperation (with partners in the media or other organizations)" ^[1].

In the online space, we can talk about multiple identities, when a video blogger or any other user presents himself differently to different audiences, for some demonstrates his professionalism, expertise in the field of education, for others - his personal qualities, etc.

In our sample, personal identity can be traced through the appearance of family members of the blogger in the frame. Also, shooting from your own home, especially often during a pandemic, adds elements of the author's personal life to the video. Some video bloggers include members of their family in the plot, removing content that does not fully correspond to the subject of the blog. So, vlogger from America Darin Nakakihara, uses elements of home style, filming his daughter, who performs a song. In one of the videos, The Lettered Classroom uses a Rumtour technique popular in the video blogosphere – organizing a tour of the apartment of an o-blogger with a demonstration of various rooms and features of everyday life.

Another technique of video bloggers that allows you to become emotionally closer to your audience is to shoot your whole day, starting in the morning. One of the videos on the Early EDventures channel demonstrates a typical day in the life of a third grade teacher.  The author starts the video with breakfast in the home kitchen, continues the day at school, showing off his classroom and desk, and ends the evening on the sofa in the living room.

"Professional sieve" of the pedagogical profession

As the WalkMyWorld study showed, the online and offline identities of teachers do not always coincide. The experiment implemented by the authors showed that some project participants used multiple digital identities, separating, for example, personal and professional identities.  In the second case, they did not include images in their self-presentation that could negatively affect their professional image ^[16].

Commitment to the teaching profession imposes certain ethical restrictions, one of the study participants called them a "professional sieve":

if you subscribe to an activity like blogging, you have to filter what you post. You have to control your posts: what photos you post. After all, you're a teacher, you should be an example. For both parents and students. You can spread some part of life - not necessarily the whole. Some part can be shared so that you are at least a little known (English teacher, 23, Vladivostok)

Creating content, on the one hand, teachers understand that schoolchildren and their parents can watch their videos, and, on the other, the profession imposes obligations to "sow reasonable, kind, eternal":

We, the teachers, took it into practice to talk about our interesting trips on personal and general pages, always focusing on the professional component, For example, we went on a business trip, and we came up with such a cultural program for ourselves (history teacher, 25 l., Novosibirsk)

It is obvious that teachers translate social norms and values, demonstrate their own activity and versatility. And here the emphasis is not on clothes, background, music and environment, but on the content part, i.e. following Allson's interpretation, teachers are moving towards self-presentation "the voice of reason" ^[20].

Types of self-presentations by o-bloggers

In its pure form, the types of self-presentation are not expressed in o-bloggers, they combine, mix, influence each other. But, as a rule, it is possible to distinguish the dominant type of self-presentation and designate complementary types.

We have identified the dominant types of self-presentation of o-bloggers, such as "expert" and "practitioner". To the complementary types of self-presentation, indirectly related to pedagogical activity, we attributed the types "entrepreneur", "my boyfriend", "creative type", "experimenter".

The main criteria of these types we have defined: the content of videos / works; emotional techniques; the use of teaching tools and techniques, including technical ones; linguistic means; expression of one's own position; dialogicality; the design of the "scene" and the choice of "costumes". Table 2 summarizes the characteristics of the types according to the selected criteria.

Table 2 – Characteristics of the types of self-presentation of educational video bloggers

Continuation of Table 2 – Characteristics of the types of self-presentation of educational video bloggers

Let's focus on the designated types in more detail, illustrating them with examples from our sample.

The self-presentation of the "expert" is demonstrated by o-bloggers with extensive experience in teaching or with sufficient experience in studying the chosen field for theorizing. And in this sense, it seems important to us to separate the expert and the practitioner. The expert shares his pedagogical experience, gives valuable advice, recommendations, assessments, reveals something not banal, analyzes pedagogical situations and translates his position. He comes from his own experience (sometimes on a whim), reveals the meanings of the work (what is it for? how does it help?), motivates not only to watch the video, but also to dive into the selected area of questions. 

O-bloggers emphasize their expertise by showing various diplomas, certificates reflecting participation in the work of various juries, expert councils, etc., for example, on the channel "Tutoring Empire: online school of the Unified State Exam and OGE" it is said that there are current EXAM experts among the teachers. In the presentation video of Foxford, it is noted that the classes are taught by teachers from different universities of the country, such as MSU, MIPT, HSE. Tatiana Hartman in the trailer of the channel "Uchilka vs TV" presents herself as a teacher, journalist, blogger, writer, expert.

The practitioner explains the material, talks about his or someone else's pedagogical experience, gives clearer instructions on how to complete tasks, clear explanations, anticipates possible questions and gives answers. A practitioner, unlike an expert, does not engage in theorizing, often he does not engage in introspection and analysis of various pedagogical situations. As a rule, he simply shares his own daily routine, leaving subscribers the opportunity for reflection and critical evaluation of the pedagogical techniques and techniques presented in the video.

For example, Megan Forbes shares her experience of using a work plan posted on a blackboard that children turn to to understand what they will do during the school day. In addition, the blogger gives advice on establishing rules of behavior in the classroom, class design and dividing it into a "teacher's zone" and a "children's zone" to form a respectful attitude to the subject-spatial environment and other people's things; the use of a reflexive behavior sheet, etc.

On the channel "One Fab Teacher" one of the videos was dedicated to the organization of the first day of "virtual learning". The blogger advises starting the lesson with a personal greeting of each student with the establishment of eye-to-eye contact and a smile. It is recommended to discuss distractions from studying with children (pets, brothers, sisters, food, etc.) and establish rules that will help the child focus on the lesson. Also, the o-blogger offers to purchase author's methodological materials, i.e. combines the self-presentation of a "practitioner" with an "entrepreneur".

Many educational bloggers try to monetize their content by, for example, placing ads in their videos or creating merch, putting up for sale their methodological developments. This type of self-presentation is designated by us as an "entrepreneur". In addition to selling educational products, o-bloggers use a variety of tactics to promote themselves on social networks, working for their own recognition among potential customers, students and their parents, this also contributes to the monetization of the o–blogger, for example, through the influx of students to tutoring.

The author of the channel “Uchilka VS TV” uses o-blogging for additional earnings. The channel dedicated to analyzing errors in the Russian language by the example of actors, presenters and other media personalities, offers viewers to subscribe to a paid newsletter of tests. These tests help to better understand and remember the correct spelling of various words and phrases. 

Another example of a vlogger teacher who uses the potential of the video blogosphere for the purpose of additional earnings is Fedotov Andrey Borisovich, an English teacher. He has accounts in all popular social networks among young people (Vkontakte, TikTok, YouTube), as well as his own website. On his channel "TEACHER from BLOG" Andrey Borisovich publishes mainly entertaining content from the perspective of a modern teacher. The O-blogger is focused on a youth audience and has chosen a rather unusual earnings format by organizing an online store with branded goods (clothing, souvenirs, home accessories).  With fellow teachers, the o-blogger shares tips on how to promote himself on social networks, as well as various pedagogical practices and strategies for blogging, i.e. presents himself as an "expert practitioner" with the message: "By my example, I want to show colleagues that our profession is absolutely not routine, in it there is a place for creativity and self-realization." 

Self-presentation of the "creative type" requires expression, humor, the use of animation and other effects from the o-blogger. The aforementioned Fedotov Andrey Borisovich demonstrates this type of self-presentation, humorously playing situations from school everyday life, using animation effects, modern pop songs, etc. Andrey Borisovich, shoots a video about a truant to the song with the words: "a lonely wanderer has lost his way."  In the video about the teacher at the end of the school year, the blogger crawls out of the classroom, ironically on the topic of fatigue and the amount of work of modern teachers. 

The next type of self-presentation - "My boyfriend" (the message is "I'm the same as you", everyday practices, ordinary clothes, appropriate slang) - is quite common among video bloggers in general, and teachers in particular. The popularity of this blogging strategy is due to the desire of viewers to be closer to the screen hero, the effect of parasocial relationships ^[4]. This self–presentation, in turn, splits into two others, depending on the target audience, in one case the audience is represented by teachers, in the other by students, but their combination is not excluded. 

Maria Alexandrovna (the channel "Weekdays of the teacher") films herself in the classroom and humorously discusses the topic of teachers' everyday life. In one of the videos, the vlogger shares information about the most popular gifts for teacher's Day, in the other, he humorously talks about the fears of teachers (not having time to check notebooks, not preparing for the lesson, etc.). The blogger shoots all his videos in a slightly ironic way, on the one hand emphasizing the professional features of pedagogical activity, and on the other hand, it is easy and easy to transfer knowledge in their subject – the Russian language. Such an o-blogger becomes "his boyfriend" for both colleagues and students. 

The next type of self–presentation - "experimenter" - is characterized by certain audiovisual effects, careful selection of the experiment venue, and appropriate musical accompaniment. These elements set a certain atmosphere and cause the viewer more emotions and interest. So, the English-language video channel VSAUSE regularly demonstrates experiments that illustrate various laws of chemistry and physics - a video blogger heats an ear of corn in a microwave to the state of exploding grains and explains why this happens. In another video, the author demonstrates the physical properties of indium metal by breaking off a piece and using it as chewing gum. The whole video is accompanied by emotional music and an enlarged shot of the process of chewing indium is used to enhance the effect. Also, the o-blogger uses the effect of superimposing hand-drawn animated images on the video. In the video with India, a picture of a chewing candy was used to reinforce the analogy with chewing gum. The VSAUSE channel also presents a social experiment dedicated to the impact of social isolation on a person's mental well-being. The blogger placed himself in an environment devoid of sensory influences for three days. It was a small room with a bed, toilet and ready-made food, all white, devoid of shades, gadgets, books and other sensory stimuli. Emotions were supported not only by shooting the blogger's activities, which gradually declined, but also by shooting the blogger's family members watching her husband, father, son and empathizing with him.

Analyzing the types of self-presentation of o-bloggers, we partially relied on the comments of users who catch the dominant type of self-presentation and address their remarks to it. For example, the self-presentation of the "expert" can be traced in the following statements: "Very convenient! And the records are easy and understandable)", "Respect explained in 2 minutes better than a teacher in 45 minutes", "Only Dr. Gnus could combine a story about the evolution of weapons and the ancient Greek deity of love. I haven't seen anything more interesting", "A very original approach to the material through a well-known cartoon! It is better understood this way!!! Thank you very much!".

Also, video bloggers can be contacted with a question, for advice, for example: "Hello, Maria! You have quite interesting videos, while watching I had a question for you, how do you manage to communicate so easily, and how do you find a common language with children? You may find the question silly, I'm just graduating from a pedagogical university and I want to start working by profession, as a physics teacher, but I'm terribly scared, I'm not very talkative and I'm afraid that I won't be able to find a common language with students or a team.  I hope you will share a little experience, give some advice and whether it is worth going to school at all...?"

In favor of the self-presentation of "Your boyfriend", such a remark of the user can testify: "Madam, let everyone have the same cheerful and kind teacher."

Conclusions

 In the course of the study, 6 types of self-presentation of educational video bloggers were identified, 2 of them are the most common and 4 are the least common. The most common types of self-presentation are directly related to the educational activities of the authors of the channels, who act as experts or bearers of certain, most often pedagogical, practices. O-bloggers share their knowledge with the audience, give advice and recommendations. 4 types of self-presentation that are complementary are conventionally designated by us as "entrepreneur", "your boyfriend", "creative type" and "experimenter". The type of self–presentation is a social role that an o-blogger chooses for himself and follows through the means and technologies of training used, methods of communication, the choice of "background" and clothing, lexical means, etc. Also, o-bloggers can, by self-presenting themselves, combine several types, solving different tasks (attracting a larger audience, additional earnings, presentation of personal or professional qualities, etc.).

The typology of self-presentation of educational video bloggers can be used by the o-bloggers themselves to determine the most successful criteria for their self-presentation and parameters that require additional work. The typology can also be useful for researchers of the features of virtual self-presentation of teachers, since it focuses on the verbal presentation of professional qualities and the appearance of the teacher.

In the future, the types of self-presentation we have identified and their components will be investigated using correlation and factor analysis methods on a sample of 240 videos. The content analysis form of the selected videos included, among others, the following positions: the target audience of the video, the style of the hero's clothing in the frame, the tone of the author's speech in the frame, the author's speech features, digital pedagogical technologies used by the author in the frame, the duration of the video, the author's emphasis on pedagogical activity, the communicative techniques used, the format of feedback activation, the number of comments.