No judgment: value optimization and the reinvention of
reviewing on YouTube

No judgment: value optimization and the reinvention of
reviewing on YouTube

creators, evaluation, platforms, platformized cultural production, optimization, reviews, values, YouTube

Social media platforms employ algorithmic recommendations to optimize the user’s experience and incentivize particular forms of cultural pro-
duction. While prior research shows that creators respond to these incentives and seek to optimize their content in return, the normative implica-
tions of this process are ambiguous and contentious. To examine the values promoted by platforms, this study focuses on YouTube reviews, a

popular genre that crosses communities and foregrounds values. Employing content and thematic analyses of 200 videos, I find that creators
communicate value consistently: good products are aesthetic, functional, distinctive, and either pleasurable or resonant, while good reviewers
are relatable above all else. I develop the concept of value optimization to refer to communicative strategies that appeal to the perceived values
of a platform and show how creators’ tendency to qualify their evaluations and avoid strong judgments transforms the historical function of
reviewing. Finally, I discuss implications for future research on the platformization of cultural production.

Blake Hallinan

https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmad034

22 June 2023

PERI IRAWAN

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