User-Generated Content (UGC) and Fashion Media: A Study of Asoebibella in Nigeria

Dairo, Morolake ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4470-0407 (2022) User-Generated Content (UGC) and Fashion Media: A Study of Asoebibella in Nigeria. Fashion Studies, 4 (1). 7.

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Abstract

The process of news and media consumption is changing. Digitization has led to the restructuring of traditional journalism at every stage of the information exchange process, and the traditional process of information consumption and the role of the audience is evolving. Online lifestyle and fashion platforms such as Bella Naija are currently shaping the fashion journalism landscape in Nigeria. User-Generated Content (UGC), which is a feature of modern-day journalism that affords users the liberty to assume roles as information producers, is one of the tools employed by Bella Naija in generating content and attracting its audience. A fashion segment on the Bella Naija’s platform, AsoEbiBella, has developed into an online fashion lookbook with the content produced mainly by users. Leveraging participatory theory of communication, this paper investigates the involvement of the audience in the process of information gathering, publishing, and media platform sustainability. Using content analysis, this research analyzes the role of the audience using a sample size of fifty-five volumes of the AsoEbiBella digital platform. Findings show that whereas the role of the audience is crucial, evolving, and influential, the administrators of online media platforms still wield considerable authority and play a critical role in the publishing process.