Open AccessINTERDEPENDENT PLATFORMS: ONLYFANS AS NSFW SOCIAL MEDIA LAYER
Author(s) -
Emily van der Nagel
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
selected papers of internet research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2162-3317
DOI - 10.5210/spir.v2021i0.12064
Subject(s) - the imaginary , influencer marketing , social media , computer science , content (measure theory) , interdependence , world wide web , internet privacy , multimedia , sociology , psychology , business , social science , marketing , mathematical analysis , mathematics , relationship marketing , psychotherapist , marketing management
This paper presents an analysis of 200 memes about contentsubscription platform OnlyFans to discover that the platform imaginary is of heterosexualwomen posting adult, or Not Safe For Work (NSFW) content. This platform imaginary contrastswith OnlyFans' corporate communication, which insists that OnlyFans is for influencers ofall kinds. This challenges the platform imaginary, revealing two main strategies for thisemerging platform. First, that it would like to be known as a broader platform than just forNSFW content creators – despite the platform imaginary that sets up an expectation of seeingnude and lewd content. Second, that OnlyFans is not a “home base” or core platform fromwhich to create a profile and make connections. OnlyFans does not act as an independentsocial media platform, but as one of many layers.