ABSTRACT
With the availability of various digital technologies, production, consumption and participation in relation to media content have been radically altered. Specifically, social media have transformed the current media landscape by creating new channels for mass-self communication and interaction. From text messaging to live streaming, social media platforms have developed a new networked culture by offering different socio-technical affordances to their users. Media users are now able to participate, engage and share media content with diverse people. The main focus of this chapter is to critically examine how a group of villagers in South India turned themselves into popular content creators on YouTube. These rural media makers produce videos based on their everyday life experiences in the village through vlogs (short scripted entertainment videos). Some of these videos went viral and drew the attention of mainstream media. Media visibility and YouTube popularity led them to acquire massive online followership and stardom and attain upward mobility. Overall, this chapter analyses how the production of grassroots video cultures and emerging village media makers in rural South India articulate alterative narratives, reshape online cultures and become part of global social media entertainment and creative practices.
