When millions of users scroll through the latest YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok videos every day, one aspect is often overlooked: For many who create and share content, this is no longer just a hobby. On the contrary, content production has long become work for many YouTubers, influencers, and podcasters. The same applies to people who take on micro-jobs as clickworkers—many of them even make a living through tasks and content on digital platforms.
Dr. Matthias Begenat discusses the characteristics of this type of work, its employment structures, and working conditions on CAISzeit with Dr. Sophie Rosenbohm and Dr. Fabian Hoose from the Institute for Work and Qualification (IAQ) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. The two researchers collaborate in various contexts and are jointly working on the project “Boundless Work on the Web: Blogging and Vlogging as New Digital Forms of Work.”
Recommendations on the Topic
Research
- Dolata, U. (2024). Industrieplattformen. Eine neue Form der Handlungskoordination in der Wirtschaft. SOI discussion paper 2024-01. Stuttgart: Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. https://www.sowi.uni-stuttgart.de/dokumente/forschung/soi/soi_2024_1_Dolata.Industrieplattformen.pdf
- Dolata, U., Schrape, JF. Internet, Big Data und digitale Plattformen: Politische Ökonomie – Kommunikation – Regulierung. Köln Z Soziol 74 (Suppl 1), 1–9 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11577-022-00843-6
- Duffy, B. E., Pinch, A., Sannon, S., & Sawey, M. (2021). The Nested Precarities of Creative Labor on Social Media. Social Media + Society, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211021368
- Poell, T., Nieborg, D. B., & Duffy, B. E. (2022). Platforms and cultural production. Polity Press.
- Pongratz, H. J. (2023). Plattformarbeit: Zwischenbilanz und Perspektiverweiterung. WSI-Mitteilungen, 76(5), 355–364. https://doi.org/10.5771/0342-300X-2023-5-355
Documentation
- WDR (2023). Off-Cam: So ticken deutsche Twitch-Stars. Verfügbar unter: https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/menschen-hautnah/off-cam-so-ticken-deutsche-twitch-stars/wdr/Y3JpZDovL3dkci5kZS9CZWl0cmFnLXNvcGhvcmEtYTA0OWEwYWEtZGM3MC00ZjZjLTk4OTctYmU5ZWJlMGE4MzFk