KSI Became my Best Friend Through Para-Social Relationships.
Perry Rice
Introduction:
Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji more commonly known as JJ or KSI (Knowledge strength integrity) is a UK YouTuber who registered his first youtube account in 2008 under the name “jidejunior” when he was a young teenager. Later in July of 2009, JJ made his primary account “KSIOlajideBT” filming gaming commentary and skit videos in his parent’s house in Watford he became popular primarily from FIFA gaming videos. In 2012 is when he expanded his range of content production to vlog-style videos and made videos of multiple games instead of just FIFA videos this is when his channel reached 1 million subscribers. Later In October of 2013 is when KSi signed with Maker Studios’ sub-network, Polaris. He then in 2013 joined a group of British YouTubers called the sidemen which consisted of Josh, Ethan, Harry, Vik, Simon, and Tobi where they became one of the most successful groups on the platform. Later KSI dropped out of sixth-form college to pursue his youtube career in 2014 when he was earning 1,500$ a month from his uploads. This is when we would see a launch in production where content diversified and KSI’s brand expanded from vlog and Gaming commentary to multiple forms of media not exclusively video content but all kinds of creation.
Music, Boxing, and Merchandise: KSI beyond YouTube
KSi is now known for many things he has done since starting youtube, In 2014 KSI and the group Sidemen started selling and distributing merchandise. KSI went on In 2015 to publish a biography about himself that he titled KSI I Am a Bellend in the UK and later released it in the United States. Later in march of 2015, he dropped his first song titled “Lamborghini” featuring MC P Money through the production studio with Dcypha. Then In November 2015, he produced his second song which he titled “Keep Up” which he made with Jme, and went on to produce a full EP in January 2016 with the production studio island records. In 2016 Ksi and the sidemen published Sidemen The Book. Ksi went on in October of the same produced his second EP titled Jump Around with the same producer Island Records. The third EP KSI produced titled Space released in June 2017 which he made independently, KSI then went on that same year to produce his fourth EP in October of 2017 which he titled Disstracktions. Then KSI produced yet another single he made on February 2018 titled “uncontrollable” which was the song he used for his boxing match ring walk during the Joe Weller fight that he hosted on February 2018 at the copper box arena in London which resulted in a win for KSI in the third round by technical knockout. Later that same year he announced that he would be fighting American YouTuber Logan Paul which ended in a majority draw, They both agreed to a rematch to be held on November 2019 at staples which was a professional fight unlike the first fights and the result was a split decision seeing KSI defeat Logan Paul.
KSI then went back to creating music where later in April of 2019 he realized his first collaborative album with fellow YouTuber Randolph that they titled “New Age” and to take his career to the next level he signed with the record label RBC records with BMG with association with his new label in May 2020 he dropped his debut studio album that he titled dissimulation. Following the success of his first studio album KSI and his manager, Mams Taylor created their own record label called The Online Takeover and announced the first artist they would sign who was an American-British singer Aiyana-Lee after this KSI debuted his second studio album called All Over The Place. Following his second studio album, his record label The Online Takeover signed their second artist Yxng Dave. Ksi then decided to switch labels and ended up signing with Atlantic Record and Warner UK. He then planned his next boxing match between himself and Alex Wassabi but due to conflicts in scheduling Swarmz had to replace Alex and was held under KSI boxing company Misfits Boxing where Ksi again won in the second round via KO. That same night KSi was poised to fight a second opponent Ivan Nikolov who had to get replaced due to complications and was replaced by professional boxer Luis Alcaraz. The result of the second fight was a third-round KO seeing KSI as the victor. Then KSI announced his fourth fight under Misfits and is poised to fight Dillion Danis in November 2022 in Wembley arena. KSI along with the sidemen launched a clothing brand, vodka, A chain restaurant, and a subscription service all under the sidemen brand. This man has truly done it all, achieving all of this in the same decade making him one of the most watched and liked influencers on youtube with a more dynamic style than most of the creators of his time. The reason that he was popular isn’t because of all the things he managed to accomplish but what made him likable was a genuine no filtered personality that showed his true colors nothing he created didn’t feel like it wasn’t him and that is what brought me to his videos, the free form content where he wasn’t afraid to be weird or say things that were stupid is what made it so great because it truly felt like there was no acting he truly enjoyed what he does.
Para-social Relationships.
To understand further what made him so popular we first have to understand the concept of parasocial relationships as defined by Horton and Wohl can be simply described as the illusion of face-to-face interaction between the performer and the viewer. This is a relationship where it is not mutually controlled the audience participates by viewing the content and to what level they interact with it is how they so choose if they want to stop watching they can but they have no control over what is the topic of conversation. The performer of the content has all the power to interact and address the viewer by whatever means they so choose; this is described by Horton and Wohl as “one-sided, non-dialectical, controlled by the performer, and not susceptible of mutual development” (Horton, D. and Wohl, R. R. (1956): ‘Mass Communication and Para-social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance’) this means that control over the production and interaction with the audience is solely in control by the performer and is not open for changes, debate, or interaction the only power the viewer has is whether they watch or they don’t.
This relationship is defined by the performer but participated in by the viewer with little to no back and forth between the two. This makes it so that the performer has to captivate and construct a means to attract audience participation from viewing the content produced. The way in which a performer constructs this is nonlinear there is not necessarily a means to create without an audience to participate so the way in which these relationships are made is based on what the performer creates and how people feel and react to said performance hopefully creating a mutual understanding or similarity from the point of the viewer to the perspectives that the creator believe in.
Para-social relationships are created by the interactions and reactions that we the audience experience when we feel connected or a part of someone’s life even though we have never met them. This relationship is interesting because as a creator you are addressing the audience as a whole acknowledging your following as a conglomerate rather than individuals in the eyes of the audience they know that this is created by a single person to a wide range of demographics but it still gives a sense of connection because they don’t see millions of people watching the video it is just you and the creator.
The idea that people can feel connected to a person they have never met is not new. It is something we have seen with many musical artists and tv show hosts but for their audience, it was less intimate with their music and broadcast not typically addressing anyone specifically but more so a relationship that people feel with common emotions or experiences that most people share in life. The difference with video content is it allows for a deeper sense of understanding because they are right in front of you addressing you the viewer directly this creates a deeper emotional connection for people.
Analysis Part 1: Para-social Interaction (media content).
Para-social interaction is defined by Horton and Wohl as being the interaction the performer does with the audience to invoke a response from the audience, the more a performer addresses the audience the more the audience will respond to the actions of the performer this is known as the para-social interaction. KSI in his early days on YouTube would produce a para-social connection with his viewers by making an authentic energy to his content he would come off as who he truly is and that style of no filter is what drove people to love the content that he made. He also fostered this by using a personal setting that being his room you could see everything in it even his bed which brought about a sense of closeness when you are presented in this kind of space where you really see a level of transparency to his life. The use of family in his early videos really did make it feel as if you are extremely close to him almost like you are his best friend you get to see his living space his family life and even the dynamic in his household, along with his style of talk that is open and honest broadened this connection between performer and viewer. His later productions still held true to a similar style; he still talks with little to no filter and continues to film in his room but now his content has more of a focus on the interaction between him and his audience. The new style of production that he uses now is reactions to fan pages like Reddit and Twitter where he will have interactions with his audience.
Analysis Part 2: Para-proxemics (media form)
The idea of para-proxemics was first coined by Stuart Hall who states it as “to describe man’s spatial behavior patterns. Man’s perception and use of space are apparently biologically based, but they are modified by culture. Thus while people everywhere respond to spatial cues, each culture tends to organize space in its own specific way”(Meyrowitz, J. (1986) Televisual and Interpersonal Behavior: Codes of Perception and Response). Para-Proxemics is the use of spatial distance in a shot to create a different sense of emotion and closeness of the viewer with the subject of the frame, the closer they place the viewer the more intimate connection the viewer will experience due to the idea of spatial distance and relationships. The distance can be represented in four specific ranges 0–1 foot is intimate for people who are lovers or intimate, 2–4 feet is for close friends or family members, 5–11 would be social setting or for friends and associates, beyond 11 is a public setting in which people who are strangers reside. This ideology is one that can be replicated in the way creators place and interact with their camera the closer the shot is to one’s face the more intimate and connected the audience will feel and especially with a lot of focus on eye contact to the lens of the camera it embodies someone looking at you creating the illusion of conversation.
KSI uses this concept of para-proxemic relationship by producing his content with him in the forefront right in the middle of the shot with the camera in the range of personal and sometimes intimate shots. The way in which he has done this for years with his style of talk creates a deep feeling of connection between you the viewer and KSI the performer. The placement and positioning of his camera have not changed much over the years besides increased production value with higher quality audio and video The consistency with his style and placing himself in this manner with his very free form of the topic of conversation have allowed him to bring the audience closer to him by exposing weird, funny, and stupid things that he has said and done. The use of self-embarrassment and laughter helps bridge the barrier because you feel as if he not only talks freely but also says things that could affect his face value but instead it enriches the audience’s sense of closeness and connection. The selling point to his content that ties all these aspects of closeness together is the way in which he produces himself making videos where the authenticity is top notch speaking freely but not using socially damaging statements wall he talks freely he also knows that his content reaches millions and that with that he has an innate responsibility to not indulge his audience with inappropriate views on life.
Implications (Content/Form Interaction)
Para-social relationships and interactions that we see on youtube are interesting to analyze because I feel as though this form of interaction is far more personal and intimate for most viewers this is due to the nature of youtube content vs the way tv shows are produced. Tv shows place you the audience member normally in the distance of society not typically shown in personal or intimate angles as well as in tv shows the positioning of the performers is much more like watching an interaction between two people rather than you being a part of the interaction. Youtube content mainly focuses on the interaction of the creator and they are addressing the audience more as well as talking and positioning themselves as if they are sitting facing you and making eye contact. This is not the case with all the YouTubers on the platform; many follow different styles but similar qualities are pretty standard to see in most content that focuses on the viewer rather than the performer focusing on themselves. KSI with respect to the way in which he creates content follows these qualities and uses them to continue to build the connection with his fans, using this KSI has marketed several projects to his audience such as books, clothing, alcohol, subscriptions services, and a restaurant the large following and deep connection that he creates has allowed for all these projects to see great success and he continues to profit from these forms of creation. KSi has been able to achieve great success in his career and in multiple forms in part, this is because he did such a great job over the years curating and creating a loyal fan base that is deeply invested in his life.
Conclusion.
The world of para-social relationships is more prevalent now than ever. We have seen a drastic shift in the form of media and content produced this has allowed these phenomena to be more relevant than ever with most if not everyone having a connection to an online persona. The way in which we view and react to different forms of media is drastically shifting from the connection of people to tv show hosts. It is now a deeply rooted personal connection that makes people experience performers in ways we have never seen before. The new age of media has shown us that these connections that are created through para-social interaction can be stronger and more intricate than previously seen due to means of production and a sense of amateur and authentic production. The way in which new media allows this deeper connection and interaction from viewer to creator has made it so people can feel more connected to performers than their real-life friends. New media forms are a powerhouse for building this connection and we may see in the future an even deeper connection and the relation between a viewer and performer.
Reference List:
Horton, D. and Wohl, R. R. (1956): ‘Mass Communication and Para-social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance’, Psychiatry 19: 215–29
Meyrowitz, J. (1986) Televisual and Interpersonal Behavior: Codes of Perception and Response. In Inter/Media: Interpersonal Communication in a Media World
Meyrowitz, J. (2008). “From Distant Heroes to Intimate Friends”. In Susan Drucker and Gary Gumpert, (Eds.), Heroes in a Global World, Hampton Press, 2008, 99–128.
Abidin, C. (2015) Communicative ❤ intimacies: Influencers and Perceived Interconnectedness. Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, №8