What was the appeal of lonelygirl15 to internet viewers

So fans began signing up at lonelygirl Sleuths noticed the site had actually been registered before Bree even started posting — in fact it had been registered by Beckett and Flinders. The theories spread far and wide. Other people thought it could be promo for a horror film. When faux-documentarian Brian Flemming wrote a blog post theorising it was all a hoax, fans started wondering if he was actually behind it all.

Journalists from several organisations joined the hunt for Bree, and, if anything, the speculation helped the videos become even more popular. It was intense. Some analysed the flora in videos of Daniel and Bree hiking. Others were trying to prove the whole thing was filmed on a soundstage, claiming background noises in her videos were implanted.

They were also convinced the lighting was just too good to not be professional — even though the team in reality used a semi-broken desk lamp and natural light from a window.

Behind the scenes, the creators were constantly trying to keep one step ahead of the press and online detectives. While the whole thing was exciting, Beckett remembers it being pretty stressful. No one was making money from online video at that point. They just wanted their project to be popular.

We never lied, we just put it out there. When people asked us if it was real or not, we never responded, we just let it ride. As the summer drew to a close, three members of the forum started a group chat away from the site to try and dig up direct proof Lonelygirl15 was fake. One embedded an IP tracker on a fake Myspace profile and messaged Bree. The jig was up, sort of, and Lonelygirl15 was front page news.

Both Foremskis had been watching everything unfold with interest. So Matt did a little digging. After searching her Myspace username, he uncovered a cached version of the page.

Eventually, he managed to scrape together enough information to verify this was her. It was time to come clean. What followed was a whirlwind of press attention around the world. For Rose, the unveiling was quite a lot to deal with.

How is this going to be perceived? After speaking to the LA Times , they held a press conference — a surreal situation for all involved. Abu-Taleb remembers turning up so early, organisers thought he was actually there to help set up.

Fears about a huge backlash ended up being unfounded. As with the speculation, the reveal gave the show an even bigger profile. I think I was a little bit green and probably needed to have a few more years acting under my belt. After the reveal, Lonelygirl15 ran for just over two years. Rose stayed on for a year before her character was killed off. Abu-Taleb remained for all odd episodes, as the series delved into alternate reality gaming, taking fan engagement to the next level.

There was also a UK spin-off and a sequel called Lonelygirl the Resistance. The team did go on to make money from Lonelygirl15, becoming the first YouTube series to feature product placement. The money from one deal with Neutrogena was enough to fund an entire season. In the 10 years since Lonelygirl15 began, more people have gone on to create successful, and profitable, web series.

In , it won an Emmy. Rose is still acting and lives in Australia now with her fiance and her dog. But I miss Bree, I miss that world. Abu-Taleb now produces his own videos. At least I am. I asked them if they think something like Lonelygirl15 could happen again, perhaps on one of the myriad other video platforms which now existalongside YouTube. They were all pretty sceptical. Although I should note — around the time we spoke, someone released a horror film in real time on Snapchat , inspired partly by Lonelygirl But that was starring an already well-known YouTube star with thousands of Snapchat friends, rather than starting from scratch.

The videos and the ideas that sprouted from them brought to mind Lost and The Da Vinci Code , and although the audience for lg15 was still smaller than for either of those, its passion was as strong. Everyone had basically assumed that to be the case. But the fans were dying to know the rest of the story not only of Bree and Daniel and her religious rites and strict parents, but also of how The Creators managed to hook us on it, how they got our attention and what their objectives were.

The videos were an internet equivalent and the audience was eager to see it unraveled. We were taken in by the magic but at the same time, we needed to know how it had been conjured. The internet has been the site of a zillion hoaxes , but there is something unusual about this one. It comes during this cycle of greater democratization and interactivity, with media users and makers coming together like never before. Video Blog on You Tube. With Scissors. Reading Viral Marketing for Dummies.

Works Cited Adler, Shawn. MTV Networks. Richards, Jonathan. Times Newspapers Ltd. Rushfield, Richard. Not any Longer. Los Angeles Times. Sternbergh, Adam. New York Magazine Holdings.

On the one hand, I believe that we can learn a great deal about the nature of online identity through such exercises. Its opened my eyes to the potential for deception not only in the arena of online entertainment, but also in the online social networks that have blossomed in the past year. I wonder, would it be immoral to assign students to create their own phony vlogs so as to further this grand experiment? Seriously, would it kill vloggers to use a fill light every now and then?

Elliot, I disagree with it being spam. Spam is annoying in that it has no real value and is just an ad. Over the next three months, two dozen more videos hit the Web, spaced out every few days.

Fans soon started to notice jarring details. A music clip from an undiscovered L. Her room was movie-set neat. Above her bookshelf hung a photo of famed occultist Aleister Crowley. Thin already, Bree talked about an upcoming religious ceremony that she would participate in, even though it involved going on a diet.

On the message boards, discussions revolved around the single shoot theory: that the videos must have been filmed in one batch, because they gave little or no nod to the furor erupting around them. The landscape of two outdoor videos had botanical clues that suggested Southern California. In late August, fans discovered that the Web address for lonelygirl In early September, Web forums erupted with the news that lonelygirl15 had been trademarked and the application filed by an Encino lawyer named Kenneth Goodfried.

He declined to comment for this article. Independent film director and blogger Brian Flemming, who is known for creating edgy film events, became wrapped into the story when viewers became convinced that Flemming had constructed the whole thing in order to promote an upcoming film.

In the last week, the videos have developed seemingly ominous themes. Judging a contest is a purple monkey puppet, who holds up scores for each cookie recipe. Viewers immediately asked: Why 06 and not just 6? Soon, a posting told the virtual crowd that Aleister Crowley was born on October 12, But the most compelling mystery has become who is behind lonelygirl15, and fans soon became proactive in trying to solve that bigger puzzle.