Commodification of Labor on the Instagram Account @menjadimanusia.id

Abstract

@menjadimanusia.id is an alternative media and social platform for those who want to share and hear stories about life from various perspectives, and are expected to be a ladder to get a speck of hope for those who have problems in life. In this case, there is subtle exploitation of the audience who are already interested and feel facilitated by the @menjadimanusia.id site that they voluntarily share their concerns, as well as their personal stories for public consumption. This study aims to reveal the forms and processes of commodification experienced by the audiences who send their personal stories to the @menjadimanusia.id account. It uses a critical paradigm with a descriptive-qualitative approach through content analysis and interviews by developing political economy communication through the commodification of labor as a theoretical framework. The findings suggested that the commodification occurs in the content production process by the @menjadimanusia.id account which places the audience's as the main source of the content. The form of commodification experienced by the audience is the exploitation of content owners and unpaid digital labor.