Working In The Digital Space: An Ethnography Of The Practices Of Female Content Creators In Aek Bange Village, Asahan Regency

Abstract

This study aims to determine the factors that motivate women to become content creators, describe women's practices in creating social media content, and analyze the challenges faced by women in content-creating activities in Aek Bange Village, Asahan Regency. The phenomenon of women being active as content creators on social media indicates a change in social practices in rural communities along with the development of digital technology. The method used is qualitative research with an ethnographic approach through participant observation, in-depth interviews, field notes, and documentation. The results show that there are several factors that encourage women to become content creators, namely the desire to earn additional income through Facebook Pro, the influence of the social environment, developing creativity, filling free time, expanding networks, and utilizing daily activities as social media content. The creative practice is carried out by recording daily activities, such as sewing, trading, household management, and creating entertainment content, then editing and uploading them to social media using smartphones with simple equipment. In this practice, women also build interactions with audiences through comments, the number of views, and followers as part of their digital activities. Nevertheless, female content creators face various challenges, such as limited time due to domestic roles, difficulty in acquiring content ideas, limited facilities and technical capabilities, a time-consuming monetization process, low viewership, and psychological pressure due to negative comments and comparisons with other content creators. Based on Pierre Bourdieu's Theory of Social Practice, women's creative practices as content creators are the result of an interaction between habitus, capital, and the social media arena that shapes rural women's strategies in building identity, creativity, and gaining economic opportunities in the digital era