Analyzing Participatory Intimacy Ecology on YouTube Family Vlogs through the Vlog-Family Relational Model (VFRM)

Abstract

This study introduces the concept of a Participatory Intimacy Ecology, a mediated space where personal and familial intimacies are performed, shared, and negotiated through interactive digital platforms, emphasizing how audiences actively co-construct these intimacies to shape the circulation and meaning of family narratives. It proposes the Vlog-Family Relational Model (VFRM), a novel hybrid framework blending media studies, sociolinguistics, and digital ethnography to analyze relational dynamics in family vlogs. The research examines audience perceptions of Pakistani YouTube family vlogs by analyzing 8,000 comments from 20 videos posted by prominent Pakistani vloggers between 2024 and 2025. Using VFRM, the study maps dynamics of mediated intimacy, public-private convergence, algorithmic shaping, and commodification of kinship, audience-moral negotiation, and temporal narrative cycles. Findings reveal how audiences negotiate cultural, religious, and social norms through comments, addressing tensions around authenticity, gender roles, and commodification. Comment sections emerge as key spaces within this Participatory Intimacy Ecology, where viewers actively shape digital family narratives. This research advances digital media studies, offering insights into Pakistan’s socio-cultural dynamics and audience-driven narrative co-creation.