YouTubers' social functions and their influence on pre-adolescence

Aran-Ramspott, Sue and Fedele, Maddalena and Tarragó, Anna YouTubers' social functions and their influence on pre-adolescence. Comunicar, 2018, vol. 26, n. 57, pp. 71-80. [Journal article (Paginated)]

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English abstract

This study focuses on the relationship between preadolescents and youtubers, with the objective of observing how tweens integrate youtubers as referents of a teen digital culture. From a socio-psychological and communicological perspective, a mixed methodological design was applied to carry out the audience study, which was divided into two parts: a quantitative analysis of the audience via a survey administered to 1,406 eleven-twelve year old students of Catalan Secondary Schools, and a qualitative analysis of the preadolescence audience using three focus groups. The quantitative data was analysed with SPSS and the qualitative data with the help of the Atlas.ti software. The results demonstrate that tweens consider youtubers as referents for entertainment and for closeness to a teen digital culture, but not really as a role models or bearers of values as influencers. Also, preadolescents show some dimensions of Media Literacy, since they recognise youtubers’ commercial strategies and their role as actors and professionals. The study notes gender bias in some aspects, and is an introduction to observation of the social functions of youtubers amongst teenagers, individuals who are in the process of constructing their identity and on the point of becoming young adults.

Spanish abstract

El presente estudio se centra en la relación entre preadolescentes y youtubers, con el objetivo de observar cómo los primeros integran a los youtubers como referentes de una cultura digital juvenil. Desde una perspectiva sociopsicológica y comunicativa, se aplicó un diseño metodológico mixto para llevar a cabo el estudio de audiencia, organizado en dos partes: un análisis cuantitativo de la audiencia a través de un cuestionario administrado a 1.406 estudiantes de once-doce años de institutos en Cataluña, y un análisis cualitativo de la audiencia preadolescente a partir de tres «focus group». Los datos cuantitativos se analizaron con SPSS y los cualitativos con la ayuda del programa Atlas.ti. Los resultados demuestran que los preadolescentes consideran a los youtubers como referentes para el entretenimiento y por su proximidad a una cultura digital juvenil, pero no realmente como modelos o portadores de valores en tanto que «influencers». Además, los preadolescentes muestran alguna dimensión de Alfabetización Mediática, al identificar las estrategias comerciales de los youtubers y sus roles profesionales. El estudio da cuenta de un sesgo de género en algunos aspectos, y resulta una introducción a la observación sobre las funciones sociales de los youtubers entre los adolescentes, personas que están en pleno proceso de construcción de sus identidades y a punto de convertirse en jóvenes adultos.

Item type: Journal article (Paginated)
Keywords: Teens; adolescent; YouTube; youtubers; youth identity; values; social media; digital culture; Preadolescentes; adolescente; YouTube; youtubers; identidad juvenil; valores; medios de comunicación social; cultura digital
Subjects: B. Information use and sociology of information > BJ. Communication
G. Industry, profession and education.
G. Industry, profession and education. > GH. Education.
Depositing user: Alex Ruiz
Date deposited: 25 Mar 2019 19:21
Last modified: 25 Mar 2019 19:21
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/33830

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