Youtubers: identification and reasons for liking of the audience

Abstract

Nowadays, youtubers have become role models, especially for young people.  This article examines the interactions of the followers of successful Spanish youtubers in terms of comment and topic, identification, and reasons for liking them. For this purpose, audience comments on the videos of 10 successful Spanish youtubers were analysed, selected from an exploratory study based on the following criteria: influencers active on YouTube and Instagram, age (18-30 years), sexual orientation, notoriety (between 200,000 and 34 million on the YouTube channel) and thematic variety of their channel. Through content analysis of 1000 comments, the arguments and common elements provided by the followers have been identified. The results show, on one hand, that identification with youtubers emerges as an important category, expressly, aspirational identification and similarity with influencers, and, on the other hand, that followers value, especially, the humour and personality of the youtuber, followed by the physical attractiveness, and, to a lesser extent, the intelligence and wealth/success. The interest in further research into the impact of influencers on the education of young people is underlined, both through the analysis of their content and representations, as well as their reception and interpretation.