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5. DISCUSSION 5.1. Main findings This study started with the following research question: ‘What role do YouTubers play in the life of their teenage viewers and how do YouTubers assess their own influences and experiences?’ Interviews were used to collect data about experiences and personal opinions from both Dutch teenagers and YouTubers. The results show that YouTube has become part of the daily lives of teenagers. Teenagers watch YouTube videos daily and are more fans of YouTubers than traditional stars. This was also found in previous research. Defy Media (2015) and Variety Magazine (2014) showed that teenagers nowadays consume more digital content from sites like YouTube with an average of 11 hours a week and are more likely to identify with YouTubers than with traditional movie stars. However, although YouTube plays such a big role in the lives of teenagers, the results also showed that many parents do not know what their children are doing online. They do not know who their favorite YouTubers are, what kind of content teenagers are exposed to, what fan chats they are active in and how this affects the behavior of their children. For example, it was found that YouTubers get a lot of messages from fans. Most of the time these messages are positive, but sometimes they are full with hate and threats. Teenagers think they are anonymous online and can therefore say whatever they want. Parents often do not know about this behavior. The results also show that teenagers feel more attracted to YouTubers than traditional TV celebrities. They imitate things YouTubers do, such as wearing the same clothes and make-up, using the same humor and fillers and in some cases they also copy bad behavior and make mischief. These findings are consistent with previous literature. Although the social cognitive theory is older and used in traditional marketing, it can also be applied in today’s world of social influencers. According to the social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986), people learn by observing others. People copy behavior from models like YouTubers when they perceive themselves similar to the YouTuber (McLeod, 2016) and when a YouTuber possesses qualities that they adore. Nowadays many teenagers want to become YouTubers themselves. However, parents often disallow their children to start a YouTube channel because they are afraid their child will get bullied and because the whole world can see them. On the other hand, teenagers can learn a lot from making videos. It encourages creativity, trains new media skills, is good for the self-confidence of teenagers who are insecure, they meet a lot of new people and it can become more than just a hobby. Results show that YouTubers influence the buying behavior of teenagers. Teenagers think Youtubers are honest about the products they promote and often want to buy things that YouTubers have. This finding corresponds to previous research. Consumers copy others in the decision making process (Brown & Hayes, 2008, p. 32) and social influencers are used to spread messages rapidly among their loyal followers. They are influential in encouraging trial and adoption of new products and services (Subramani & Rajagopalan, 2003) and seen as authentic when reviewing a product or brand (Influencer Marketing, 2012). Results also show that YouTubers have influence on other behavior than the buying behavior. Most of the time this influence is positive: teenagers learn new tips and tricks from do-it-yourself tutorials, they know the latest trends, many teenagers feel happy after watching videos and they get advice about topics that might be hard to talk about like for example bullying and sexual education. However, some YouTubers create content that might have a less positive influence, like bad language or making mischief. Lastly results showed that teenagers are not aware of the influence YouTubers have on them. Although many of the teenagers state that YouTubers do not have influence on them, they have bought products based on YouTubers’ recommendations and copied their behavior. They also think they recognize sponsored content right away, but when they were asked about the goal of a sponsored message, they did not mention promotion. This is consistent with previous research that Next to teenagers themselves, also many parents are unaware of the influence YouTubers have on the behavior of teenagers. Further research could focus on guidelines for parents whose teenagers are active on YouTube. The general advice of this research is that parents should know more about their teenagers’ behavior on YouTube. They should know what their children do on YouTube, what kind of videos they watch and make rules about what is allowed and what is not allowed. Many parents do not know about the hateful messages teenagers send to YouTubers. It is important that parents talk to teenagers about their online behavior and actions. Parents can keep an found that children do not have the ability to distinguish advertisements from reality. As a result, young children are often deceived into believing something that is false (Moore & Lutz, 2000). W.M. WESTENBERG MSC THESIS - INFLUENCE OF YOUTUBERS ON TEENAGERS 26PDF Image | The influence of YouTubers on teenagers
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