Zimmermann, Daniel ORCID: 0000-0003-3311-4138, Noll, Christian, Grässer, Lars, Hugger, Kai-Uwe, Braun, Lea Marie, Nowak, Tine and Kaspar, Kai ORCID: 0000-0002-5092-6798 (2020). Influencers on YouTube: a quantitative study on young people's use and perception of videos about political and societal topics. Curr. Psychol.. pp. 6808-6824. NEW YORK: SPRINGER. ISSN 1936-4733

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Abstract

The roles of YouTube videos and YouTubers for getting information about political and societal topics are becoming gradually more important to young people. Quantitative research about young people's use and perception of YouTube-videos and their potential effects on opinion formation is sparse though. This cross-sectional quantitative study addresses this empirical gap. We examined young people's analytic-critical evaluations of YouTubers and their videos about political and societal topics (YTPS-videos), and how these are affected by the young people's age and gender. We analysed questionnaire data of 562 participants and divided them into three different age groups. Overall, the participants reported a moderate watching frequency of YTPS-videos. They also rated YTPS-videos as moderately credible and considered specific characteristics of YTPS-videos and their producers as being moderately indicative for fake news. When comparing to traditional TV news, YTPS-videos were perceived as more entertaining, emotional, funny, exciting, modern, and motivating but also as more subjective and manipulating. Regarding YouTubers, the participants ascribed them an important role model function, but criticised them for handling it rather irresponsibly. Concerning opinion formation processes, the participants reported of a rather unimportant role of YTPS-videos for their learning about political and societal topics. They also perceived themselves as less influenceable than other peers and younger people. Still, they prefer talking with friends instead of teachers about YTPS-videos. Age and gender also had effects on various scales. These results deliver essential data for future research and educational measures and opened up unexplored areas in this research field.

Item Type: Journal Article
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCIDORCID Put Code
Zimmermann, DanielUNSPECIFIEDorcid.org/0000-0003-3311-4138UNSPECIFIED
Noll, ChristianUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Grässer, LarsUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Hugger, Kai-UweUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Braun, Lea MarieUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Nowak, TineUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Kaspar, KaiUNSPECIFIEDorcid.org/0000-0002-5092-6798UNSPECIFIED
URN: urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-311186
DOI: 10.1007/s12144-020-01164-7
Journal or Publication Title: Curr. Psychol.
Page Range: pp. 6808-6824
Date: 2020
Publisher: SPRINGER
Place of Publication: NEW YORK
ISSN: 1936-4733
Language: English
Faculty: Faculty of Human Sciences
Divisions: Faculty of Human Sciences > Department Psychologie
Weitere Institute, Arbeits- und Forschungsgruppen > Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für empirische LehrerInnen- und Unterrichtsforschung (IZeF)
Subjects: Psychology
Uncontrolled Keywords:
KeywordsLanguage
SOCIAL MEDIA; ADVERTISING LITERACY; CREDIBILITY; PARTICIPATION; ADOLESCENTS; CHILDRENSMultiple languages
Psychology, MultidisciplinaryMultiple languages
Refereed: Yes
URI: http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/31118

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