A few years ago, the new internet hype called Web 2.0 appeared, resulting in a big shift from using internet relatively passive and consuming, to a hype of networking as a revolutionary type of large scale cooperation and economic democracy. This big shift towards user-driven technologies such as blogs, video-sharing platforms and social networks enabled a revolution of User-Generated Content (UGC). UGC refers to all the various media content created or produced by the public, excluding paid professionals. UGC can be described as the process of ‘extracting value by generating, reviewing, editing and disseminating content’. This revolution of UGC is now being referred to as social media. 

UGC is also stated to be the next iteration of Word-of-Mouth (WOM). Traditional (offline) WOM has proven to play a major role in customers’ decision-making process. The so-called eWOM is any positive or negative statement made by (potential) customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet. Consumers can share their own experiences and opinions online, increasing the unbiased product information people gather from other consumers online.

People are now able to create their own content and participate in all kinds of applications such as weblogs, social networking and online journalism. Some users create online content on a daily basis. They share their experiences and opinions about everything; from product reviews, services and baby advice to boyfriend problems, homework, make up and game tutorials. Often starting as a hobby, creating online content on a personal blog or channel can become a fulltime job. By creating content on a daily basis, large communities are built up with thousands of loyal followers. New followers and subscribers are gained every day. YouTube is one of the most popular platforms on which creators share their content. With one single video it is possible to reach millions of people. Other popular channels are Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, Facebook and Twitter. These platforms are used for real-time contact with YouTube subscribers, as this is not possible on YouTube itself. 

Successful content creators become social influencers with a lot of persuasive influence. Their influence and fame can be compared with traditional celebrities. The content they share via social media has influence on the viewers, for example on viewers who are looking for product information to support their purchasing decisions. Although YouTube is used by all ages, the platform is very popular among teenagers. According to a research by Defy Media (2015), 96% of the youngsters aged between 13 and 24 regularly use YouTube. They consume online videos via social media sites for an average of 11 hours a week, making it their most popular website. This popularity is reflected again in the amount of YouTubers that focus on teenagers. The influence YouTubers have on the behavior of teenagers is increasingly unprecedented. They are seen as role models and often recognized in the streets by their fans. However, outside this online world, YouTubers are just as normal as most people. 

Parents often do not know about the online behavior of their children and the YouTubers that children endorse. This results in confusing moments when fans enthusiastically recognize their favorite YouTuber while other people do not know who this particular YouTuber is. A well-known Dutch beauty YouTuber explained that when she is in public, fans recognize her from YouTube. Full of excitement they ask to take a picture together. However, the other people walking by are confused and do not know why these young teenagers want to take pictures together. This example shows the unknown impact of social influencers on youngsters of which most adults do not even know the existence. 

Although there already is research available on the influence of traditional media on youngsters, it is interesting to know what influence YouTubers have on teenagers and whether this influence is good or bad. Until this point,only little has been studied about the influence of YouTubers on teenagers. Previous research mostly concerned participatory cultures on YouTube, reviewing platforms of which YouTube is only a part of several more platforms or the difference between YouTube and watching traditional television.

Moreover, few studies were conducted in Europe and often limited on the US. Consequently, the present research takes both the perspective of viewers and YouTubers into account and combines them within four themes. Therefore, the research question of this research is as following: ‘What role do YouTubers play in the life of their teenage viewers and how do YouTubers assess their own influences and experiences?’ The aim of this research is to give an overview of the current YouTube community, including what influence Dutch YouTubers have on their teenage viewers, what this means for teenagers and to what extent this influence on their life is good or bad. 

The research focuses on both the perception of teenagers and the experience of YouTubers themselves and combines both results. The research investigates what changes in behavior occur, how teenagers identify with YouTubers and how YouTubers think about their influence on teenagers. Additionally, the interviews investigate whether the life of a YouTuber really is as beautiful as it looks in their videos and whether teenagers know how real everything in their videos is. 

The following four themes guide throughout the research: (1) Behavior; how teenagers behave on YouTube and what role YouTubers play in their life, (2) identification with YouTubers; how much teenagers identify with their favorite YouTubers and want to be like them, (3) influences; what influence YouTubers have on the behavior of teenagers and (4) awareness; how aware teenagers are of the influence and the commercial market behind YouTubers. 

(Adapted from https://essay.utwente.nl/71094/1/Westenberg_MA_BMS.pdf

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