Spending patterns: The missing link between advertisers and consumers

Woman in stylish glasses representing a social media influencer

By Carrissa Bruneau, crbruneau21-geemail com

So just how do marketing teams go about hiring an influencer? They must pick the person with the most followers, right? Wrong, there are many driving factors when regarding influencer sponsorship success. However, the one element advertisers need to seriously start looking for when hiring successful influencers is their ability to connect with varying consumers and their causes for spending. Understanding consumer spending is a key factor when determining which brands will sponsor an influencer. 

To better understand consumer spending, an online survey was taken of 938 U.S. residents. Farrell, Cambell, and Sands found that these were the six prominent types of consumers and their annual spending averages.  

  • Silent Follower (20%) Annual $9.98 – People who have social media accounts, but rarely engage with influencers. 
  • Spontaneous Entertainment-Driven (13%) Annual $14.41 – Motivated by entertainment but rarely purchase or seek deals from influencers  
  • Influencer Unengaged (11%) Annual $17.03 – Very rarely engage with influencers at all. 
  • Idea Seeker (32%) Annual $50.47 – Moderately engaged with influencers and are inspired to follow for entertainment and inspiration. 
  • Super Fan (7%) Annual $126.48 – Follow a high number of influencers based on entertainment and attractiveness. 
  • Entertainment-Driven Inspiration Seeker (17%) Annual $207.38 – Highly engaged and view influencer content regularly. Make purchases based on influencer trust. 

The low spenders considered lurkers follow influencers that provide quality content for entertainment purposes. They get targeted with more general ads because their lack of engagement makes them hard to track. They spend less because they are not the general target. Moderate to high spenders are looking for high entertainment and high inspirations. This could be content centered around home décor, self-care, fashion, etc. Although reasons for following influencers are more specific, the yield of purchases is higher because the influencers are more in tune with what their fanbase wants. 

For advertisers looking to hire influencers to sell their products, look at their fanbase. Find influencers that attract consumers with different motivations instead of ones that target all consumers. Different influencers can address the different motivations of the consumers listed. The marketers that can hire influencers who leverage deal seeking, entertainment, and inspiration as mechanisms for connecting with audiences will be better off. Influencers with smaller followings with high engagement note a higher degree of trust placed on influencer recommendations. Super fans were the lowest percent of individuals in the survey, but they make up one of the highest spending groups. 

Accounts with a smaller more loyal fanbase show an increase in parasocial relationships. Parasocial relationships occur when the consumer feels emotionally connected to the creator. These relationships show an increase in purchase intentions and have a positive effect on consumerism. Attempting to target every demographic of consumer is not necessary if multiple influencers are selected to target specific loyal consumers.  

FARRELL, J. R., CAMPBELL, C., & SANDS, S. (2022). What Drives Consumers to Engage with Influencers? Segmenting Consumer Response to Influencers: Insights for Managing Social-Media Relationships. Journal of Advertising Research, 62(1), 35–48. https://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2137/10.2501/JAR-2021-017 

Image licensed by CC by 2.0 license, courtesy of www.songsimian.com

“Dear Black Men, It’s Okay Not to Be Okay…” 

By Brianna McMillan 

For Black men, speaking about poor mental health is seen as a sign of weakness, but celebrity and mass media discussions chip away at this harmful narrative.  

In this exploratory study, health communication researcher Diane Francis examined 1,482 tweets with the hashtag “#YouGoodMan” that arose as a result of Kid Cudi’s 2016 announcement on his depression diagnosis, which included having suicidal thoughts, and receiving treatment.  #YouGoodMan was created to check in on Black men and engage them in discussions about their mental health. This study asks the question, “What were Black men saying about their mental health in these conversations and what factors influenced them to speak up?” In these Twitter conversations, three main themes that the study emerged:  

  • Disclosure of mental health – Discussion of mental health conditions, diagnosis, medication, symptoms, and treatment. 
  • Supplying support online and offline –  
    • Emotional – Users showed large amounts of compassion and support toward Black men expressing their emotions and being vulnerable. 
    • Network – Discussion of how these men are not alone, community is accessible on Twitter. Users stressed how important it is to convey support to Black men seeking help and to fight to end the stigma surrounding this. 
    • Informational -Users provided information about mental health resources such as websites, crisis lines, text services, apps, social media platforms, therapy services, etc.  
  • Acknowledgement of cultural and societal impact 
    • Black men are raised to not express emotional vulnerability, vulnerability is seen as weakness. 
    • Many religious Black families believe prayer is all that is necessary, professional help is looked down upon. 
    • Rap and hip-hop artists are now more commonly talking about mental health issues in their music and are positively impacting Black men’s mental health.  

Pulling from theories that explain how substantial media coverage and celebrity influence on a topic causes discussions in online communities that influence attitudes towards the topic, Francis’ findings further support this evidence. Many celebrities have openly spoken about their mental health problems, but what differs with Kid Cudi’s disclosure is the extreme media coverage and hashtag that followed, which opened the conversation for Black men to speak on their mental health struggles in a safe, “judgment-free” space.  

Mass media coverage, combined with celebrity coverage on the topic of mental health, influences conversations online and can provide beneficial tools for seeking help. Young African Americans extensively use Twitter, so using culturally specific hashtags, such as #YouGoodMan, with the combination of ethnic celebrity influence is an effective way to engage young Black men in conversations about their mental health. Hip hop and rap have a large impact on the community of young African American men. This information indicates that rap could be a culturally effective way to start conversations about mental health in the Black community. By adding more content surrounding mental health into lyrics, rap artists can play a large role in starting individual and community wide conversations, which can help to change societal beliefs and stigmas surrounding Black men and mental health.  

Francis, D. B. (2021). “Twitter is Really Therapeutic at Times”: Examination of Black Men’s Twitter Conversations Following Hip-Hop Artist Kid Cudi’s Depression Disclosure. Health Communication, 36(4), 448–456.

How Effective Is Online Support?

By Holly Slocum

Each year, more than 7.5 million people turn to online communities for social support. As online communication is more commonly utilized, it’s become critical to understand how the medium can affect the outcome of supportive interactions.

Rains and colleagues aimed to answer 3 basic questions about online social support:

–              How does the medium affect the support interaction? Participants were asked to consider their level of uncertainty, worry, and self-efficacy after receiving support.

–              How does the medium affect the participants’ perception of the support giver? Participants were asked to consider how knowledgeable, caring, and likeable they found the support giver.

–              And how does the message type- whether it’s information-based or emotional support- affect the support interaction?

Group of four friends posing for a picture on a cloudy day shot from the back
“friendship – IMG_3604” by Nicola since 1972 is licensed under CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/?ref=openverse.

To help answer these questions, 82 university students were asked how prepared they felt for finding a job after graduation, then given supportive advice. Half of the participants received support online, while the other half received support face-to-face. To ensure it was the medium being effectively tested, the support message was the same in online interactions as it was face-to-face. Similarly, half of the participants were given information-based support, while the other half received emotional support.

Consistent with the well-known (yet mostly disputed) “cues-filtered-out” theory (reduced cues lead to more impersonal communication), people who received online support found that they had both a greater sense of uncertainty and worry than those who received face-to-face support. Interestingly, however, there was no difference in feelings of self-efficacy between the two groups. Despite feeling more worried after receiving online support, students felt no less capable of success.

Also interesting is that, regardless of whether it was online or face-to-face, there was no change in how knowledgeable, caring, or likeable the participants thought the support givers were. As future researchers continue to explore why online support may be less effective, this helps illustrate that the obstacles lie with the interaction itself, and not with the person providing the support.

As for the message types, researchers found that information-based messages resulted in participants feeling somewhat less uncertain and more comfortable with that uncertainty. However, the difference was minimal, and there was also no other meaningful change in how the participants felt about the interaction or the support giver.

Although the results of the study seem to be bad news for online social support, there are several considerations that should be made. Recent research shows online communication increases the user’s self-awareness, which could lead to a greater focus on one’s emotions- as well as what is causing their stress. This could explain students feeling a heightened sense of uncertainty and worry about finding a job, without feeling any less capable of it accomplishing it. Another possibility is that, with reduced social cues online, participants had more room to ruminate on their stress. Rumination has been linked to both uncertainty and worry in recent studies, as well. Other limitations could include the scripted nature of the support messages, the limited duration of the interaction, and the relatively small sample size of the group.

With an increasing number of people seeking support online, being able to provide more effective interactions is crucial. While online support may not up to par with face-to-face interactions yet, it’s worth nothing that it isn’t harmful either. No results demonstrated that online support was ineffective… only that it was less effective. This presents a tremendous area of opportunity to explore how people adapt to reduced social cues and to better understand how to improve online support interactions.

Rains, S. A., Brunner, S. R., Akers, C., Pavlich, C. A., & Goktas, S. (2016). Computer-mediated communication (CMC) and social support. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 34(8), 1186-1205. doi:10.1177/0265407516670533

Insta Users Hate Advertisements, But Should You Disguise Them?

By Sydney Brower, @sydpaigebro , sydneyd.brower []wsu.edu

Native advertisements, unlike traditional ads, blend in with user-generated content by looking like a regular post from a friend. The difference lies in the subtle product placement, and not your friend posting. Disguising ads reflect businesses’ longing for social post ads. 

Old instagram icon

Researchers define social post advertisements when a consumer feels pleased enough with a product to post about it on their account. When a brand earns a social post, they reap the benefits of effective and free marketing. But do native ads actually sell products and boost brand image more effectively than traditional ads? Johnson, Potocki, and Veldhuis conducted a study on the three different styles of Instagram advertisements.

The researchers polled 482 avid Instagram users. They were shown six fictitious Instagram posts, advertising for Dyson vacuums, McDonalds, and Nivea sun. Below you will see the variables measured for each post, the type of measurement used, and the participants’ total average scores:  

Results  

Variable Measurement  Social Post Native Ad Traditional Ad 
Social Comparison I compared myself with the person in the posted picture.  1 = Strongly Disagree and 7 = Strongly Agree 2.75 2.21 1.73 
Credibility The ad is reliable, convincing, and credible.  1 = Strongly Disagree and 7 = Strongly Agree 3.98 3.51 3.22 
Ad Attitude 1 = Negative and 7 = Positive 3.72 2.94 2.99 
Brand Attitude 1 = Negative and 7 = Positive 4.51 4.36 4.40 
Behavioral Intention I plan on buying this product.  1 = Strongly Disagree and 7 = Strongly Agree 3.84 3.68 3.73 

The results above show a slight difference in the overall attitudes each participant had towards the different advertisements. Below you will find a breakdown of the results for each type of advertisement:  

Social Post Ads: Some participants believed social post ads were sponsored, despite the absence of a “sponsored” disclaimer. With that said, this type of ad received the highest credibility and social comparative scores. This positively influenced the likelihood of participants purchasing the product. Social posts also received the highest ad and brand attitude scores. The researchers were not surprised that social ad posts were overall liked the most by participants, thus being the most effective form of Instagram advertising.  

Native Ads: Although native ads did not blend in with user-generated content, they were still perceived as more credible than traditional ads. In addition, they elicited more social comparison from participants than traditional ads, yet lower than social posts. Compared to social posts and traditional ads, native ads scored the lowest for behavioral intention, ad attitude, and brand attitude.  

Traditional Ads: Participants did not often socially compare themselves nor believe traditional advertisements. Users felt more likely to make a purchase after seeing traditional ads than the native ads. Traditional ads also beat native ads for positive ad and brand sentiment. Researchers had not predicted traditional advertising to earn better marketing results than native advertising.  

The Instagram users responded relatively positively to all of the advertisement styles. Turns out, there is no need to cut out traditional ads from your social media marketing strategy. Instagram users are not more accepting of disguised ads than traditional ads. You could benefit from mixing up your advertising by using all three styles.  

Johnson, B. K., Potocki, B., & Veldhuis, J. (2019). Is That My Friend or an Advert? The Effectiveness of Instagram Native Advertisements Posing as Social Posts. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 24(3), 108–125.

Hidden Privileges in Social Media

By Kara Klaus, @karaklaus

Black and white image of people in suits behind a University door.
Picture by by Trojan_Llama. Image is licensed under CC.

In the 21st century people use social media daily. People post about their new lover or a beautiful location without a second thought, but what if they worried about posting a picture of food because it’s not one widely recognized in America? This is the reality for most underrepresented youth in America.  

The 25 participants aged 18 and over identified as low income, and as part of one or more historically underrepresented groups. Once selected, the participants completed an hour-long interview where each youth answered a series of questions which aided in the researcher’s understanding of their perception of social media.  

When asked to envision the demographics of those who design their favorite social media platform, without fail the youth described them as predominately younger white males who received a higher education, specifically in a STEM-based major. Few, if any, could picture people of color, or even females in that line of work. Based on the 2018 United States Department of Labor statistics, they assumed correctly. 

Next, the researchers asked the youth about the negative aspects of social media as it pertains to their demographic. Youth like “David” felt as though he could only post things that represented American norms; to him, a post about a Latino holiday he celebrated would not get the positive reactions an American holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas would receive. Some of the participants believed they would be ridiculed for posting about their culture. Most felt it best to adhere strictly to norms widely accepted on social media platforms.  

Participants additionally brought attention to the idealistic life portrayed on many Instagram accounts and the pressure to fit into that mold. “Maristela” said that she posted pictures of herself living a lifestyle of travel and comfort, when in reality she struggled with many financial burdens. Most youth in the study also expressed that they believed their low-income status negatively impacted their followers and likes.  

While negative impacts of social media do exist, the participants in the study felt as though these platforms gave them three important positive things. Social media provides them representation, a space to share their voice, and a place to create connections. For example, the #blackLGBTQ hashtag helps promote the ideas of individuals in support of this cause as well as allowing people to find and create new connections.  

While underrepresented youth expressed both positive and negative aspects of social media, we need to continue to work on making online platforms a more inclusive and welcoming space for people of all demographics. A place to start is by following someone with whom you may have differences, not to incite any negativity, but to gain new perspectives and ideas. Further, perhaps we can take steps on our own social spaces to advocate for those underrepresented groups who deserve to have their voices heard. 

Brough, M., Literat, I., & Ikin, A. (2020). “Good Social Media?”: Underrepresented Youth Perspectives on the Ethical and Equitable Design of Social Media Platforms. Social Media + Society,6(2), 1-11. doi:10.1177/2056305120928488 

Motivations for Young Adults to Use Dating Apps

A man and a woman looking at a mobile device
“Ashton Kutcher sent *you* a tweet?” by Ed Yourdon is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

By Yunjee Um

As an international student in the United States, I have found it is difficult to make friends, though many people offer advice. It was interesting that there was a piece of advice about going on Tinder and start from talking to random people in my region. I never expected a dating app to be the method of relieving the boredom.

Sumter and Vandenbosch recruited 171 students from the University of Amsterdam, in addition to 370 respondents through the panel of a research agency to identify the demographic and personality related motivations of using dating apps for young people. 92.4% of them were Dutch. The respondents were between 18 and 30 years of age and more than half of the respondents were dating app users. In the survey, Sumter and Vandenbosch looked for answers to identify 3 relationships about dating apps.

  • Relationship between demographic antecedents(Gender and Sexual orientation) and using dating apps
  • Relationship between personality-based antecedents(Dating anxiety, Sensation seeking, and Sexual permissiveness) and using dating apps
  • Whether or not demographic antecedents moderate the relationships between personality-based antecedents and motivations for using dating apps

The results indicated young people with particular identity traits are more likely to use dating apps. Non-heterosexual, low in dating anxiety, and high in sensation seeking and sexual permissiveness are highly related to motivations of using dating apps. For young adult males and people with high scores on sexual permissiveness are more likely to use dating apps to have casual sex while ease of communication and high in dating anxiety also lead them to use dating apps. People with more interest in sensation seeking are on dating app for self-worth validation as motivation. It is not surprising that people with high sexual permissiveness and sensation seeking use dating app for the thrill of excitement as well.

It is worth considering that cross-cultural studies might show different research results since cultural background shapes aspects of one’s personality. Also, different levels of acceptance of non-heterosexual relationships in other countries might exercise a huge effect on sexual orientation and related results.

People are on dating apps for different reasons and usages. However, committing oneself in a romantic relationship is one of the goals for young adults and dating apps provide a wider variety of choices for a partner. Remember, only if you treat others in a way you would want other people to treat you (whether it is online or offline), you will find someone as nice as you.

Sumter, S. R., & Vandenbosch, L. (2019). Dating gone mobile: Demographic and personality-based correlates of using smartphone-based dating applications among emerging adults. New Media & Society, 21(3), 655–673. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818804773

The perceptions and reality of the internet in the mind of a child.

“Computers in Japan” by Sam Howzit is licensed under CC BY 2.0

By Charles McNealy

From an early age, children are taught not to talk to strangers. This develops a narrative in the mind of a child that all unfamiliar people are kidnappers and murders. Fear builds in their minds around the concept of strangers and the consequences of talking with one. Now let’s take this concept and apply it to the internet. How can children find solace and comfort in this new digital world without the fear of all these unknown people? Cernikova, Smahel, and Wright investigated children’s mental health in correlation to their experiences and awareness of the internet.

Little research has been done on how children see their mental health and how the internet impacts it. To address this, the researchers studied the common physical and mental concerns when going online. These concerns include:

  • Being kidnapped/murdered
  • Going blind
  • Vivid images or hallucinations (cognitive salience)
  • Committing suicide
  • Headaches
  • Increase in aggression
  • Tiredness/sleeping issues.

These are the major experiences and awareness’s that children reported from a study of children from the ages nine to sixteen, across nine countries in Europe (N=368). These ideals are also broadcasted from real world sources. Magazines publish articles, friends share stories, and parents spread the safety narrative. Media sources introduce an element of hyper awareness when navigating the internet. This is built off extreme events and rare occurrences. Children reported that they had experienced physical symptoms of too much online time. Commonly, people feel once you get a headache or your eyes feel sore, that it is time to get off the internet. Poor eating habits and increased aggression were also reported by children. A lack of digital literacy, or general frustration with the internet, results in something getting hit.

They also found an awareness of the possible effects of the internet. Common themes of this awareness are games leading to violence or death and being kidnapped by strangers. Many children spoke of these in terms of other children, exempting themselves from the possibility. Some children acknowledged the changing nature of the internet based on their own experiences. These accounts acknowledged the common concerns but are based solely off their own beliefs.

Two theories offer possible insight into how children are affected by the internet and the media’s impact.

  1. The Media Panic Theory, an overreaching concept of reporting only amplified and dramatic stories. On a medium such as the internet, flashy and fast stories are all the rage. These can easily spread and be accepted as normal occurrences when in reality they are sparse.
  2. The Third-Person Effect, the concept of underestimating the potential of the internet. The internet at its core is a platform for the masses, yet it can be easily forgotten that millions of people use it every day. This effect accounts for the misunderstanding of how fast the internet spreads news and how effective it is at delivering said news.

These two theories may account for the role media has on children’s awareness in regard to the internet. Cernikova, Smahel, and Wright concluded that technologies impact on children could potentially be manipulated by the media. The speed of news on the internet can make this difficult to verify. Considering this along with the media panic theory as well as the third-person effect, extreme cases can spread and influencing millions on the normality of the internet.


Cernikova, M., Smahel, D., & Wright, M. F. (2018). Children’s Experiences and Awareness about Impact of Digital Media on Health. Health Communication, 33(6), 664–673. https://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2137/10.1080/10410236.2017.1298197

Conforming to the Spread of Disinformation

by Jasmine Lunceford

misinformation sign

With mass amounts of information at our fingertips, how do we as individuals determine what is worth sharing, interacting with, or what is real in our social media worlds? 

The urge as humans for social acceptance leads us to create rewarding relationships that provide approval and a growth in self- confidence. Socially this is referred to as conformity, which influences decision making, values, and memories through the actions of others. Conformity impacts desire to precisely understand reality or to simply gain that social approval.  

On the other hand, our self-concept can be broken down into how we differentiate individually from others and connect as a group with others. As humans we grow our self-concept through authenticity in actions, words, and principles. This self-expression can be seen through consumerism or general conduct with others online. 

Colliander hypothesized that in social media, conformity and self-concept played a role on communication and spreading of disinformation. In theory, exposure to fake news would result in a negative response and reduce sharing when others comments were critical rather than supportive. He conducted two separate studies to investigate these issues further. Colliander’s first study divided Facebook comments on fake news posts into supportive, negative, and comments criticizing the poster. (a few months later)The second study utilized supportive comments, disclaimers that the content was fake, and supportive comments with the disclaimer of fake news. Participants were university students who after exposure to the content were asked to complete a series of survey questions on a Likert Scale. Questions included: 

  • Likelihood to share post. 
  • Likelihood to make positive or negative comments. 
  • My impression of the Facebook post was favorable. 

The results indicated that people were more likely to conform to the negative behavior than the supportive and share the fake news. There was no great effect on those who stated it was fake and those who were shamed. The second round of research concluded that disclaimers by authorities were not as effective as the comments from peers to stop online disinformation. When a disclaimer was present the likelihood of sharing content was significantly lower in posts with negative comments than positive comments. Posts with negative comments increased the likelihood of users posting negatively themselves, this exceeded the expected outcome.  

Colliander concluded that conformity plays a large role in the validation of fake news and the sharing of fake news stories among social communities. An online space if fueled by consumerist tendencies. Conformity in itself is a factor that makes up an online space and affects how we respond to online information. Individuals with strong self-concept are less likely to aid in the spread and communication with disinformation. Colliander suggests further studies to analyze how user frequency with social media as well as socio-economic beliefs can hinder or aid the spread of disinformation. The stronger our self concept, the less likely we will be subject to disinformation through conformity.  

Colliander, J. (2019). “This is fake news”: Investigating the role of conformity to other users’ views when commenting on and spreading disinformation in social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 97, 202-215. doi:http://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2099/10.1016/j.chb.2019.03.032  

Instagram Connections: Radio Behind the Scenes

By Shana Penta, @whoisshanapenta | email: shana.penta *** g )(mail.com

Instagram is now considered the most personal form of connecting on social media. How then does radio make use of Instagram to take a listener behind the scenes?

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7377/13020502233_92d22a49d4_b.jpg
“Sangean PR-D6” by CapCase is licensed under CC BY 2.0

The use of Instagram has allowed radio stations to get closer to listeners, effectively “taking the listener backstage.” This type of informal promotion and continual branding affords both listeners and stations alike the opportunity of being part of a shared community.

Ferguson and Greer used semiotics to determine how radio stations portray themselves. In this case, semiotics can be defined as the attribution of meaning to signs. Semiotics range from words to visuals, and object to actions, various signs included are words, film, clothing, sounds, emoticons, and the proximity of individuals.  

Using radiostationworld.com, researchers Ferguson and Greer created a list of radio stations. The radio station web sites were then accessed, and they verified Instagram accounts. Ferguson and Green indexed 561 stations after collecting then through a Firefox plugin, Grab Them All.

Their method involved a constant comparative technique, leading Ferguson and Greer to discover two dominant themes:

  1. Station Promotion
    1. Promotion of Contests
    1. Local Events
    1. Station Personnel (local celebrities)
  2. Visuals of the Station’s Community
    1. Images of local people at events
    1. Contest winners
    1. Employees with community members

The recurring subject for the themes mentioned above was that content posted typically featured people smiling and having a good time. The radio stations use of Instagram was portraying personal connections. The radio stations used semiotics to convey that they are fun, inclusive and just regular guys within their respective communities.

So how does a radio station take something that has always been an auditory medium and turn it into something visual? Post on social media channels and if you’re wanting a personal, more imitate audience, use Instagram.

Stations are able to give listeners a glimpse of their world while continuing to promote their brand and sponsor contests and special events through social media posts. Through semiotics, Ferguson and Greer were able to determine a more personal approach is available via Instagram.  

Ferguson, D. A., & Greer, C. F. (2018). Visualizing a Non-Visual Medium through Social Media: The Semiotics of Radio Station Posts on Instagram. Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 126-141.

Not every mass online interaction makes up a community.

by Joe Redman, joseph.redman attt wsu.edu

https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2019/05/05/11/04/coin-4180241_960_720.jpg

We have seen the comments on YouTube. They come flooding in, attempting to get the YouTuber’s attention with little regard to if other viewers see them. Nothing happens and they move on to the next video. This sort of shallow interaction does not represent a digital community especially when platforms designed for such a thing exist.

To this end, Sanz-Martos, Martinez and Creus studied online activity surrounding two popular video games:

  • League of Legends (LOL)– a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game with a competitive focus
  • Minecraft– a single or multiplayer game with a focus on creativity

The researchers examined online communication of these titles through two web forums: leagueoflegends.com and mundo-minecraft. They also examined two YouTube channels: Vegetta777 for Minecraft content and RevenantLOL for LOL content. In forums, they examined posts and comments. For YouTube videos, they looked over the comments.

An online community resembles communities put together in person. It must contain a cohesive group of people who interact, build relationships, and form commitment around a shared interest or practice. The team found real communities within both game forums, but not on YouTube for a handful of reasons:

  • The game forums examined require users to have a LOL or Minecraft account to interact. Members have profiles based on roles like moderator. This provides a sense of belonging. YouTube only requires a basic account to post comments. The only roles are the creators and viewers.
  • The forums developed around the games they focus on. Each forum has its own rules that benefit interactions around the game. YouTube contains mixed content. Viewers must search for the game they want to see content of. YouTube has universal rules in place.
  • Though a YouTube video may receive many more comments than a forum post, original forum posters tend to intervene in conversations around their posts more than Youtubers do.
  • YouTube viewers depend on creators to upload specific content. Viewers comment in hopes of the creator seeing. It appears only one-way interactions occur as creators do not often respond to comments.
  • Forum users are more likely to engage in thorough conversations even if they have the same profile status.  This makes forum users more likely to recognize each other and engage as if they know each other over time.

The authors concluded that based on how users behave and interact with the different platforms, not every gathering of human ideas online represents community. Even if members of a forum leave, the forum will remain active if interest remains.

So, when browsing the internet remember that some sites are better suited for communal interaction than others. With the flexibility of the Internet, many online platforms exist to provide users a sense of belonging. The users in these forums belong to them, share content, and engage in thorough conversations. The YouTube comments section is considered a mess because users are not there to commit but drop in and out however they please. A community, online or off, is something that must foster real human interaction.

Sanz-Martos, S., Martinez, S., & Creus, A. (2018). Talking about games: Gamers’ digital communication spaces as the object of study. Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies, 10(2), 231–245.