Abstract
This study has the purpose of investigating the social media platform YouTube and the controversies (or scandals) that several popular YouTubers have been involved in within the last couple of years. The study centers around two main cases, the first case being Logan Paul and the Suicide Forest video controversy and the second case centers around racism in the beauty community on YouTube with YouTubers Jeffree Star and Laura Lee and their racist comments as case material.
Due to social media platforms being a significant part of modern society, the influencers/YouTubers on social media platforms hold a special value in the society which makes them and their online behavior relevant in relation to investigating the digital literacy on these platforms. With social media offering platforms for the individual to portray themselves in an online space, the ability to create a social media identity as well as communicate this identity to a large group of social media platform users is interesting to investigate. The theoretical background for this study contains an introduction to media literacy as well as the main focus on digital literacy which contains topics such as digital identity, digital culture, digital immigrants/natives, etc. This online culture-based study has been investigating in an online space which means that the method of collecting analytical material is based on a netnographic approach. This means that the analytical material is based on YouTube videos posted by and about the key figures of the case material and online articles in order to keep track of timelines and information of already deleted YouTube videos. By working within the online space of the social media platform YouTube, without interacting directly with the case material, the research role has functioned as a ‘fly on the wall’ approach in order to investigate the online culture without partaking in the online discussions on the platform.
The creation of a social media identity as a popular YouTuber is inevitable both due to the pressure of staying relevant within the platform and in relation to being able to create entertaining or informing content for the subscribers and viewers of the videos. As well as the online culture of going viral and creating popular content within an online space where the struggle to stay relevant and successful is dependent on the continuity of the content posted by the YouTuber. This not only creates pressure to create and post content frequently, but it also leads to controversies when these content creators are overstepping the lines or pushing the limits too far. Therefore, the online fieldwork proves that the digital tools for digital natives as well as immigrants have a significant role in the online culture and holds immense value in the technological age.