Driving Tourism Through Creative Destinations and Activities by Alžbeta Kiráľová

Author:Alžbeta Kiráľová
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: IGI Global

Table 1. Classification of social media

Social presence / Media Richness

Low Medium High

Self-presentation / Self-disclosure High Blogs

(e.g. Fashion blogs) Social Network Sites

(e.g. Facebook) Virtual Social Worlds

(e.g. Second Life)

Low Collaborative projects

(e.g. Wikipedia) Content Communities

(e.g. YouTube) Virtual Game Worlds

(e.g. World of Warcraft)

With respect to social presence and media richness, applications such as collaborative projects (e.g. Wikipedia) and blogs score lowest, as they are often text-based and hence, only allow for a relatively simple exchange. On the next level are content communities (e.g. YouTube) and social networking sites (e.g. Facebook) which, in addition to text-based communication, enable the sharing of pictures, videos, and other forms of media. On the highest level are virtual game and social worlds (e.g. World of Warcraft, Second Life), which try to replicate all dimensions of face-to-face interactions in a virtual environment. Regarding self-presentation and self-disclosure, blogs usually score higher than collaborative projects, as the latter tend to be focused on specific content domains (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).

YouTube, being classified as content community, offers in comparison to other social media like e.g. lower level of self-presentation. However, media richness scores higher than for collaborative projects for instance. Today, only YouTube has over a billion users – almost one-third of all people on the Internet (YouTube, 2016) and for this reason alone, it is essential to specify further the impact and role of users on YouTube.

YouTube Community and Impact

Although, there are different opinions in the literature whether YouTube can be described as a social network, we will focus on this particular social network and explain how it can be classified.

New media not only introduces new ways of communication, but also new forms of self-awareness, reflecting on who we are and how we relate to others. YouTube videos are special in that regard as they allow open access /customized privacy settings notwithstanding/ to anybody on the web. Like a message in a bottle set adrift at sea, these videos usually have no specific addressee. They are meant for anybody and everybody, or possibly nobody-not addressed to anyone in particular or perhaps only vaguely addressed to “the YouTube community.” (Boyd, 2015). They are videos of people sitting alone in front of their webcams and just talking to anybody and everybody who cares to click on their video. Topics covered by YouTubers range from makeup tutorials, fashion tips, hateful rants to gaming instructions – see Table 2. As a result of this variety a thriving community has emerged around such videos, one that some participate in and believe in with almost religious zeal. This in fact, gives influence to YouTubers with a large number of subscribers. Many amongst those earn their living because of their YouTube success. (Wesch, 2010)

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