content analysis of social media

On my YouTube account I post a variety of tutorials for those interested in the same subjects that interest me. While some YouTubers are Influencers who see this sort of thing as a side gig that they hope to make money at, I aim mainly to do something I enjoy, which is talking about subjects I like and engaging with others who share my interests. YouTube is a video sharing platform, so my videos are meant to be seen by anyone but of course only those who are interested in the subject will take the time to watch them. They do not get many views. The most my views any of my videos has received is 1300 views. Most get from a range of 50 to 250 views. I have tried to replicate the kind of thing I did with my most viewed video but it has never gotten me the same number of views, so I am not sure if that one was a fluke or not.
The tie-signs being displayed on my channel include like signs and comments from people who follow or visit my channel. I will post responses to comments and so over time it becomes apparent that we have a social media relationship. These are the two main tie signs, but I will also show who I follow on my main page, which is a third tie sign.
I demonstrate these tie signs without really thinking about it but just because they are the nature of the medium: likes show how many people appreciate the uploads you post, showing who you follow helps to drive traffic to other people so you can help them that way, and posting messages to people leave comments is a great way to keep people coming back to the page, which can drive up the view count. So in a way, the tie signs are for my own personal benefit, but they are also for the benefit of others on social media as well as for the general public.
I do not fabricate any of these tie-signs, but I am aware that some people do on social media. For example, I have heard there are click farms where people pay money to a company that will drive up the clicks on a video and increase the views by a hundred thousand; I have heard that one can drive up the number of one’s followers on Facebook or Twitter by paying a company to create fake accounts to increase one’s followership. These are all examples of fabricated tie-signs that are meant to make it look like one is more popular with the general public than one really is. I do not engage in these strategies because, one, they cost money, and, two, they seem deceptive—though if one is going to think of social media as a type of business it is understandable that some people would resort to these tactics.
People I interact with on my YouTube page are generally interested in the same subject that I am making videos about. Many of them are YouTubers as well and post their own videos on subjects. We exchange comments about different details about the subject of the video and it is always in good spirits. I very rarely receive any mean or nasty comments from posters. As Granovetter states, these are “strong ties” rather than “weak ties” because we have something in common and enjoy leaving comments for one another: in fact, it is one of the highlights of my day to catch up with social media friends on my YouTube channel and to leave comments for others, and I am sure it is one of the highlights of their day as well or else they would likely not be doing it. It is not like anyone is being forced to be friendly or to share ideas with one another. It is something that we all enjoy and all have a common interest in, so these are strong ties for sure. Sometimes YouTubers will even meet and post videos together—which is something that happens especially when you begin to have videos with hundreds of thousands of views and really start to gain traction within the community. It is always a fun event when YouTubers with a lot of followers meet up somewhere in the nation and give their fans a unique viewing experience. It is like when TV shows of old would do crossover episodes and have a character from another show enter a different show for an episode. It is basically the same thing and only possible if there are strong ties made on social media. However, weak ties do come into play as Granovetter points out, because they are the bridges that help to make connections possible.
My interactions between these groups do not really differ because I look at everyone the same—as a potential fan or friend or someone I would like to know better. It really is like a virtual community for me and I can honestly say that I know more about my friends through YouTube than I do about the people on my own street, most of whom I have never even seen in real life. The virtual world is more real than the real world for a lot of people, myself included. I feel that the people in my real community are weaker ties than the people I socialize with on social media. My relationship with people in my real world community is more in line with the “anonymous relations” described by Goffman (189) than my relationship with people in my virtual community. Our shared interest in the same subjects brings us together in the virtual community and though we may be initially strangers, a quick perusal of a person’s profile page, followers and likes is enough to form a basic sense of who this person is and then just chatting about ideas and topics we both like is enough to remove the feeling of anonymity. People genuinely show signs of caring about one another. For example, if I don’t post anything for two weeks, I will receive comments from followers and fans asking if I am okay. It is really gratifying to know that people are thinking about you and that they enjoy the content you put out. I will always respond with a quick message and let everyone know I am safe and that I appreciate their concern.
I do not employ “cooling out” strategies deliberately but when life gets busy in the real world, I have to step away from YouTube for a few days. So it is not like I consciously dial it back but rather that I have real world priorities—like work, school, and family—that take precedence over my social media time. If social media was my job it might be different, but it is not, so it is not a top priority in my life but rather more like a highlight when I have time for it.
Garfinkel’s statement about “discovering agreements by eliciting or imposing a respect for the rule of practical circumstances,” is well founded on YouTube (74). There people seem to understand what the basic parameters of behavior should be and whenever a negative person starts posting comments, other users are quick to jump in and leave comments that are censorious of that person. Everyone has a vested interest in keeping the community positive and upbeat and discouraging inappropriate comments and interactions because to them this is a real community. It is just the same in the real world community, though. There are unspoken rules that people discover as they live there and those rules are followed and if one chooses to break them the members of the community are quick to act. So it is the same thing in the social media world.
Thus, in my interactions with others on social media, a great deal is being said implicitly without anything actually being said explicitly. For instance, if I like a video and follow someone’s channel it is an unspoken invitation for that person to come to my channel, watch some videos and subscribe, like or follow my channel. I do not need to request it, it is just an understood rule of social media—a social media courtesy to like and follow those who like and follow you. The only exception to the rule is really if another person’s channel or videos are offensive or if it is actually a bot and not really a person on the other end.
At the same time, if I engage in conversation with someone on my channel and we are posting comments it is understood that there is not any need to be insulting towards one another and that the tone should be upbeat and friendly. People who act aggressively or with hostility towards others are routinely blocked on social media as the space is supposed to be positive rather than hurtful. So I do not have to ask people to be courteous on my pages, I it is just an assumed rule that most will follow. Of course, I always have the option of turning comments off, but I like to keep it open because it encourages people to come back to the page more and more to catch up on conversations and to see what others are posting. It is a way to encourage discussion and debate and I think that is an important part of social media socialization.
The one danger in it all is that people can begin to get down on themselves if they are comparing their channels with the channels of other people who are essentially putting up the same content but have way more followers and views than you do. You can begin to lose confidence in yourself and feel silly for even trying to gain an audience in such a busy platform. However, I have to remember that comparison is a thief of joy and that everyone is different so there is no point to compare oneself to others. The better thing to do is to try to identify what it is that makes your own channel special and unique and focus on developing that aspect more because that will help the real you to come out and provide others with an even more interesting viewing experience because it will be one that is different and not just the same old same old. At the end of the day, we are all entertainers on social media.
Works Cited
Garfinkel, Harold. Studies in Ethnomethodoogy. University of California, Polity Press.
Goffman. “Tie Signs.” Relations in Public.
Granovetter, Mark S. "The strength of weak ties." Social networks. Academic Press, 1977. 347-367.