Findings

Characteristics Ranking

Finally, the results were tallied up to see which characteristics appears to be most frequently displayed by YouTubers. The results are split into two categories:

1. How many YouTubers have shown a certain characteristic at least in one video 2. How many times a certain characteristic was demonstrated in all the videos The first category will have results ranking from 0-10, with one point given for every YouTuber who demonstrates a certain characteristic at least in one video. This is important because if a YouTuber demonstrates a characteristic in at least one video out

of the five analyzed, this means they may demonstrate it again in other videos that were not analyzed in this study.

The second category will have results ranking from 0-50, with one point given for every time a YouTuber demonstrates a certain characteristic in each video. This is important because it shows which characteristics are used most frequently in all the videos analyzed.

The results show the characteristics a YouTuber most frequently displays, according to the first category, are aesthetic and literary, followed by honesty, slogan,

completeness, instructiveness, relevance, personal connection, and user engagement.

The least frequently displayed characteristic is passion, followed by unity, then repetitiveness, accuracy, and motivational.

Table 17: YouTuber Characteristics Ranking YouTuber Characteristics Ranking

Aesthetic (backdrop, attractiveness) 10

Literary (articulation) 10

Honesty/Transparency (about sponsorships, biases, etc) 9

Slogan (greetings) 9

Completeness (list out detailed info, etc) 9

Instructive 9

Relevance 9

Personal connection (life stories) 9

User engagement 9

Appropriateness 8

Curiosity (memory or hook) 8

Professionalism 7

Positivity (bubbly, happy) 7

Reward 5

Relatability (they are ‘normal’, use of drugstore makeup, etc) 5

Morality (do they seem to be ‘good’ people) 4

Repetitiveness (stick to opinion, catchphrases etc) 3

Accuracy 3

Motivational (encouragement) 3

Unity (make fans feel part of something, appreciated) 2 Passion (love what they do, not in it for the money) 1

In terms of the second category, the top five most common characteristics are

literary, aesthetic, slogan, completeness, and appropriateness, and the five least common are passion, morality, reward, unity, and relatability.

Table 18: Video Characteristics Ranking Video Characteristics Ranking

Literary (articulation) 50

Aesthetic (backdrop, attractiveness) 49

Slogan (greetings) 39

Completeness (list out detailed info, etc) 38

Appropriateness 36

Instructive 31

Relevance 30

Personal connection (life stories) 27

User engagement 25

Positivity (bubbly, happy) 24

Professionalism 21

Curiosity (memory or hook) 18

Honesty/Transparency (about sponsorships, biases, etc) 15 Repetitiveness (stick to opinion, catchphrases etc) 15

Accuracy 8

Motivational (encouragement) 8

Relatability (they are ‘normal’, use of drugstore makeup, etc) 8 Unity (make fans feel part of something, appreciated) 7

Reward 7

Morality (do they seem to be ‘good’ people) 4

Passion (love what they do, not in it for the money) 2

Interaction Level

To determine the level of personal interaction, comment count, number of 'thumbs up', and number of 'thumbs down' is taken note of. (See Appendix C for information about each YouTuber’s audience interaction) More importantly, the content of the comments was analyzed for:

1. Direct engagement with the audience 2. Direct influence on audience

Direct Engagement with Audience

Many of the YouTubers will leave a comment or two in the comment section of their videos, and this tends to attract a high reaction level from their fans. For instance, Carli Bybel’s question ‘What are your Valentine’s Day plans?’ got 61 replies, and when she asked in her video for book recommendations, many people gave her suggestions in the comment section. James Charles’s comment ‘Today's video is a perfect example why you SHOULD take makeup advice from men’ got a whopping 470 responses.

Similarly, Manny Mua’s comment ‘YOU GUYS I WANT FEEDBACK! Tell me what you thought of the vlog portion of this video... did you like it?’ got him 388 replies. Even a comment that is not in the form of a question, such as ‘Baby .... toothpolish?! WE NEED TO TALK! LMFAO’, managed to get 93 responses. NikkieTutorials has the habit of leaving a comment for each of her videos, and each one gets hundreds of responses.

For instance, her comment ‘BYE BYE 2018!!!!!! don't forget to enter the giveaway!!!’

got 444 replies and ‘WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE BRATZ DOLL???’ got 490.

Dope2111 also enjoys leaving comments in her videos. Her question ‘Do you guys want to see more Illusion Videos??!’ got her 189 replies. Laura Lee left a question that allowed her fans to directly influence the content of her future videos, ‘Ok, where is the NEXT worst reviewed place im going to?’ and that got 273 replies. These YouTubers

leave comments written in a very colloquial, informal manner, that do not sound like they have been edited and polished to perfection. This gives them a personal touch and makes fans feel like they are normal, everyday people, unlike celebrities. By leaving these questions and comments under their videos, they make fans believe they care about their opinions and creates the illusion that they are friends.

Direct Influence on Audience

For branding implications, it is important to see if the YouTubers actually have any influence over their audience. It is crucial that they are able to persuade them into making purchases. It did not take long to find examples of audiences being directly influenced by the YouTubers. ‘You sucked me in Jaclyn!!!!! This palette is on my next to purchase’ said one fan. Another asked Jaclyn Hill ‘Pls tell me what that blue eyeliner is in your waterline it's gorgeous!’, showing that the YouTubers do not even have to directly promote a product, but simply wear it to persuade others to purchase.

Comments such as

‘Omg James! You finally found it! Do you have any tips on matching concealer? I really need to know because most of my concealers are darker than my skin or lighter than my skin’

show that audience members believe strongly in the expertise of these YouTubers, and will follow the suggestions that they give. Some fans have so much trust in the YouTubers that they say things like

‘Am I the only one who won’t buy anything unless it’s jeffreestar approved?’, ‘I'M SO HAPPY I WATCHED THIS REVIEW, I was about to buy the foundation, but it looked sketchy, so I searched it on YouTube, and I think you just saved my wallet tbh.’, and ‘My makeup would be a disaster without you in my life.’.

Even when the audience is skeptical of a product, they may be persuaded to buy it just because a YouTuber liked it, as seen with this comment ‘This sounds terrifying.. but if you recommend it I’ll try it’. Others will ask YouTubers to review a product they are interested in, because they are hesitant to buy the product without it first being

‘approved’ by their trusted YouTubers, such as the person who left the comment ‘Tati, please try Crown Brushes. They are a more affordable option. I want to know your opinion.’. Examples such as these are abound in the comment sections of the

YouTubers’ videos, and they prove that YouTubers do indeed have strong influence over the target audiences beauty brands want to reach.

Below are the different dimensions of interactions shown from the comments, with an example illustrating each.

Table 19: Dimensions of Interactions

Dimension Example

Engagement

• High response rate to general question

NikkieTutorial’s question: ‘WHO WAS YOUR FAVORITE BRATZ DOLL???’

received 490 responses

• High response rate to comment James Charles’ comment: ‘Today's video is a perfect example why you SHOULD take makeup advice from men ’received 470 responses

• High response rate to question that allows audience to have direct influence over content

Laura Lee’s question: ‘Ok, where is the NEXT worst reviewed place im going to?’ received 273 responses

Influence

• Influence by wearing/showing product

‘Pls tell me what that blue eyeliner is in your waterline it's gorgeous!’

• Trust in YouTuber’s expertise ‘My makeup would be a disaster without you in my life.’

• Persuaded to buy product despite earlier doubts

‘This sounds terrifying.. but if you recommend it I’ll try it’

• Desire YouTuber approval before making purchases

‘Tati, please try Crown Brushes. They are a more affordable option. I want to know your opinion.’