Breaking the Fifth Wall: Two Studies of the Effects of Observing Interpersonal Communication with Content Creators on YouTube

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to test the convergence of mass and interpersonal media processes and their effects on YouTube. The first study examined the influence of interpersonal interactions on video enjoyment. The results indicated that positive comment valence affected participants’ identification with the content creator, which then affected enjoyment of the video. To investigate the effects of convergence from a macro-level perspective, the second study tracked and recorded data from 32 YouTube videos for 34 days and recorded the following data for each video: number of views, likes, and comments/responses. The results indicated that the more content creators and users interact, the more likes the video receives. However, user-to-user interactions are associated with a decrease in the number of likes a video receives.

Keywords

• mass-interpersonal communication
• social identification
• computer-mediated communication
• media enjoyment