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The Power of Content Creators

Social Campaigns on YouTube

Student Name: Bianca Andreea Banu

Supervisor: Dr. Alex Gekker Second reader: Amanda Wasielewski

Program: MA Media Studies

Specialisation: New Media and Digital Culture Date: 26th of June, 2017

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Abstract

For a long time now, spreading awareness about different social causes has been done by using different media channels such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television or social media. These channels were and are the fastest ways through which a message is able to reach a high number of people. Nowadays, the new generation gathers their everyday information and news mostly through Internet-based forms of communication. Consequently, one of the most successful ways for both transmitting and gathering information is via social media, specifically by making use of Social Network Websites (SNSs). Therefore, it is important to further analyse the potential of such platforms and how successful they are in not only spreading awareness, but also getting people involved.

Since its launch in 2005, YouTube has developed and emerged into something rather different than its initial purpose - that of a video sharing platform. The content which can be found on YouTube nowadays ranges from low quality amateur clips to high quality, well-produced videos. The creators of those videos have various aims, from sharing content with friends and families, to motoring their content as a form of income. Moreover, each tool and functionality present on YouTube has developed overtime as well as the potential uses of the overall platform. Therefore, it is essential that new researches should address the new affordances of the platform, and the practices that emerged as a result of the platform’s growth.

As (to some extent) YouTube creators had to work very hard to gain their online popularity and the status of ‘YouTubers’, they feel responsible to give back to the community and help other achieve their own dreams and objectives too. The aim of this thesis is to research the ways through which content creators make use of their YouTube platforms to develop communities, and to engage and enable their audience to get involved in helping with social causes, differently than mainstream celebrities do through other types of media. Moreover, it will examine how YouTube, as a social networking website, facilitates the development of social campaigns differently than other mediums due to the platform’s affordances. The conducted research used different perspectives, and an important aspect of it was to closely follow the development of the three case studies (1) The #GirlLove Campaign

by IISuperwomanII, (2) The Cringemas Livestream by PewDiePie, (3) The Solvey Project by FunForLouis and Dave Erasmus

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Table of contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Purpose of the Study and Research Questions 1

1.2 YouTube and YouTubers 4

2. Literature Review 9

3. Methodology 15

4. Case Studies 19

4.1 The #GirlLove Challenge by IISuperwomanII 19

4.2 The Cringemas Livestream by PewDiePie 28

4.3 The Solvey Project by FunForLouis and Dave Erasmus 34

5. Discussion 40

6. Conclusion 45

Bibliography 46

Literature 46

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1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose of the Study and Research Questions

For a long time now, spreading awareness about different social causes has been done by using different media channels such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television or social media. These channels were and are the fastest ways through which a message is able to reach a high number of people. Nowadays, the new generation gathers their everyday information and news mostly through Internet-based forms of communication. Consequently, one of the most successful ways for both transmitting and gathering information is via social media, specifically by making use of Social Network Websites (SNSs). Therefore, it is important to further analyse the potential of such platforms (i.e. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) and how successful they are in not only spreading awareness, but also getting people involved.

YouTube (2005), as a social network platform, is becoming more and more popular among the young generation. In a study concerning YouTube’s social character and its affordances which facilitate participatory culture, Clement Chau argues that “44 percent of teens find YouTube to be a better source of video entertainment than other sources” (66). Moreover, Chau explains that “[t]he explosion of youth subscription to original content-media-sharing Web sites such as YouTube has confirmed their relevance and importance in the lives of today’s youth” (65). Hence, it can be argued that YouTube and social media platforms in general are becoming the main channel for information exchange among the young generation. General studies have been conducted within the field of social networks (Dijck “Engineering Sociality” 2013; Haythornthwaite 2007), and also specifically referring to YouTube as a social platform (Lange 2007; Van Dijck “YouTube Beyond Technology” 2013). However, these are either outdated or solely make reference to the platform’s potential without further development on the subject.

The type of research conducted thus far no longer matches the possibilities offered by the platform. In a research conducted in 2016, Hector Postigo, explains how “YouTube is never absolutely a means of extracting value not it is always just creating community; it is doing all those things and some new things, none of which can be said to be the sole function for the platform” (336). Hence, new studies should have as focus those ‘new things’ (features/

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practices) that make the platform what it is. Each tool and functionality present on YouTube has developed overtime as well as the potential uses of the overall platform. Therefore, it is essential that new researches should address the new affordances of the platform, and the practices that emerged as a result of the platform’s growth.

Since its launch, YouTube has developed and emerged into something rather different than its initial purpose - that of a video sharing platform. Various practices have appeared, within the site, which have a great impact on both its users and the way it is being used. The content which can be found on YouTube nowadays ranges from low quality amateur clips to high quality, well-produced videos. The creators of those videos have various aims, from sharing content with friends and families, to motoring their content as a form of income. Therefore, focused research should be conducted in order to understand how these practices develop and whether or not they reach their goals. For instance, some of these practices include using the YouTube community to solve a social issue or spread awareness regarding different social causes. As (to some extent) YouTube creators had to work very hard to gain their online popularity and the status of ‘YouTubers’ (this term will be explained in more detail later on section 1.2), they feel responsible to give back to the community and help other achieve their own dreams and objectives too.

The aim of this thesis is to fill in part of the above-mentioned research gap by analysing how YouTube creators (YouTubers) make use of the platform’s affordances in order to raise awareness regarding different social causes. Moreover, it will study the reasons why the YouTube stars have (seemingly) a higher chance than mainstream celebrities (such as singers, actors, TV stars) in getting their audience involved and persuading them to partake in helping a certain social cause due to platform-related practices. Regardless of whether they have a large or focused community - this referring to communities devoted to a niche of people rather than a larger and mixed audience - YouTubers’ messages (arguably) tend to have a higher impact on the viewers than any other message transmitted through other means of communication. According to a research conducted by Hye-Jin Paek et al. “a video produced by a peer rather than an expert will be more likely to match what individuals expect to see on a UGC [user generated content] website such as YouTube, and therefore more likely to get their acceptance” (165). Therefore, based on the idea that YouTubers are presumably to get the audience’s acceptance, I hypothesise that they are considered more reliable,

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trustworthy and credible; thus, the way they deal with social causes is different. For example, one of the main reasons for which YouTubers might have a high response rate from their viewers is due to the fact that “audiences probably expect to encounter videos produced by laypeople similar to themselves, and not by professionals and organisations who promote specific social causes and issues” (Paek et al. 179). Thus, it is arguable that YouTubers are more trustable and reliable (on platforms such as YouTube) than specialised people, due to the fact that the audience can identify with them more easily.

Due to the increased popularity of both the platform and the number of communities developed within it, different practices have emerged among content creators. Some of these practices include using creators’ online popularity to raise awareness regarding different social issues (such as empowering women and fighting for gender equality) and ask for people’s help in raising money for charities or for access to resources in unprivileged countries. By looking at different creators and the projects developed, this paper will evaluate the outcome of their efforts to making a social change by using their YouTube platforms. Within this research, three projects will be used as case studies: (1) the #GirlLove campaign developed by the YouTuber Lilly Singh; (2) the Cringemas campaign organised by the YouTube creator Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg; and (3) the Solvey Project established by the YouTubers Louis Cole and Dave Erasmus. In order to evaluate the outcome of these projects, this research will look into how each of them was developed (i.e. the initial idea and the project’s progression), what was the end result, and most importantly, how the creators took advantage of the platform’s potential in order to make everything happen.

To sum up, the aim of this thesis is to research the ways through which content creators make use of their YouTube platforms to develop communities, and to engage and enable their audience to get involved in helping with social causes, differently than mainstream celebrities do through other types of media. Moreover, it will examine how YouTube, as a social networking website, facilitates the development of social campaigns differently than other mediums due to the platform’s affordances. By looking at the three case studies mentioned above, this research will attempt to determine why and in what ways YouTubers deal with social causes differently.

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1.2 YouTube and YouTubers

In their introduction of the YouTube Reader, Pelle Snickars and Patrick Vondreau, argue that YouTube is “the fastest-growing site in the history of the Web” (11). Only in its first year, the platform developed at a “rate of 75 percent a week, and by the summer of 2006 the site had 13 million unique visitors everyday that watched more than a hundred million video clips” (Snickars and Vondreau 10). Back in 2005, when the platform was launched, Youtube was intended to serve as an online video-sharing space. However, the platform has grown to be a social networking site (SNS). As argued by Chau, “YouTube is much more than an online platform for sharing and broadcasting. Its unique technical and social features support the formation of a participatory culture among the members of its community” (67).

First of all, in order to be able to upload a video one must create an account; thus, becoming a user. By creating an account, one creates his own YouTube channel. This channel can be used to upload videos for others to watch, create public (this means that anyone visiting your channel can see them) or private (available only for you) playlists with your favourite videos, create a playlist with videos of other users that you like, or subscribe to other channels. Under each video uploaded, there is a countdown keeping track of how many views the video accumulated, and each channel has displayed a total number of views to all the videos uploaded. Additionally, each YouTube channel has a ‘subscribe’ button which allows other users to connect with each other and to keep up with any new videos that are uploaded onto that certain channel. Once you subscribe to a channel, you will be able to see in your subscribers feed each new video that is uploaded. As explained by Postigo, “[s]ubscribers are the central most common social currency on YouTube; happy viewers subscribe to channels, and unhappy ones unsubscribe or stop visiting the channel” (338). Moreover, the number of subscribers is publicly displayed on each channel; thus, other users might be influenced by the channels’ popularity. For example, if a channel is very popular (meaning that it has a high number of subscribers) one might be influenced to subscribe as well. Consequently, more subscribers imply a higher audience, resulting in more views for the videos uploaded.

Due to the high amount of subscribes one might have (to multiple channels), YouTube has added yet another feature to the platform. Next to the ‘subscribe’ button there is now a small button, with a bell icon, which once you activate you will get a notification when new

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content is uploaded to the channel. The notification can be a ‘push’ notification, or an email notification - an instant email is sent to you the moment content is uploaded to the channel you are subscribed to. By allowing users to subscribe to other users’ channels, the platform enabled people to make new connections and ‘friends’; therefore, giving the platform a more social character.

Like any other SNS, YouTube allows users to interact with each other. Chau presents such platforms (which support user interaction) as “an ideal place to create, connect, collaborate, and circulate novel and personally meaningful media” (65). However, until recently, communication between YouTube users was only possible in relation with a video. Once a user uploads a public video (it is also possible to upload a video and keep it private, for your own, or make it visible only to certain people), other users are then able to leave comments to it, and show weather they like or dislike it by pressing the ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ buttons. These buttons also represent just like the subscribers and number of views, a unit of measuring the audience’s opinion towards the content uploaded. The comments section of a video also allows users to like or dislike a comment, or reply to it. Therefore, people are able to communicate with each other in relation to a certain video. Such conversations are not only related to the video in cause, but can also be related to the person uploading the video, can offer feedback to the video or sometimes even lead to creating new friends.

YouTube designers recognise the YouTubers as an important component; thus, they are continuously trying to improve the platform so that they offer creators the necessary tools to expand their communities, and communicate with their audience. Therefore, on 13th of

September 2016, the Senior Product Manager of Youtube, Kiley McEvoy, has announced via a blog post the introduction of “a beta version of a new product to help strengthen the bond between you and your viewers, called YouTube Community”. Somehow similar to Facebook’s timeline, the YouTube Community tab is intended to offer users another means of communication, non-video related. This new tab allows the owner of the channel to share more content with his or her subscribers. It can be used to post images, text messages, GIFs or videos to which subscribers can leave comments to, or like/dislike the post.

Furthermore, McEvoy stated in his blog post that: “with creator and fan feedback, we look forward to rolling out new features and functions as well as including more creators [in

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testing the Community tab] in the months ahead”. Originally available on only twelve channels, the YouTube Community tab can now be found on other channels too. Hence, it can be argued that this newaddition represents another step towards building the social character of the YouTube platform. The aim with this tab is to get users engage with the content creators (YouTubers) and develop a community directly on YouTube; thus, eliminating the necessity of using other SNSs (i.e. Facebook or Instagram).

Postigo explains in his research that generally “[w]hat designers envision as affordances emerging from their systems and how those affordances are understood by users are two things not necessarily at odds but often separated by the gap that forms between intended use and actual use as performed by users” (335). The Community tab is a perfect example of such affordance, as the reactions to this new addition were not entirely what the designers expected. Among the twelve channels which were part of the beta testing of the Community tab, is the vlogbrothers channel. On a post published by on their YouTube 1 channel’s Community tab, they explain that with every new post to the tab “a very small but still significant number of people unsubscribe” (vlogbrothers) from their channel. To some extent, users felt bothered by the extra feature and the definite reason for why this happens, is yet to be found. One of the reasons for people’s dissatisfaction towards this feature might be due to the extra notifications received when new content is posted on the Community tab. Nonetheless, it is important to understand this aspect when discussing the relations between social practices, technical affordances and perceived value to users.

Moving forward, what one needs to understand when discussing content creators, is that not any user of YouTube can be labeled as YouTuber. A basic way of defining the term YouTuber would indeed be: any person who has an account on the platform. However, YouTubers are mostly identified as those users who regularly upload content to the platform and usually have an increased amount of followers. As Chau also explains, “[f]ull-fledged YouTubers are those who regularly broadcast videos to the YouTube audience” (67). Additionally, their videos are no longer aimed to be shared solely with friends and relatives, but rather towards a larger audience. The videos published by YouTubers are also created around a certain theme (comedy, travelling, daily or weekly vlogs, cooking videos, crafting videos - typically known as ‘do it yourself’ or DIY, science experiments and so on).

Source: www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers. 1

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According to Chau, “[o]ne of the main categories in the large corpus of user content is how-to videos on a variety of how-topic, from cooking how-to skateboarding how-to hairdressing” (69).

Another important difference between a casual user of YouTube who may upload a few videos, and the YouTubers comes not only from the amount of subscribers to their channel or the amount of views their video receives, but also from the communities they manage to build. Some of the most famous YouTubers have now reached millions of subscribers; for example, the most subscribed YouTuber, PewDiePie , has now over 55 2 million subscribers. Consequently, most of these subscribers constantly watch the videos posted by the creators, engage with the content and with each other. Chau explains that “[a]t any level of participation, from viewing a video to creating response clips, visitors contribute greatly to the community” (71). Moreover, the success of a video is directly connected to the relationship formed between the content creator and its audience/subscribers (Postigo 344).

Along with the how-to, challenges, and questions and answers type of videos, another frequent type of videos uploaded by YouTubers are the vlogs. A vlog is essentially a blog post in the form of a video. Within a vlog the creator is usually directly talking to the camera - addressing the audience. The usual form of a vlog is a representation of what happens in the day/week of the creator; however, some vlogs have a higher production value and/or scripted scenes. Some of the most famous YouTubers have a designated channel where they post solely their vlogs. For example, the British YouTuber Alfie Deyes, who’s main channel

PointlessBlog has 5.5 million subscribers, has a second channel called PointlessBlogVlogs 3 4 where he uploads daily vlogs. As a result of these practice, the YouTubers who upload vlogs got a new name, that of ‘vloggers’.

Returning to the subject of this research, one popular practice of YouTubers nowadays is to give back to the community by using their popularity for a good cause. In general celebrities are known for using their popularity for social campaigns; however, in this thesis I claim that when YouTube celebrities are doing the same thing, the impact is somehow different. This difference is not necessarily attributed to the overall outcome of a campaign, but rather the response it gets from the audience. For example, YouTubers engage with the

Source: www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie. 2 Source: www.youtube.com/user/PointlessBlog. 3 Source: www.youtube.com/user/PointlessBlogTv. 4

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audience on a more personal level due to the medium (YouTube) and its affordances. Thus, this research will use the three case studies to understand the differences.

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2. Literature Review

In order to better examine and interpret each case study for this research, the theoretical framework and concepts that will be used must be thoroughly explained. Therefore, this section of the paper will be focusing on defining each theory and concept, and the ways these help, in order to understand how YouTubers make use of their channels and communities for contributing to social changes around the world.

To begin with, danah boyd and Nicole Ellison’s paper “Social Network Sites: 5

Definition, History, and Scholarship” (2008) was used, within this thesis, for understanding the changes and development of SNSs over time - precisely the shift of YouTube from video sharing platform to social network website. Since the structural basis of YouTube is similar to any other social media platform - each user must create a profile by filling in details, such as age, location, self description, personal interests and so on, in order to connect with other users - the starting point for analysing this shift is the definition of SNSs as given by boyd and Ellison:

[SNSs are] web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system (211).

YouTube complies with the above mentioned definition as, firstly, when joining the platform the user should create a profile (channel). Secondly, the user can subscribe to other channels and others can subscribe to his or her channel. Initially when the platform was launched the users’ subscribers list was visible to everyone. However, nowadays, this function in no longer available. Nevertheless, one can still find new connections by browsing the user’s platform (i.e. video comments, Community tab conversations). Therefore, all three points of the SNSs definition apply to YouTube; proving in this way that it is a social network site.

In addition to the above mentioned paper, Clement Chau’s study, “YouTube as participatory culture” (2010), helped defining the increased popularity of social networks (with a focus on Youtube) and the inclusion into community, which users feel once joining such platforms. According to Chau, young people’s appeal towards the platform comes from

The reason for not capitalising the first letter of her name is due to the fact that she has legally changed her 5

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its easy accessibility and usage. Additionally, “their creation [the content users upload to their channels] is easily circulated and shared, informal mentorship and instruction facilitate their developing identity, their levels of contribution matter, and they feel socially connected to peers within the community” (Chau, 73). In essence, YouTuber’s viewers feel included and feel that their contribution (such as likes, comments, shares etc.) matters. Consequently, viewers perceive this as a connection with the YouTube creator, but also with the other members within the community (other subscribers). For this research, it is important to understand how YouTube communities develop and function, as they represent one of the core elements for creators to reach their goals - in this case, spreading awareness and/ or contributing to solving different social issues.

As previously mentioned, starting from simply being a video sharing platform, YouTube, has emerged into a social networking website and a well-developed industry for entertainment, easily accessible to anyone. According to Snickars and Vondreau, “YouTube has become the very epitome of digital culture not only by promising endless opportunities for viral marketing or format development, but also by allowing ‘you’ to post a video which might incidentally change the course of history” (11). Thus, multiple content creators nowadays manage to develop and make a living, as a result of the videos they publish on the platform. Moreover, they managed to create a community of subscribers who follow them and watch their videos regularly. José Van Dijck explains in her research that “platforms started out as indeterminate services for the exchange of communicative or creative content among friends” (“Engineering Sociality” 6).

It is important to mention that whilst YouTube allows users to upload videos through which they can communicate with their followers, the conversation is, to some extent, one-sided. They first have to upload their video and then wait for an answer which can be given through the comments section or likes and dislikes. As consequence, in order to communicate with their subscribers YouTube celebrities usually make use of different social media platforms which allow live or more direct interaction (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat). The interaction with viewers represents a key factor for YouTubers, as it is one of the fundamental components for building and maintaining a community. Interestingly, YouTube’s designers had also noticed this need, hence, they have introduced the (previously mentioned) Community tab to the platform. The tab is still a work in progress, nevertheless, it

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is a step forward which proves that YouTube recognises the creators (YouTubers) as important members of their platform.

For answering the question regarding the ways in which creators make use of the platform’s features, Tiana Bucher and Anne Helmond’s 2016 work on platform affordances was used. Their study stands as primary source for understanding what affordances are in general, and what are the affordances of YouTube. The concept of affordances refers to all the features (in this case) of the platform which allow the user to perform different actions - from creating a channel to transmitting a message, to playing part in making a social change in the world. The affordances of YouTube - important to highlight, for this research - are the features of the platform which allow content creators (YouTubers) to promote a social cause among their community and manage to get people involved and to take action. Such features are the possibility of interaction via comments, the use of the Community tab, the feature which allows live-streaming videos with anyone, most importantly the video itself and the ability of sharing it with your friends and family.

On a similar note, Hector Postigo’s 2016 research explains how “our understanding of YouTube has shifted over time, and YouTube’s vested communities (users, owners, designers, creators), shape the overall understanding of what YouTube affords” (336). Therefore, it is crucial to understand the ways through which YouTubers make use of the platform. For this research, the focus will be on how creators make use of the platform in relation to their goal of making a change in the world, and involving their communities in different social causes. Such social cause might refer to helping a community in need, raising money for charity, or providing visibility to a project aim to bring a change in the world. Moreover, Postigo emphasises the importance of subscribers to a channel, which to some extent might have an influence on the outcome of a project. Although the access to view the ‘subscribers list’ has changed, some users provide a list with ‘related channels’ which might persuade one into also subscribing to those. Hence, this represents a way through which a community can be expanded.

One of the main concepts used for analysing the case studies within this thesis is the ‘dragonfly effect’, developed by researchers Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith. Aaker is a Marketing Professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, while Smith is a marketing, consumer strategy and operations advisor. When analysing the market the two

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researchers found that, despite the abundance of books focusing on social media, psychology and marketing, there was no work combining all these three areas (Stanford Graduate School of Business, “The Dragonfly Effect, Part 1”: 00:00:40). Moreover, they wanted to understand how social campaigns conducted via social media influence the audience differently and makes people get involved into taking action for a social cause. Therefore, by combining different aspects of marketing (strategy) and psychological behaviour, they have developed the dragonfly effect concept. Coming from the idea that there is a basic path one can follow in order to successfully use social media websites for social change, the dragonfly effect is a marketing theory built towards social media.

The development of this concept started from the story of Sameer Bhatia who was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) - a severe type of cancer which starts to develop in the bone marrow - and managed to survive through the help of social media. Bhatia’s only treatment was by getting a bone marrow transplant, thus, he was faced with the challenge of finding a matching donor. As India (where he is from) does not have a national bone registry as other countries do, Bhatia turned to social media for help. When hearing the diagnosis, Bhatia’s best friend Robers Chatwani decided he has to do something to help and set up an online campaign to get South Asian people register to become donors. He wrote an email including a short story about his friend’s situation followed by a series of instructions: ”[f]irst, he urged them to get registered through a simple cheek swab test. He gave a link to locations where this could be done. Second, he told readers to spread the word. Third, he instructed people to learn more by visiting the website set up to help Bhatia” (Aaker and Smith). After his email reached 35 thousand people, in 48 hours (Aaker and Smith) people started to take action. Therefore, after eleven weeks “24,611 new people were registered” as donors (Aaker and Smith).

According to Aaker and Smith, “Bhatia’s quest to find a donor match is a tale of the revolutionary power of social technology”. The fact that he managed to find a donor to help him, and to get so many people to register as bone marrow donors, proves that “people are clamouring for ways to use social media for social good, but it also confirmed […] that there is a replicable framework to achieve this goal” (Aaker and Smith). Therefore, as more and more people are turning to social media when in need of help, the two researchers

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demonstrated that by following certain steps when developing a social campaign online, one could achieve the intended goals. According to Aaker and Smith:

[t]he method relies on four essential skills, or wings: 1) focus: identify a single concrete and measurable goal; 2) grab attention: cut through the noise of social media with something authentic and memorable; 3) engage: create a personal connection, accessing higher emotions, compassion, empathy, and happiness; and 4)

take action: enable and empower others to take action.

The name of this theory - the dragonfly effect - is a metaphor which comes from the fact that just like the dragonfly who uses all its four wings simultaneously in order to fly in any direction, one should apply all the above mentioned principles when designing a social campaign on social media. As this concept appears to be the recipe of success for social change via social media, the following case studies within this thesis will also be analysed through the lens of the dragonfly effect. By doing this, I will be able to better understand what makes YouTubers have such great success when using their platforms for battling social issues.

Lastly, apart from following the above mentioned pattern, this thesis draws insights from the parasocial relationships theory. According to the researchers Siyoung Chung and Hichan Cho “[c]onsumer–celebrity relationships built via social media exchanges can be explained by the concept of parasocial relationships” (Chung and Cho 482). The concept of parasocial relationships refers to the personal relations (such as friendships) developed between celebrities and their fans. Within their research, Chung and Cho, investigated the importance of parasocial relationships in the success of celebrity endorsement and the importance of social media connectivity between celebrities and their fans. Additionally, their study investigated how parasocial relations are facilitated by the self-disclosure of celebrities, resulting in an increase of trust from the audience, in credibility of the brand (in this case, social cause), and the overall opinion of audience towards the brand/cause. The outcome of their study proved that “social media exchanges with celebrities have a significant impact on celebrity endorsement, and that the exchanges have different implications depending on whether its effect is mediated or nonmediated by self-disclosure and parasocial relationships” (Chung and Cho 489). This means that the more open (meaning, not afraid to share personal information, opinions, beliefs or views) a celebrity is, the higher the chances for consumers to

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have a positive opinion towards their message. Therefore, since YouTubers (especially those who have vlogging channel) are opening up about their identities, private lives and personal views, the audience perceives this as a sign of friendship thus fostering the development of parasocial relationships.

Moreover, in contrast with the above mentioned importance and influence of subscribers as described by Postigo, Chung and Cho’s study shows that “popularity on social media (e.g., a large number of followers and friends) […] can have adverse effects on celebrity endorsement if it is not mediated by positive experiences, such as self-disclosure and parasocial relationships” (490). Therefore, if a YouTuber has an increased number of subscribers does not automatically imply that the message he or she transmits has the desired impact. Subscribers who do not have a parasocial relationship with the YouTuber (meaning that the viewer does not perceive the YouTuber as a friend) might not be influenced by the creator at all, or might even be negatively influenced. Therefore, this study will draw a parallel between Chung and Cho’s research findings and YouTubers relationships with their viewers in order to understand to what extent parasocial relationships play a role in the success of a YouTube social campaign.

Overall, the above described studies were used in order to understand what makes YouTube celebrities differ from the mainstream celebrities when engaging in social projects. For example, when promoting a social issue, YouTubers do not necessarily offer more information about the cause, rather they inspire viewers to get more involved and gather more knowledge regarding the issue discussed. Additionally, the impact a social campaign has on the audience is presumably different due to the medium through which it is done (YouTube), and consequently, due to the bond formed between the YouTubers (who started the campaign) and their audience.

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3. Methodology

Within this chapter I will discuss the approach this study takes for responding to the research questions. First of all, the studies described in the second chapter of this thesis offer broad insights into the whole concept of YouTube as a platform, YouTubers, and YouTubers’ practices. Therefore, this is a qualitative research in which previously conducted studies stand as ground base for analysing my three case studies, and for possibly developing new theories. The case studies described within this thesis will be analysed through this lens and by drawing from the concepts and theories described above in order to understand (1) how content creators (YouTubers) make use of the platform’s affordances to develop a community and spread awareness regarding social issues, and (2) what are the reasons for YouTubers to succeed (or not) in achieving their social campaign’s goals. Although a number of studies have examined YouTube and YouTubers, there has not been a strong focus on the practices developed by the creators and their involvement in social issues.

The three case studies described within this research were chosen mainly due to the fact that I have been following their development from start to end (or current stage). Moreover, I have been a subscriber to the YouTube creators, who founded each project, for the past years. Although this fact might classify me as a fan of these YouTube personalities, it does not affect the research conducted. As Henry Jenkins wrote, “[w]hen I write about fan culture, then I write both as an academic (who has access to certain theories of popular culture, certain bodies of critical and ethnographic literature) and as a fan (who has access to the particular knowledge and traditions of that community)” (5-6). Therefore, being a subscriber of the YouTubers discussed in this research, offers me greater insight about their work and communities.

Additionally, whilst the first two case studies described within this research - the #GirlLove campaign and Cringemas campaign - were developed by YouTubers who, despite their original content, have a rather mainstream audience, the last case study - the Solvey project - was chosen due to the fact that its creators, Louis Cole and Dave Erasmus, have a more niche audience. Consequently, as the first two case studies come from YouTube creators who address a broad audience, the third case study can be seen as equivalent to a control group. Given this, the three case studies will aid in proving that the elements that make a

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social campaign succeed do not dependent on the type of the audience be that mainstream or a niche.

Firstly, for each of the case studies analysed within this thesis, I looked at the YouTuber(s) who created it, providing background information. For each YouTube creator, I looked into the reasons they started uploading YouTube content (as stated by them), the date when they first joined the platform, and the type of content they upload to their channels. Furthermore, I have analysed the numbers related to their channels such as the total number of subscribers their channels have, and number of views. I have also looked at the first (visible) video uploaded by them and the most popular video on their channel. For each of these videos I looked at the date they were published, total number of views, and the number of thumbs up and thumbs down received. The purpose of retrieving the numbers regarding subscribers, views, and thumbs up/down, was to understand their popularity within YouTube and how large their communities are. The nature of content posted by them helped in understanding the addressed audience, the ways they have developed connections with their viewers, and what makes their content interesting overall. Furthermore, I looked at what other - if any - previous social causes each creator has been involved before the project in cause. This was important in order to form an idea of how socially responsible the creators are, and how inclined they are to give back to the community by helping with a social issue.

Secondly, I started analysing the actual campaigns and noted the first mention of each project. All three projects have been announced via a video published by the YouTuber who founded them. Moreover, the videos provide detailed explanations regarding the purpose of the project, the way they will be further developing, and the final intended goal. As previously mentioned, one of the four ‘wings’ of the dragonfly effect is ‘focus’. Therefore, I looked at the goal of each campaign in order to determine whether or not is complying with the guidelines of the concept. The goal of each social campaign had to be clear, measurable, and realistic; hence, in order for the dragonfly effect to be effectively applied each goal should have these characteristics. In addition, for each campaign, it was important to document where it took place (if it was tied to a certain location), the time period over which each of the campaigns took place, what was the purpose of the campaign (what was the social cause they were helping), the means through which the campaigns were going to achieve

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their objective. These factors helped in determining how concrete the goals were in the case of each campaign.

Overall, the elements mentioned above constitute the first ‘wing’ of the dragonfly effect, and they are important in order to determine if this is indeed a method for developing a successful campaign. A campaign is considered successful when the goal of the project is achieved by following the four ‘wings’ pattern. As described in the second chapter, the dragonfly effect functions when all four ‘wings’ are applied simultaneously; therefore, it is important to see the relation between each wing. For this reason, the above mentioned details regarding each campaign also help me understand how and to what extent the audience could contribute to the social campaigns (this referring to the fourth ‘wing’ - ‘take action’).

Thirdly, as I have been following the development of each of the three projects from the moment they were initially created, the subsequent elements noted for this research were the main stages in the progression of each campaign. Moreover, I have looked at the ways used by each of the YouTubers to try to keep their audience up to date throughout the campaign. These elements relate to the second ‘wing’ of the dragonfly effect - ‘grab attention’. It was important to analyse what each campaign was doing to attract the viewers, get them interested in the subject, and trigger them to take action. Since the platform where the projects took place is YouTube, videos play an important role in the development of each campaign. For example, in order to grab attention, the videos must be different from the usual content viewers are used to see on the channel.

Additionally, for the campaigns that lasted a longer period of time it was interesting to analyse how the YouTubers were constantly bringing their projects into the attention of their viewers. The third ‘wing’ of the dragonfly effect (‘engage’) implies that a personal connection has to be built between the creator and the audience. The bound YouTubers have with their subscribers also relates to the parasocial relationships described in the second chapter. Therefore, along with a clear goal and an attractive/ interesting design, each campaign (and consequently the YouTubers) should engage with the audience. Nevertheless, the parasocial relationships do not solely occur within the long lasting projects, but also for those that lasted a short period of time (such as the Cringemas campaign).

Fourthly, for this thesis I have analysed whether other entities - be that fellow YouTubers, foundations, and/or influential persons - were involved within the projects and

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what was their role. This element is important in order to understand how they have contributed to the overall outcome of the campaign and to what extent they had an influence over the viewers, such as, persuading them into taking an action (which relates back to the fourth ‘wing’ of the dragonfly effect).

Lastly, I have looked at the outcome of each project, and if and how the initial goal for each campaign has been achieved. For the later - ’how’ the goal was achieved - it was important to look at the ways through which the audience was enabled to ‘take action’. Hence, I have analysed in what ways did the creators encourage their audience to take part in the campaign, and whether or not they made it easy for them to get involved. Additionally, the results of the projects were analysed from the perspective of the dragonfly effect, focusing on whether or not the campaign used the recommended four wings and consequently, reached its goal. However, as two of the campaigns out of the three analysed are not ended, I have looked at the concrete milestones that have been achieved for the time being.

To recount, the conducted research used different perspectives, and an important aspect of it was to closely follow the development of the three case studies (1) The #GirlLove

Campaign by IISuperwomanII, (2) The Cringemas Livestream by PewDiePie, (3) The Solvey Project by FunForLouis and Dave Erasmus. The thesis’ hypothesis argues that YouTubers

have a specific way of dealing with social issues due to platform specific elements. Therefore, the dragonfly effect was used for the analysis of each of the case studies in order to evaluate the success of each social campaign. Additionally, following the evaluation of the three projects this research will draw on the previously mentioned theory and concepts in order to establish the accuracy of the hypothesis.

It is important to note that all the information presented within this thesis comes from public YouTube channels, which are available to everyone. Additionally, all the research data (such as number of subscribers, views, thumbs up/ down) is based on the period this research was conducted and is subject to change in time.

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4. Case Studies

4.1 The #GirlLove Challenge by IISuperwomanII

Before going into explaining what the first project analysed within this research is about, I will start by briefly describing the person behind it, the YouTube creator and personality Lilly Singh. Singh was born in Toronto, Canada on 26th September 1988, and publicly calls herself

Superwoman. In a video about her life and background, she explains that as a child she started using this pseudonym (Superwoman) as she felt empowered by it and it gave her strength to work more and be the best version of herself (Singh, “Draw My Life”: 00:01:28). On 28th of October 2010, Singh joined the YouTube platform and created a channel called

IISuperwomanII . She started by uploading amateur videos without the intention of making 6 YouTube a full time job. However, since then, her channel has gathered a total of 11.4 million subscribers and 1.8 billion views which are increasing everyday. Thus far, Singh has created and uploaded 583 videos to her channel (this includes live streamed videos and other special videos uploaded by her).

Her channel description perfectly sums up Singh’s mentality and view on what she does: “Spent thousands of dollars on tuition, graduated and got a degree. I make YouTube videos now. I am also a happy unicorn that believes in one love. Join me on my adventures!!” (IISuperwomanII). Being so open about her past and her believes makes her viewer feel more connected with her; thus, tying back to the theory of parasocial relationships. Chung and Cho explain that “consumers [in this case viewers] interpret celebrities’ self-disclosure as a sign of friendship being offered” (489). The type of videos usually created by Singh are short sketches in which she satirically presents everyday occurrences of what happens within a family or group of friends. Such kind of videos, make the audience relate to her content as they might also have similar experiences, and as consequence they relate to her - this as well builds the relationship she has with her audience. As previously mentioned, Singh is one of the creators I have been following for a long period and one of the main reasons why her videos were appealing to me was due to how much I can relate to the stories she is presenting. She has also created several characters, such as her parents, aunts, uncles, cousins or friends, which are all played by herself. Consequently, her audience is generally composed

Source: www.youtube.com/user/IISuperwomanII. 6

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of teenagers or young adults; however, some of her videos are also appealing to an older audience. Moreover, Singh frequently collaborates with other YouTubers by offering them a role within her sketches. Such practice is very common on YouTube, as fellow YouTubers promote each other by persuading their audience to visit other Youtuber’s channels or invite them to collaborate in videos. This practice helps growing the audience, but also acts as a form of endorsement.

In a video called “Draw My Life | Superwoman” published on 27th of June 2013,

Singh explains how, after going through a period of depression, she found her happiness in making videos. Additionally to enjoying creating the videos she claimed that “if my videos could be the reason someone’s bad day turns good, or the reason someone upset smiles, than all my efforts would be worth it” (Singh, “Draw My Life”: 00:05:40). Thus, she made it her mission to make people happy through her videos. Initially, Singh was uploading random videos, but after a while she decided that it is time to “do this YouTube thing seriously” (Singh, “Draw My Life”: 00:05:30) and she is currently uploading new videos every Monday and Thursday. After taking this decision, she gave herself one year to see if YouTube is going to work for her as a career and that was the start of her journey towards becoming a world know YouTuber.

Shortly after she joined the platform, Singh started making videos and uploading them online. The earliest video which can be found on her channel is called “How to Tie a Side Turla Bhangra Pagh (Turban)” and was uploaded on 9th of December 2010. The video has

now a total of 693 thousand views, 11,777 thumbs up, and 338 thumbs down. Singh’s most popular video at the moment is “How Girls Get Ready…” which has 22 million views. The video is a satire towards the high amount of time girls spend getting ready to go out and it gathered an overall of 317,519 thumbs up and 4601 thumbs down. All the previously mentioned numbers, offer a good perspective in regard to how influential Singh is, as a YouTuber, and how big of an audience she grew over the years. Moreover, the increased number of views for the first video uploaded proves that her community of users is not only watching and interested in her latest videos, but actually go back to see all the videos she uploaded onto the channel.

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Additionally to her main channel, IISuperwomanII, Singh has created (on 26th of

December 2011) a second channel called SuperwomanVlogs where she currently uploads 7 daily vlogs displaying her daily activities. At first, she has used this channel to upload videos from her trips and holidays with her family, but starting 11th of August 2014 when she posed

a vlog called “Welcome to my Daily Vlogs! (Day 1)” (Singh) she has been uploading a vlog everyday. This second channel has now 1.9 million subscribers and over 237 million views. The subscribers of this second vlogging channel are partially coinciding with those on her main channel, IISuperwomanII. Compared to her main channel, this one has more videos uploaded (942) due to the fact that she uploads daily; however, her vlogs do not have the same production value as her main channel videos, and they are not scripted. Along with her daily vlogs, on this channel, Singh publishes extras from her main channel videos (such as bloopers) or short videos promoting her latest projects (such as her “A Trip to Unicorn Island” show world tour, her book promotion world tour and so on).

Throughout her career as a YouTube content creator (YouTuber) Lilly Singh has been involved in different side projects. She wrote a few songs (i.e. #Leh featuring Humble The Poet, Clean up Anthem, Voices) and made videoclips for them - which were all uploaded on her main channel. She also acted as a side character in different films (i.e Dr. Cabbie (dir. Jean-François Pouliot 2014), Ice Age: Collision Course (dir. Mike Thurmeier and Galen T. Chu 2016)) and she developed and produced her own entertainment show called “A Trip To Unicorn Island” which she performed in 27 cities around the world between May and July 2015. Her world tour was documented and turned into a feature film also called A Trip To

Unicorn Island, which was released in February 2016, and with which she won the Streamy

Award for Best Feature. After coming back from her world tour, Singh moved from her hometown, Toronto, to Los Angeles to further pursue her YouTuber career. Moreover, she continued her work, getting involved in different projects. One of the most significant projects developed by the YouTuber during that time, and the one which will be analysed with this research, is the #GirlLove campaign.

The first mention of the #GirlLove campaign was back in 2015, when on 28th of

December, Singh posted the video called “The #GirlLove Challenge”. Together with some other famous female YouTubers, Singh launched a campaign which promotes exactly what it

Source: www.youtube.com/user/SuperwomanVlogs. 7

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says, love for and between girls. Some of the most popular YouTubers involved in this project launch were: Colleen Ballinger ; her sister Rachel Ballinger ; Gabbie Hannah ; YouTube 8 9 10

launched singer, Lindsay Stirling ; Grace Helbig ; Hannah Hart ; Mamrie Hart ; and 11 12 13 14

Lauren Riihimaki . By bringing together so many YouTube influencers she managed to grab 15

attention (which is the second ‘wing’ of the dragonfly effect). Moreover, this made her campaign stand out as she created a video including different YouTube female creators who support the movement. Additionally, during the video each of the creators expressed their opinion of how women are, thus, they engaged with the (arguably, mostly female) viewers and built a connection through their empowering thoughts. This engagement relates to the third ‘wing’ of the dragonfly effect. The idea behind it is to stop and prevent girls from hating each other, and instead encourage them to compliment and support one another. The caption of the video reads:

Girl-on-girl hate is such a huge issue in schools, at the workplace and/or online. It's about time we got rid of this lame trend and came together to build women up. Watch the video and tag all your female friends in the #GirlLove challenge! Simple post a compliment towards another woman on social media using the hashtag #GirlLove. All revenue from this video will be donated to the Malala Fund in support of educating girls around the world. (Singh, “The #GirlLove Challenge”)

Therefore, along with promoting this mentality among girls and women, Singh urges her viewers to spread the #GirlLove hashtag in posts which support other women, on their own social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter). Additionally, all the money raised from the views of her video have been donated to the Malala Fund which helps girls around the world get access to education (Singh, “The #GirlLove Challenge”: 00:05:53).

Channel name Miranda Sings; 7.7 million subscribers; source: www.youtube.com/user/mirandasings08. 8

Channel name Rachel Ballinger; 1.6 million subscribers; source: www.youtube.com/user/NOVAQUA. 9

Channel name The Gabbie Show; 4.3 million subscribers; source: www.youtube.com/user/TheGabbieShow. 10

Channel name Lindsay Stirling; 9.5 million subscribers; source: www.youtube.com/user/lindseystomp. 11

Channel name Grace Helbig; 3 million subscribers; source: www.youtube.com/user/graciehinabox. 12

Channel name MyHarto; 2.5 million subscribers; source: www.youtube.com/user/MyHarto. 13

Channel name Mamrie Hart; 1.2 million subscribers; source: www.youtube.com/user/YouDeserveADrink. 14

Channel name LaurDIY; which has 5.8 million subscribers; source: www.youtube.com/user/LaurDIY. 15

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Despite not having a set amount of money that were to be raised, the campaign had, nevertheless, a clear focus. As the dragonfly effect’s first ‘wing’ suggests, the goal of the campaign should be clear, measurable, and doable. The #GirlLove Challenge was clearly defined by the period in which it took place and had a concrete purpose. The money raised from views in the first month were going to be donated to the Malala Fund. Furthermore, the objective was as well achievable as even one view will make a difference. In consequence, the possibility to take action (which is the fourth ‘wing’ of the dragonfly effect) was easy and open to everyone. In order for the campaign to succeed, one only had to watch the video and/ or share it via their own social media so that it will reach a larger audience.

As promised in her video, on 27th of January 2016, exactly thirty days later, Singh

uploaded a picture on her Instagram account (@iisuperwomanii) in which she shared with her audience the total of money raised from her video and donated to the Malala Fund. The picture is a screen-shot of the receipt (see figure 1) which shows that a total of four thousand dollars were donated. As mentioned in the second section of the first chapter, due to the nature of YouTube, creators resort to other social media platforms for sharing content such as images. Therefore, Singh had to post the result of the #GirlLove Challenge via an Instagram image. Furthermore, in the description of the picture, Singh introduced a new Instagram account dedicated to the #GirlLove campaign @spreadgirllove. The account has so far 111 thousand followers and new pictures and videos supporting the campaign, are constantly uploaded. This new account also proves the need of other types of communication (different from videos) within the community. Nonetheless, it is important to mention, that at that time, the Community tab was not yet introduced.

Following the above mentioned challenge, Singh continued to spread awareness regarding the ongoing hate between women in the online and offline world via her social media accounts. She continuously uploaded pictures and messages on her Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts encouraging or complimenting fellow female YouTubers, celebrities, and different women in her life (such as her sister, her mother, and best friends). Furthermore, she managed to get other YouTubers to participate in spreading this message. Many YouTube creators (both females and males) continued to share on their own YouTube channels and social media platforms, encouraging messages towards other women which also included the #GirlLove hashtag. Among these YouTubers are: Kanwer Singh who is better

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known by his channel’s username Humble The Poet , where he uploads inspirational videos 16 in which he talks about living a healthy and happy life, and music videos of his songs; Rosanna Pansino known for her cooking channel with the same name; Justine Ezarik better 17

known by her channel name iJustine where she uploads a variety of videos such as vlogs, 18 gaming video, challenges and so on; and the fitness instructor and YouTuber Cassey Ho, whose channel blogilates offers workout tutorials. 19

Fig. 1. Money Donated to the Malala Fund;

Source: IISuperwomanII. @iisuperwomanii. “It’s been 30 days since… .” 27 January, 2016. Instagram. <www.instagram.com/p/BBDy6ijH6h6/?taken-by=iisuperwomanii>

The name of the campaign, as well as all the related posts, contain the hashtag ‘#GirlLove’. Within most social media platforms, a hashtag is the hash symbol (#) followed by a word or a phrase , and represents a way of searching posts related to that certain word/20

164 thousand subscribers; 10 million views; www.youtube.com/user/kanwersingh. 16

8.5 million subscribers; 1.9 billion views; www.youtube.com/user/RosannaPansino. 17

3.8 million subscribers; 630 million views; www.youtube.com/user/ijustine. 18

3.7 million subscribers; 463 million views; www.youtube.com/user/blogilates. 19

Hashtags are not case sensitive, therefore the use of capitals is simply a matter of preference, often use in 20

hashtag containing multiple words in order to make it more readable. In a search, capitals do not influence the result of the posts showed.

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phrase. Every social platform has a search bar which allows users to look up different things; thus, if one looks up a certain hashtag he or she can find all the posts related to it. Therefore, Singh uses the hashtag #GirlLove with her campaign in order to gather together all the content published by all users related to the campaign. This way, anyone who wants to see how different people might partake in this campaign can simply look up the hashtag #GirlLove. As new social media posts are constantly uploaded, content can be easily go unnoticed. Thus, by using a certain hashtag anyone can easily find all the content related to the subject. As this is an online campaign, Singh made use of the hashtag in order to keep track of all the content related to #GirlLove. Along with any user, she can easily keep track of how people get involved within the campaign.

Overall, the goal of the #GirlLove campaign is a rather clear one - to stop girl-on-girl hate in the online sphere; however, it is not a measurable one due to the fact that ‘hate’ is not a quantifiable object. Therefore, it is important to mention that the campaign had and has (as it has not ended) smaller goals which are not only clear but also measurable and achievable, as recommended through the first ‘wing' of dragonfly effect. Therefore, after the initial video, a second one (also dedicated to the #GirlLove campaign) was uploaded by Singh on her main YouTube channel, on 17th of July 2016. The video entitled “Goodbye Hate, Hello #GirlLove”

was a promo video announcing that starting with 28th of July that year she will be uploading a

series of videos and daily content on her social media account dedicated to the #GirlLove campaign. The description of the video offers a more explicit summary of what was going to happen in the coming weeks, followed by the message “[s]pread the love with us on social media” (Singh,”Goodbye Hate, Hello #GirlLove”). This message aimed to urge people into sharing their own #GirlLove related content onto their own social media accounts and thus, spreading the awareness regarding the issue.

The following actions taken by Singh towards promoting the #GirlLove campaign included a series of collaborations with different celebrities, some in form of sketches, some in form of interviews. The first video included three members from the cast of the movie Bad

Moms (dir. Jon Lucas and Scott Moore 2016): Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell. and Kathryn Hahn.

Following this video, Singh has created and uploaded videos featuring Bebe Rexa, Michelle Obama, Sabrina Carpenter, Victoria Justice, Zendaya, Winnie Harlow, and Bill Gates. By bringing so many famous persons onto her channel she not only gained more publicity, but

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she managed to reach a higher number of people from different backgrounds. The variety of celebrities and the fact that they themselves have a diverse background, can be seen as a way of attracting a larger audience to Singh’s videos. This increase is not necessarily referring to the total number of people that watch her videos, but their diversity (such as interests, education, geographical location and so on). Moreover, the collaboration with mainstream celebrities, as the ones mentioned above, can be interpreted as a form of celebrity endorsement. As #GirlLove is an on-going campaign, the above mentioned actions managed to keep the audience constantly engaged with the project. Hence, these actions have a great impact on the bigger objective, that of (eventually) eliminating the online hate between women.

Whilst uploading content onto her social media and creating new videos, Singh also started a partnership with the charity called ME to WE (pronounces as me to we) , as a way to celebrate her 28th birthday together with her online community. The WE Charity aims to empower communities and help them grow out of poverty by offering them access to water, food, education, health treatments, and helping them cultivate their entrepreneurial skills in order to provide for their families (“About WE Charity”). ME to WE is part of the WE Charity and its aim is “[t]o empower people to transform local and global communities by shifting from “me” thinking to “we” acting” (“ABOUT US”). Singh’s collaboration with this charity came, as well, as part of her #GirlLove campaign. The YouTuber announced this collaboration between her and the charity through a video posted onto her main channel called “My Life Changing Experience in Kenya - Help Me Send Girls To School” (uploaded on 20th of September 2016). By presenting and introducing this new piece of the #GirlLove

campaign, through a video in which she talks about how visiting the Kenyan community changed her, Singh creates a bond with her viewers. Furthermore, it makes the campaign more personal, and thus, more engaging for her audience (also complying with the third ‘wing’ of the dragonfly effect - ‘engage’). Additionally, by getting involved in such projects and partnerships, Singh proves that she wants to go beyond the profit of her channel and offer back to the people. She makes use of the community formed thus becoming more socially conscious. Actions like this contribute to the overall positive opinion her audience has towards her. Moreover, it creates an emotional bonding with her viewers - a parasocial

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relationship. By showing her compassion towards other people, the audience perceives her in a more positive light.

ME to WE’s projects consist of offering women from deficient communities a possibility of selling their goods around the world, while the money gained become not only a source of income, but also a chance to get education, school supplies and health care (“Track Your Impact”). The video posted by Singh was a presentation of her trip to Kenya in which she visited the communities helped by her partnership with the foundation. For this partnership, Singh together with the Kenyan women designed a #GirlLove rafiki bracelet (a 21

friendship bracelet) which she then encouraged her fans to purchase. The bracelets are manufactured in Kenya by the women within Kenyan community helped by ME to WE foundation. One can purchase a #GirlLove rafiki bracelet for $15.00, and all the money raised are donated to help girls in Kenya to go to school. Taking action (as the fourth ‘wing’ of the dragonfly effect suggests) was thus very easy as one had to simply purchase the bracelet online. Moreover, by having these bracelets as an icon of the campaign to help girls in Kenya, and the overall movement to stop girl-on-girl hate, Singh made the project more appealing. Arguably, by having these bracelets, people feel more connected to the community and have an actual object that reinforces the fact that their contribution matters. Therefore, this is an elements through which the campaign grabs the attention of the audience and makes them take an action, proving how the second and fourth ‘wing’ of the dragonfly effect work in sync.

Singh’s initial goal was to sell a total of 10,000 bracelet; however, with the help of her large online community she managed to surpass that by having sold up to the date of this research a total of 33,329 rafiki bracelets. From the beginning her objective was clear, measurable, and due to the number of subscribers and followers she has on all her social media platforms, it was also achievable (this relates to the first ‘wing’ of the dragonfly effect). In consequence, not only did she reach her goal but the outcome was more than three times higher. The number of how many bracelets were sold can be found on the ME to WE online shop website, along with an explanation of how each bracelet sold contributes to the education of girls in Kenya:

Rafiki comes from Swahili and it means ‘friend’. 21

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