In today’s increasingly digital society, social media has taken over as the new most preferred form of entertainment and communication. The United Arab Emirates has a total population of 9.83 Million people. Of these, 9.72 million people are connected to the internet, 9.73 are active on social media, and there are over18.83 million mobile connections (Vallay et al., 2020). This means that 98.98% of all mobile and internet users are active on social media. There are many social media network services, including YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, snapshot, and Pinterest. Social media influencers have a profound impact on the behavior of individuals, positively and negatively.
Review of Literature
YouTube influencers, according to previous research, influence youth behavior in many ways. According to Zimmerman et al. (2020), YouTube influencers post content that plays a significant role in shaping the political and societal linked behaviors and perceptions of young people. Smit et al. (2019) investigated the effects of social media influencers on child dietary behaviors. The research found that V-logs posted on YouTube by you tubers promoting food products for certain food companies affect consumption habits if children. Park and Chun et al. (2020) investigated how YouTube influences women's perception of their appearance. According to the findings, Korean women tend to change their perception and appearance management habits depending on the content. Vähäjylkkä & Lepistö (2017) found a significant relationship between Finnish female lifestyle You Tubers and buying behavior of their viewers. Melendres (2019) investigated the impact of YouTubers on young people. According to the findings, there was an increase in mental health problems associated with behavioral change due to the amount of YouTube content they view. Młodkowska (2019) found a direct positive relationship between consumer behavior and content shared by YouTube and Instagram influencers. Westenberg (2016) found that Dutch YouTube influencers have a profound impact on Dutch teenage behavior.
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Problem Statement
Social media, particularly YouTube, can impact young people positively and negatively depending on the content posted and the level of influence the youtubers have on the individual. High penetration of social media among the youth puts them at high risk of developing behaviors that may affect their adversely. For effective policy decision making on the issue, research is needed to investigate the extent of these effects among the youth of UAE.
Research Questions
How can YouTube influencers impact youth behavior positively?
What is the role of YouTube influencers in the development of negative behaviors among UAE youth?
How aware is the youth on the extent of behavioral influence Youtubers have on them?
Theoretical Framework
According to Kietzmann et al. (2011), the concept of social media is a consolation of mobile and web-based technologies (web 3.0 and 4.0) that enable the creation of highly interactive platforms where users share, create, discuss, and modify content. This describes what happens in YouTube. For this study, the social cognitive theory will be used to discuss how youth learn behaviors from the social environment. For example, aggressive behaviors displayed by YouTube influencers can influence how youth behave in their respective communities. Based on the social cognitive theory, the study will also examine how YouTubers influence youth behavior directly or indirectly with regard to decision-making process of young individuals.
Research Methodology
Study Design
The study will utilize a qualitative research approach. Cross-sectional data will be collected using face-to-face interviews.
Sampling and Participants
The study will be conducted on 20 individuals from the Abu Dhabi region of the UAE who are YouTube followers. Both male and female subjects aged between 10-25 years will be interviewed. Convenience sampling will be used to select participants (Suen et al., 2014). Participants for the study will be derived from the researcher's network and invited via social media or personal messaging.
Data Collection
Semi-structured interviews will be utilized to collect qualitative data from the participants. The semi-structured interview contains several pivot questions focusing on key areas, but allow the researcher to diverge and probe the interviewee to get clearer responses. Face-to-face semi-structured interviews constitute the primary data collection method that will be used during this study. Semi-structured interviewed will allow the researcher to derive more detailed responses about social phenomena. The interview questions will focus on three key areas, behavior, influence and awareness. The questions will start by collecting personal demographic information. The participants will be asked about their proactiveness ion YouTube. The next set of questions will focus on behavior changes as a result of influence by YouTubers, and inquire whether they are aware of this change. Interviews will be recorded and transcribed for analysis.
Data Analysis
Thematic analysis will be used to analyze the data collected in this study. The method analyses and systematically records pattern within data. Open coding, axial coding and selective coding will be used to identify relevant themes in the data.
Limitations
There is risk of selective bias due to the sampling technique chosen
The sample size is too small to make generalizable conclusions on the entire youth population of the United Arab Emirates.
References
Kietzmann, J. H., Hermkens, K., McCarthy, I. P., & Silvestre, B. S. (2011). Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media. Business horizons , 54 (3), 241-251.
Melendres, M. (2019). YouTubers Influence of Young People. Retrieved 10th February 2021 from https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1042&context=engl_176
Mills, A. J., Durepos, G., & Wiebe, E. (Eds.) (2010). Encyclopedia of case study research .Sage Publications.
Młodkowska, B. (2019). Influencers on Instagram and YouTube and Their Impact on Consumer behavior. Journal of Marketing and Consumer behavior in Emerging Markets , 8 (1), 4-13.
Park, J., & Chun, J. (2020). How does watching YouTube fashion content impact perception of appearance: a phenomenological study of Korean women in Generation Z. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications , 7 (1), 1-10.
Smit, C. R., Buijs, L., van Woudenberg, T. J., Bevelander, K. E., & Buijzen, M. (2020). The impact of social media influencers on children’s dietary behaviors. Frontiers in psychology , 10 , 2975.
Suen, L. J. W., Huang, H. M., & Lee, H. H. (2014). A comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling. Hu Li Za Zhi , 61 (3), 105.
Vähäjylkkä, M., & Lepistö, E. J. (2017). YouTubers' impact on viewers' buying behavior.
Vally, Z., Laconi, S., & Kaliszewska-Czeremska, K. (2020). Problematic internet use, psychopathology, defense mechanisms, and coping strategies: A cross-sectional study from the United Arab Emirates. Psychiatric Quarterly , 91 (2), 587-602.
Westenberg, W. (2016). The influence of YouTubers on teenagers. University of Twente , 1-35.
Zimmermann, D., Noll, C., Gräßer, L., Hugger, K. U., Braun, L. M., Nowak, T., & Kaspar, K. (2020). Influencers on YouTube: a quantitative study on young people’s use and perception of videos about political and societal topics. Current Psychology , 1-17.
