Political Content in German and Flemish Social Media Influencers’ YouTube Videos

The next speaker in this ICA 2024 conference session is Darian Harff, whose interest is in the political topics covered by social media influencers in Germany and Flanders. Social media influencers run popular social media accounts and have become well-known because of their content specialties, but some occasionally also address political topics. This can be consequential in affecting public opinion especially amongst younger audiences, but is also problematic because they often have no formal political expertise. Such influencers can therefore emerge as opinion leaders who curate political information.

What topics do such influencers cover, then? Are these issues of collective concern, and do they relate to conventional political issues that are already addressed by formal politics, or do they also politicise lifestyle-based political issues? This study, then, examines the prevalence of political topics in influencers’ communication; the presentation of such topics by influencers; and the popularity of such political content by influencers with its intended audiences.

The study conducted a content analysis of the 5,700 posts by 64 YouTube influencers which were identified through youth surveys in Germany and Flanders; more than 80% of these young people said they had encountered such political content from influencers. 100 videos per influencer were coded for their political content, and ten of these were coded in more detail.

It found that political content in such videos is relatively rare (in 12% of posts), but this is different depending on the country context (more in Germany than in Flanders); the proportion of political posts is on the rise, though. Such content is more popular than non-political content, by comparison. Two thirds of such political content focusses on lifestyle issues, is connected with YouTube gossip and drama, and mixed in with beauty videos and other themes.

Formats are often commentaries or reaction videos to other footage (in 45% of political videos); these contain entertaining elements like humour, vulgarity, and scandalisation. These features may also assist in encouraging incidental exposure to such videos on social media platforms. Such videos may serve as a gateway to politics for their – usually young – audiences, through infotainment and lifestyle-based politics. Their opinionated perspectives may also serve as gateways to problematic information, however.