Making sense of YouTubers: how Swedish children construct and negotiate the YouTuber Misslisibell as a girl celebrity. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Martínez, Carolina; Olsson, Tobias
• Is Part Of: Journal of children and media. Volume 13:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 36
• Page End: 52
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02
• Subjects: YouTubers -- YouTube -- celebrity -- microcelebrity -- celebrity endorsement -- advertising -- sponsoring -- social media -- meaning making; Mass media and children -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Mass media and youth -- Periodicals; 302.23083
• DOI: 10.1080/17482798.2018.1517656
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1748-2798

Abstract

ABSTRACT: When children use the Internet, they commonly choose to watch their favorite YouTubers. In this article, we aim to deepen the understanding of how children make sense of YouTubers as a phenomenon, and the role of microcelebrities in children's everyday life. The study is based on group interviews with 9- and 12-year-old Swedish children, and pays specific attention to how they make sense of the video "♥Pin up tutorial (JFR.SE)♥, " produced by the YouTuber Misslisibell. In the analysis, we explore how the children construct and negotiate Misslisibell as celebrity, celebrity endorser, and young girl. Particularly salient were children's negotiations around the YouTuber's celebrity status, children's normative discussions around Misslisibell's YouTube practices related to her young age, and children's various interpretations of the video as advertising, "tips, " and as a space for learning. These multifaceted and sometimes contradictive ways of making sense show the multiplicity of meanings YouTubers have for children.