Lifestyle information from YouTube influencers: some consumption patterns

Abstract

Purpose

Despite lifestyle information needs being an important part of our daily lives, little is known about the role of common sources. Whilst magazines and television are traditional providers of lifestyle content, including for fashion, makeup, fitness and cookery, they have been partly replaced by content-creating online influencers.

Design/methodology/approach

To investigate this new resource, this article analyses comments on the videos of 223 UK female lifestyle influencers on YouTube for information about possible viewing patterns.

Findings

Three quarters of comments are written during the week of the video being published, consistent with videos being consumed with an information browsing function, rather than treated as an information resource to be searched when needed. Commenting on the videos of multiple influencers occurred often, suggesting that many viewers are not loyal to a single influencer. Thus, influencers seem to primarily support active scanning rather than searching for specific information. Typical viewers of UK female lifestyle influencers can therefore expect to accumulate lifestyle ideas and knowledge for potential future use in addition to gaining timely suggestions for near future routine decision-making.

Practical implications

Public-facing information professionals, health professionals and counsellors may consider recommending selected videos or influencers to help with lifestyle concerns.

Originality/value

This is the first large scale study of content-creating influencers as a lifestyle information resource.

Citation

Thelwall, M. (2021), "Lifestyle information from YouTube influencers: some consumption patterns", Journal of Documentation, Vol. 77 No. 6, pp. 1209-1222. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-02-2021-0033