How Do YouTubers Collaborate? A Preliminary Analysis of YouTubers’ Collaboration Networks

Siraj, Hiba; Machavarapu, Arnav; Hwang, Jiwoo; Radhakrishnan, Kaavya; Adams, Scarlett; Kim, Jinyi; Lee, Myeong

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117376 Copy

Description

Title

How Do YouTubers Collaborate? A Preliminary Analysis of YouTubers’ Collaboration Networks

Author(s)

• Siraj, Hiba
• Machavarapu, Arnav
• Hwang, Jiwoo
• Radhakrishnan, Kaavya
• Adams, Scarlett
• Kim, Jinyi
• Lee, Myeong

Issue Date

2023-03-13

Keyword(s)

• YouTube
• Network analysis and Collaboration

Abstract

Online videos such as those streamed through YouTube are largely produced by individual users rather than traditional mass media, partly due to the incentive structure of the platforms. As part of the strategy to increase the audience, many content creators collaborate with other creators to attract subscribers and diversify their content. This behavior can be conceptualized as “coopetition” as they cooperate for their channels’ success while competing with one another for the limited pool of audience. In this project, we analyze data about beauty and gaming YouTubers to understand their collaboration types and network structures. The network analysis suggests that (1) the coopetition networks of YouTubers may show a scale-freeness in their topological structure and (2) beauty YouTubers cooperate with non-beauty channels more compared to gaming YouTubers, implying that YouTubers’ cooperation networks may present a different level of heterogeneity depending on topics. The results inform the mechanisms of online video producers’ cooperation and competition processes from an ecological perspective.

Publisher

iSchools

Series/Report Name or Number

iConference 2023 Proceedings

Type of Resource

• Other
• text

Language

eng

Handle URL

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117376

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2023 is held by Hiba Siraj, Arnav Machavarapu, Jiwoo Hwang, Kaavya Radhakrishnan, Scarlett Adams, Jinyi Kim, and Myeong Lee. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the authors.

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