session 6: motivations of transgender YouTube video creators

PART I: PILOT STUDY

RESEARCH QUESTION: What motivates transgender individuals to post YouTube videos about their personal experiences as transgender individuals? How do transgender individuals use these videos to create identity and form community?

SITE: YouTube

METHOD FOR ANALYZING DATA:  Users' responses were coded to uncover themes and similarities.

INITIAL FINDINGS:

            I searched YouTube using the key word "transgender." Users were selected for initial contact based on how many transgender-related videos they had posted (the more the better) and if they appeared to be current users (most recent video dated 2013).  Channels that featured content from a group of transgender individuals were not included in the study, as the focus was on individual content creators.

            31 users received an e-mail that briefly described the study and asked whether they would be interested in answering questions via e-mail. Of the 31 contacted, 18 responded and expressed interest in participating. These users then received the following 3 starter questions:

  1. Why did you start posting videos on YouTube? Have your motivations/reasons changed or expanded over time? If so, how?

      2. Prior to posting your own videos, how familiar were you with other YouTube content on the subject of transitions/transgender life? How did you interact with this content (did you share it by embedding it or linking it, leave comments, etc)?

      3. What was the most challenging video or piece of information you've shared on YouTube? Why was this video/information so challenging for you? And why did you decide to share it?

            11 users responded in time for inclusion in this pilot study. Their responses to question 1 were coded to identify themes. See the table below for a listing of themes, the number of users whose responses included the theme, and examples of the theme from respondents' answers.

                While the theme of self-benefit/personal was most common (9 of 11 respondents' answers included this), prosocial motivations (desire to provide emotional support/inspiration) came in a close second, showing up in 8 answers.  The prevalence of self-benefit/personal motivation bears out Wellman et al.'s assertion of networked individualism, in which each person is the node of his or her own community (2003). The asynchronous nature of the Internet means that each person has when-I-need-it access to support and resources, as they can draw upon the support and knowledge regardless of time, location of proximity.
              Of the 11 respondents, 8 gave answers that included more than one theme. The majority of users -- 8 -- said their motivations for posting had not changed over time. For the three users who noticed a change or expansion in motivation,  one user said he now wants to
"reach people who are unfamiliar with transfolk. I feel that education will lead to the normalization of trans." A second user noted that due to positive feedback about her videos being useful and helpful, she has a new motivation to create videos to help people. The third user said "I want to become more of [a] voice and advocate for transgender people as I am realizing on this transition that we don't really have anyone."
               A question that arose due to this pilot study is: does the desire to provide emotional support/inspiration lead to off-YouTube connections? For instance, do transgender YouTube video creators find that their YouTube viewers also connect with them on their blogs, Facebook, Twitter, or through e-mail?Also, do YouTube connections translate to offline connections or action, such as meetups with regular viewers or the giving of time, support, or effort to local or national transgender support and advocacy groups?

PART II: READINGS

What is online identity?

                Online identities are created when individuals disclose information about themselves. On YouTube, an online identity is created through one's videos, which feature images and audio. For the majority of transgender YouTube users, these images and audio are of themselves. This is an interesting mingling of offline and online identities, as users allow an unknown audience to see what they look like and sound like face to face. Many transgender YouTube content creators also create timelines or monthly update videos to show changes that result from hormone therapy.  YouTube users also create identity through textual means, such as comments and messages.  Users can also build identity through actions that signal affiliation or interest, such as liking or downvoting comments or videos or subscribing to channels.

                A primary aspect of online identity is that it is constructed and deliberate. Thus, online identities can be a form of self-expression and creativity (the pessimists might say they are also a form of deception). People usually need to disclose a certain amount of information (name, e-mail, age, location - whether factual or manufactured) to begin creating an online identity in most SNSs. This disclosure is an essential first step to setting oneself up at the hub of one's own community, as discussed in Wellman et al (2003). Online identities are not static, but dynamic, as actions (comments, posts, likes, shares, messages), the addition of friends,  and membership in groups or communities accumulate and change over time.

                A second primary aspect of online identity is that it circumvents traditional boundaries such as time, place, and proximity. Wellman et al. (2003) use the term "glocalized" to emphasize how the Internet has displaced local places as the focus of individuals' identities, relationships, and interests;  local connections are now just one piece of the puzzle. An online identity can be crafted to deal with both a cross-section of real-life acquaintances but can also be strongly context-based. This may sound contradictory. However, consider that a person constructing a Facebook profile can reasonably expect to friend a mixture of family, friends, and professional colleagues. These friends have very different interactions with and knowledge of the individual, which may mean that the individual will need to choose signals that resonate with the greatest number of audience members, to maintain identity authenticity (Donath, 2007). An online identity can also be context-based, as it is comprised of people who are connected to an individual and interactions.  A person's trustworthiness can be evaluated not only based on her individual actions, but by the actions of her friends. Also, while Facebook is a rather general SNS, a more specialized SNS - like a dating site for a certain ethnic group/religion - allows people to emphasize certain aspects of their lives. In the case of YouTube transgender users, YouTube allows them asynchronous access to other transgender users' experiences and stories and a low-risk way to gain information and form relationships through messaging, liking, or commenting.

INFORMAL USE SCENARIOS (SUNNY & RAINY):

A sunny-day scenario:

•          user creates video
•          user uploads video to YouTube and decides to make it public
•          user gives video a title that will help viewers find it (useful words include transgender,  mtf(male to female)/ftm (female to male), or transition
•          viewers find video
•          viewers respond positively to video by liking it, posting positive comments, and sharing it
• ·         user feels personally supported and/or believes that she or he has contributed to greater awareness of transgender issues and experiences.

A rainy-day scenario:

•          user creates video 
•          user uploads video as publicly viewable
•          user gives video a useful title
•          viewers find video
•          some viewers leave positive comments, but others respond negatively,  using the comment space to engage in name-calling and ill-mannered debates about religious views of transgender individuals, the causes of gender identity disorder, and what makes someone male or female
•          user feels personally attacked and isolated. User may take down video temporarily or permanently, post videos less often, stop discussing certain issues, or even stop creating videos.

HOW MIGHT YOUR RESEARCH HELP A RAINY DAY BECOME SUNNY?

                Based on my starter questions, many respondents post videos not only for personal reasons, but due to prosocial motivations, as well. This means that transgender individuals may be open to making changes to how they use YouTube if  those changes will help increase awareness of transgender stories and issues.

                I believe that my research could help by analyzing comments to identify common points of confusion. For instance, just from casually viewing transgender videos on YouTube, it appears that many commenters are confused about the physical implications of transitioning (they don't understand exactly what "top" or "bottom" surgery entails and the end results). There are also disagreements about religious viewpoints on transgender individuals as well as confusion about how and why people are transgender.

                While video creators may want to thoughtfully respond to every confused commenter, some videos have so many comments that this is not feasible. It may be useful to have some sort of transgender FAQ/webliography that draws on resources in a variety of formats, from blog posts, articles by psychologists/doctors, and videos. Transgender individuals would be encouraged to assess the resources' quality, comment on the usefulness of the resource, and tag it for easier access. The webliography could also track how many times a resource has been linked to and allow viewers to rate the resource. A video creator faced with a common question or confusion could respond by leaving a link to an appropriate source from the webliography vs. crafting a reply or definition from scratch or spending time hunting for the perfect resource.