Speaking up about bullying on YouTube: Teenagers' vlogs as civic engagement

Abstract

Background YouTube is the most popular social networking website among Canadian adolescents, yet little is known about their contribution to the platform's contents. This article examines youth-produced vlogs created to address a social issue. It seeks to explore the relationship between media creation, civic agency, and participatory politics in the context of visual social media. Analysis This article combines Grounded Theory and Social Semiotics to perform a multimodal content analysis of 55 vlogs posted on YouTube by French-speaking Canadian adolescents on the issue of bullying. Conclusion and implications The article concludes that vlogging allows for the creation of a social space where civic discussions can foster discursive forms of engagement and online activism. Future research could examine patterns of inclusion/exclusion in the access to this civic practice.