Science and Environmental Communication on YouTube: Strategically Distorted Communications in Online Videos on Climate Change and Climate Engineering

Allgaier, Joachim

doi:10.3389/fcomm.2019.00036

Cited by 133 publications

(107 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…An important aspect of the spreading dynamics of M&D about vaccines is the adoption of different strategies to profit. Although researchers already identified advertisements running on climate misinformation videos (Allgaier, 2019;Avaaz, 2020) and on videos disseminating M&D about vaccines (Avaaz and SBIm, 2019), and despite YouTube's statements about measures to fight harmful misinformation on the platform (O'Donovan, 2019), we found that monetization of these kind of content still persists. We identified 39 brands advertising on 13 videos of our M&D sample.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Natural Stings: Selling Distrust About Vaccines on Brazilian YouTube

2020

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In this study, we investigate misinformation and disinformation (M&D) about vaccines using a case study approach to understand how M&D about vaccines circulate on YouTube in Portuguese, and who are the channels creating and disseminating this kind of content. The World Health Organization considered vaccine hesitation as one of the greatest threats to global health in 2019. Researchers associated this hesitation to a strengthening of the anti-vaccination movements, suggesting that social media is currently the main spreader of this position. YouTube increasingly becomes a matter of concern, since its recommendation system is identified as a promoter of misinformation and extreme content. Despite YouTube's statements, M&D about vaccines continue to be disseminated in videos in Portuguese, reaching a large audience. We found 52 videos containing M&D about vaccines. The main M&D were the claim of dangerous ingredients in vaccines, the defense of self-direction-freedom of choice, independent research-, the promotion of alternative health services, the myth that vaccines cause diseases, conspiracy theories, and the allegation of vaccine's severe collateral effects. We identified 39 brands advertising on 13 videos of our M&D sample. Although the YouTube Partner Program is an important source of income, the channels use different economic strategies, such as the selling of courses, and therapies and the use of fundraising platforms. We also found that alternative health channels spread distrust about traditional institutions to promote themselves as trusted sources for the audience and thereby profit with alternative health services.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Natural Stings: Selling Distrust About Vaccines on Brazilian YouTube

2020

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“…While there has been much talk about the darker sides of YouTubesuch as the spreading of conspiracy myths or climate change denialism (Basch et al, 2017;Hussain et al, 2018;Paolillo, 2018;Allgaier, 2019;Ekram et al, 2019)this article sheds some light on a brighter side of the video platform: the potential of YouTube as a tool for science communication to reach and engage young people.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The video platform YouTube plays an important role in the learning habits of today's young people (Jebe et al, 2019). While there already is a plethora of videos on YouTube addressing climate change, previous studies show that the (educational and visual) quality widely varies (Allgaier, 2019). If environmental science communication wants to reach young people in this variety of competing offers, new strategies need to be devised.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Science Communication for a Young Audience: A Case Study on the #EarthOvershootDay Campaign on YouTube 🎬🌎

Kaul¹,

Schrögel²,

Humm³

2020

Preprint

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Addressing global sustainability challenges such as climate change or environmental protection requires thorough political and societal debates and following decisions in democratic societies. Science and environmental communication is needed to inform these debates. However, not all parts of society are equally reached by science and environmental communication, in particular young people without academic background are often left out. The cooperation with influencers on the video platform YouTube can be a way to convey scientific information and raise awareness for environmental issues with this target group. This case study looks at three videos from the YouTube campaign #EarthOvershootDay by the WWF Germany and Mesh Collective. The focus of the analysis lies on the success factors of science communication on YouTube with influencers – specifically the role of authenticity, comprehensibility and storytelling –, how they align with previous findings and how they play out in detail in the three exemplary videos. Besides the analysis of the videos, the study is corroborated by interviews with the producers and a comment analysis for the perspective of the viewers. Our analysis confirms previous findings on science communication with influencers and illustrates the aspects in their concrete implementation. It shows that authenticity is a central aspect for the presentation of scientific content by influencers – including topic choice, presentation style, language and interaction with the communities. The storytelling approaches need to be tailored to the respective influencer and their style. The language and structure of the videos are simple and comprehensible, the included scientific arguments focus on selected aspects and are tied to examples from everyday life. The comments by the users corroborate these findings with the majority of comments addressing the three aspects of our analysis being positive. However, an in-depth involvement with the scientific contents could not be found. These findings corroborate previous studies on the benefits of communicating science in cooperation with influencers and illustrate on the basis of the concrete examples which aspects are relevant. Thereby, this study can also serve as guidance for shaping practical science and environmental communication.

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“…Meanwhile, anti-science groups and individuals are also using YouTube videos to publicize false, inaccurate, and potentially harmful information about science (Allgaier, 2013(Allgaier, , 2020. The majority of YouTube videos on climate-related topics, for instance, have been shown to take a stance against the scientific consensus (Allgaier, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Good Story Well Told: Storytelling Components That Impact Science Video Popularity on YouTube

Huang

Grant

2020

Front. Commun.

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Storytelling plays a crucial role in science communication, but little research has investigated how it impacts the popularity of science videos. This study examined storytelling components in 306 popular YouTube science videos and revealed significant relationships between video popularity and five storytelling components, namely dramatic question, insight, moments of change, emotional arousal and, status of story. Emotional arousal, in particular, showed a strong association with popularity. The results shed light on the role of storytelling in increasing science video popularity.

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Science and Environmental Communication on YouTube: Strategically Distorted Communications in Online Videos on Climate Change and Climate Engineering

Cited by 133 publications

References 49 publications

Natural Stings: Selling Distrust About Vaccines on Brazilian YouTube

Natural Stings: Selling Distrust About Vaccines on Brazilian YouTube

Environmental Science Communication for a Young Audience: A Case Study on the #EarthOvershootDay Campaign on YouTube 🎬🌎

A Good Story Well Told: Storytelling Components That Impact Science Video Popularity on YouTube

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