A informação dos youtubers na formação de opinião de crianças dos 8 aos 12 anos sobre temas da atualidade

Abstract

Children consume YouTube videos to obtain new information and form their own opinions. Inthis context, the role of YouTubers and the videos in which they address current social andpolitical issues, directly or indirectly, becomes increasingly important in the development ofchildren.This dissertation focuses on the influence of YouTubers on the formation of opinions ofchildren, aged between 8 and 12 years old, regarding current matters of interest. The study usesa qualitative method, namely interviews with 20 children and 5 YouTubers, both Portugueseand Brazilian, in order to understand how the YouTubers' contents and messages impactchildren, as well as the YouTubers’ point of view about their role in the development ofchildren.The findings suggest that children acquire knowledge on YouTube mainly through incidentallearning, assimilating opinions and behaviours from the role models around them, often withouthaving that intention or being able to think critically about the information. Based on thepersonal relationship that children feel they have with YouTubers, these personalities, whoregularly approach relevant societal issues on their channels, are part of the group of agents thatchildren see as a reference and from whom they replicate attitudes, thus acquiring a role ofopinion leaders among the youngest nowadays.It is concluded that these individuals influence the opinion formation of children on social andpolitical themes, even if they do not always address them directly in their organic videos anddespite the fact that sometimes they deal with them not in entertainment contents, but inadvertising actions, when they are spokespersons of campaigns of certain brands.

Date of Award	17 Jan 2022
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Alexandre Duarte (Supervisor)