Introduction

In the age of social media, YouTube and live-streaming platforms have had an immense influence not just with video-sharing/live-streaming but also a significant impact as digital spaces on the internet where communities are built. Communities formed on social media, specifically those that have been carved out around popular influencers on platforms such as Twitch, Kick, and YouTube, have become pivotal in moulding not only the culture that has permeated online but also real-world outcomes and consequences.

This paper will explore the dynamics between the social norms and the increasingly reckless behaviour of social media influencers and the communities they establish on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. It will highlight the increasing tensions between the formation of these digital communities and societal norms, focusing mainly on how the drive for visibility can make influencers carry out anti-social or worse, unlawful behaviour. It will be argued that the increase in such behaviours not only signals a critical shift in what is deemed normal in these settings but also challenges and changes these digital communities. This interaction between communities and social norms being clearly apparent in influencers who engage in these activities in the pursuit of notoriety through viral fame, which ends with real-world consequences.

This paper will align with the concept of “Communities and Social Media” as it discusses and, therefore, explores the quest for social media fame through the dynamics of social media communities on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. It will begin with an understanding of where YouTube and streaming platforms are situated within the landscape of digital communities, followed by a critical examination of community and social media fame within the context of “networked publics”. This will be followed by case studies that will be analysed in depth, including a high-profile incident involving Logan Paul, an extremely popular influencer from YouTube, Indonesian YouTuber Qorygore, and Johnny Somali, a smaller IRL “In Real Life” streamer. These case studies will be analysed for how the individuals involved have created a digital community where these anti-social behaviours are encouraged and perpetuated further.

Background

YouTube has undergone a transformation from an online platform that initially had to overcome technical barriers that have to do with video sharing into a network today that sways cultural trends and influencers that shape public opinion (Burgess & Green, 2018). ‘Participatory culture’ was a term that was used in the 2000s to discuss “the apparent link between more accessible digital technologies, user-created content, and shifts in the power relations between media industries and their consumers” (Burgess & Green, 2018, p. 24). Burgess further elaborates that while this arrangement may seem comfortable at first, in truth, YouTube has proved to be a place where, in practice, ‘participatory culture’ is as disruptive as it is liberating (Burgess & Green, 2018, p. 24) further highlighting the two-sided nature of such platforms.

Within ‘participatory culture’, influencers and streamers have emerged as important yet pivotal figures. This can be proven in the way influencers are acting as “self-styled community leaders” (Burgess & Green, 2018, p. 89). These influencers are not simply producing video content; they are also developing digital communities by engaging their audiences through forming tight-knit groups around shared values, interests, and identities. These influencers are essentially the leaders that hold these digital communities together, demonstrating a significant shift in how content is consumed and created (Burgess & Green, 2018). Furthermore, Burgess emphasises the role YouTube has now taken as a  “patron” of these content creators “just as wealthy nobles and rich industrialists have been patrons of the arts for hundreds of years” (Burgess & Green, 2018). This implies YouTube is attempting to take a more active role in creating these influencers by moderating, supporting “development and in shaping the behavioural and cultural norms” (Burgess & Green, 2018).

Complimentary to YouTube, live-streaming platforms such as Twitch and Kick have seen a rise not only in popularity but also in the sub-genre of IRL “In Real Life” streaming, which further expands on the initial discussions by Burgess. Live-streaming platforms, particularly IRL streams, are in a similar, unique position within the concept of community-building. IRL streams cover a “diverse array of topics from just chatting to streamers performing daily activities such as do-it-yourself, unboxing products, playing music, mukbang (social eating), or doing chores.” (Lee, Yuan, & Bi, 2023). These streams are in a crucially influential space as they are a “meaningful way for people to experience social presence and community with others” (Lee, Yuan, & Bi, 2023). Interestingly, this format of streaming saw a significant rise during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people in general were isolated and in need of community, which they were able to find through these platforms (Lee, Yuan, & Bi, 2023).

Nevertheless, the growth of these platforms, digital communities and the ascendancy of influencers has not been without its fair share of controversy. While Burgess (2018) is more focused on the global impact of YouTube, in countries like Japan, there has been a significant increase in popular influencers such as Logan Paul and their community members, notably Qorygore and Johnny Somali, engaging in anti-social and unlawful actions.

Literature Review

The intersection between social norms and social media influencers together with their communities is a crucial topic of study within the context of “Communities and Social Media”. In “Custodians of the Internet”, Gillespie examines the role platforms play as moderators or, as they refer to them, “custodians” (Gillespie, 2018). This position heavily places the onus on the platform when it comes to shaping these communities through their implicit moderation of content. Gillespie suggests that no digital platform is truly neutral; online platforms enact significant control over the digital landscape, shaping the suppression or, inversely, amplification of different voices (Gillespie, 2018). This characteristic provides a critical examination of the dynamics that control online spaces, emphasising the unclear influence these “custodians” have over online communities’ visibility and, consequently, their viability.

Further complimenting the work done by Gillespie (2018), Boyd (2011) examines digital ecosystems and the construction of “network publics” within them. Boyd (2011) argues that social network sites have gained a large amount of traction recently as popular spaces for people to socialise, thus becoming a genre of “networked publics” (Boyd & Papacharissi, 2011). These publics serve most of the same functions as other types of publics, except they are spaces constructed through imagined collectives on networked technologies that have emerged as a result of the intersection of people (Boyd & Papacharissi, 2011). These “networked publics” have four key unique characteristics, including persistence, replicability, scalability, and searchability. Or more simply,  the content created is able to be saved, easily accessible, shareable, discoverable, and has a wide audience reach (Boyd & Papacharissi, 2011, p. 46).

Together, these works by Boyd (2011) and Gillespie (2018) underscore the nature of digital communities. Confirming that platforms such as YouTube and Twitch serve as “custodians” of several “networked publics” that exist within them. These concepts not only emphasise the profound impact that these platforms play on their communities but also how they react and interact with their largest content creators. In a broader context, these concepts directly dictate how these communities are embraced, adapted, and formed around social media.

Case Studies

Three notable case studies surrounding Logan Paul, Qorygore, and Johnny Somali provide valuable insight into examining the complexities surrounding influencers and their communities in relation to social norms.

Logan Paul’s Suicide Forest Incident

Logan Paul is an infamous YouTuber known for his content on YouTube, which consists principally of vlog-type videos, often capitalising on the shock factor to gain popularity. Logan curated a large following that currently sits at 23.6 million subscribers and is often referred to as “Logang” (Wikipedia, 2024).

In 2017, Paul uploaded a video to YouTube that received worldwide condemnation. The video showed Logan and his crew in the Aokigahara forest, also known as the ‘Suicide Forest’. During this video, Logan can be seen showing the body of a person who had committed suicide. Paul then begins to make patronising jokes about the deceased man. Unsurprisingly, this garnered severe backlash and debate from the global community about the ethics of content creation on social media. Furthermore, this displayed a serious lack of cultural sensitivity displayed by influencers and their communities (Bhatt, 2021).

In response to this incident, there was serious backlash from the Japanese community and YouTube themselves, who removed the video and punished Paul by removing his channels from YouTube’s Google Preferred program, a place where brands sell ads on YouTube’s top 5% of creators (BBC, 2018).

Qorygore’s Incident in Japan

Not long after this incident, in 2018, Indonesian YouTuber Qorygore followed through with an almost identical video. Qorygore also posted content on YouTube from the same forest where he also found a deceased body (Coconuts Jakarta, 2018). Qorygore himself was quoted in the video saying, “This is Logan Paul 2.0” (Coconuts Jakarta, 2018), concretely placing the blame on Logan’s community, the “Logang”, which has established a desire for shock value and attracting attention. Although the channel and attention to this incident were far smaller, it suggests a disturbing trend driven by viral fame.

Other Notable Incidents in Japan

Johnny Somali is a U.S. based live streamer known for his IRL streams on the platform Kick (Wikipedia, 2024). Johnny was implicit in various actions in public while travelling Japan, including playing loud music at a restaurant (Ryall, 2023) and breaking into an Osakan construction site (South China Morning Post, 2023). During this incident, a professor of media and communications, Makoto Watanabe, suggested that “his actions are going to attract a lot of attention among other people and encourage them to do something similar to be ‘famous’” (Ryall, 2023). Furthermore, it was also proposed that these actions were motivated by the controversy surrounding Logan Paul. Detailed in the articles by Ryall and Hernon are further influencers who have also conducted themselves inappropriately overseas, notably Australian TikTok user Turan Salis “declaring himself to be a women inspector” on a women-only train carriage (Ryall, 2023) and YouTuber Fidias Panayiotou, who had filmed himself taking public transport in Japan without paying as part of a “$10,000 challenge” (Hernon, 2024). These events genuinely emphasise the point that these communities value shock factor above all else.

Analysis

The three case studies outlined above underline the relationship between social norms and the increasingly reckless behaviour of social media influencers and the communities they establish. When examined through Boyd’s lens of “networked publics”, it can be clearly seen that media-sharing platforms such as YouTube and Twitch foster digital communities by promoting the four fundamental principles. This being the case even when digital communities are built around behaviours that clash with social norms; in fact, the platforms tend to amplify them even more.

Paul’s shocking incident involving a sensitive cultural site emphasises the push from their community to create content that blatantly puts ethical considerations last while placing creating content for the shock value above all. The backlash faced by Logan, including the consequences placed on him by YouTube, highlight the important roles and responsibilities within the broader online community that these influencers and the platforms they operate on have. In his discussions of platforms and their role as “custodians” (Gillespie, 2018), Gillespie emphasises this important but complex association between enforcing controls that protect values through their content and free open expression. With this incident in particular, there has been a significant failure to prevent this from influencing continued anti-social behaviour through YouTube’s ‘participatory culture’.

Further to this, a disturbing trend in reckless behaviour has been laid out, as evident in the video by Qorygore, which emulated Logan’s. Qorygore’s video echoes the notion of “networked publics” put forward by Boyd, where motivated by visibility or ‘scalability’ within their digital communities, these individuals ‘replicate’ the actions in the video so that they can be easily found or, as Boyd states, ‘searchability’ (Boyd & Papacharissi, 2011). Moreover, the actions by Johnny Somali and others in the last case study, although less well known, prove “networked publics” in motion, where they have also blatantly disregarded local laws and norms in the pursuit of virality for the same reasons as Qorygore. These cases all have contributed to a growing concern about disturbances by influencers and ended in legal consequences (Hernon, 2024). Reflecting that cultural practices and community belonging are negotiated and, therefore, “destabilise core assumptions people make when engaging in social life” (Boyd & Papacharissi, 2011, p. 46).

It is clear that through this analysis of case studies, we can see how online platforms can both amplify and facilitate these digital communities perpetuated by Boyd’s concept of “networked publics” (Boyd & Papacharissi, 2011). Furthermore, Gillespie’s concept of platforms as “custodians” underlines the importance of platforms and, therefore, their creators to moderate effectively (Gillespie, 2018).

Conclusion

Through the detailed investigation of Boyd and Gillespie’s concepts, the effects caused by the reckless behaviour of influencers and the communities they create can be clearly seen. This anti-social behaviour being a result of “networked publics” and poor moderation of platforms as “custodians”. Clear tension and a shift can be seen through these digital communities as they have been driven by the “networked publics” principles. Therefore dictating how these communities have embraced, adapted, and formed around social media.

References

BBC. (2018, January 11). YouTube punishes Logan Paul over Japan suicide video. Retrieved from BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42644321

Bhatt, T. (2021, May 30). Logan Paul ‘Tokyo Adventures’ incident: Everything that went down following the infamous ‘Suicide Forest’ video . Retrieved from Sportskeeda: https://www.sportskeeda.com/mma/news-logan-paul-tokyo-incident-everything-went-following-infamous-suicide-forest-video

Boyd, D., & Papacharissi, Z. (2011). Social Network Sites as Networked Publics: Affordances, Dynamics, and Implications. A Networked Self.

Burgess, J., & Green, J. (2018). YouTube : Online Video and Participatory Culture (2nd ed.). Digital Media and Society Series.

Coconuts Jakarta. (2018, December 6). Youtube takes down Japan suicide forest video by Indonesian Youtuber Qorygore amid internet outrage. Retrieved from Coconuts Jakata: https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/youtube-takes-japan-suicide-forest-video-indonesian-youtuber-qorygore-amid-internet-outrage/

Gillespie, T. (2018). Custodians of the Internet : Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions That Shape Social Media. Custodians of the Internet.

Hernon, M. (2024, January 10). Streamer Johnny Somali Fined by Japanese Government for Playing Loud Music at an Osaka Restaurant. Retrieved from Tokyo Weekender: https://www.tokyoweekender.com/japan-life/news-and-opinion/johnny-somali-fined/

Lee, Y. H., Yuan, C. W., & Bi, N. (2023). Investigating social presence in “In Real Life” streaming for community building. New Media & Society.

Ryall, J. (2023, September 27). US influencer Johnny Somali’s arrest in Japan shows lengths people go to be ‘famous’. Retrieved from South China Morning Post: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3235875/us-influencer-johnny-somalis-arrest-japan-shows-lengths-people-take-be-famous?campaign=3235875&module=perpetual_scroll_0&pgtype=article

South China Morning Post. (2023, December 22). US live-streamer Johnny Somali faces criminal charges in Japan for playing loud music at Osaka restaurant. Retrieved from South China Morning Post: https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3245958/us-live-streamer-johnny-somali-faces-criminal-charges-japan-playing-loud-music-osaka-restaurant

Wikipedia. (2024, April 2). Johnny Somali. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Somali

Wikipedia. (2024, April 2). Logan Paul. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan_Paul