“I want to be a youtuber”. Online references and aspirational values for tweens

The article presents the preliminary results of a study on how tweens (11-12 year-olds) use YouTube and youtubers, especially in relation to the construction of online referents and aspirational values, and in the wider global media teen culture, and highlights some new trends in young audiences. The study is framed within the Uses and Gratifications Perspective, as well as the Constructivism and Cultural Studies background and is focused on how and for what purposes tweens use YouTube and youtubers. The pilot phase of the study, consisting of a pilot survey (n=85) conducted in secondary schools and a pilot focus group (n=6), is presented in this paper, providing some preliminary findings of a wider study carried on in Catalonia (Spain). One of the main results is that tweens consider YouTube more as a social medium and use it especially for entertainment, but not for interacting. As for youtubers, tweens like them because they are funny, and, to a lesser extent, for socialisation reasons. In conclusion, the general picture is one of tweens who use YouTube to consume media content in a more traditional, and not more interactive, manner.