The Leading Role of Influencers in the YouTube Beauty Community

Online communities are consuming significant time in the life of people. YouTube Beauty Community is one that exerts an important level of influence to the people who follow the YouTube Beauty Creators. Those, as leaders, have followers that follow them without coercion and the influence that they get is significant. Through this thesis is studied the characteristics and means that YouTube Beauty Creators have in order to exert influence. In order to identify the characteristics and means that YouTube Beauty Creators use, a model was created to be used for video observations. Twelve beauty channels and more than 100 videos were observed in order to identify eight new means and characteristics that YouTube Beauty Creators are using to exert influence to their followers. I conclude my work by building a bridge between YouTube Beauty Creators and different leadership styles, as well as a discussion on the importance of this enormous influence. It is highlighted the meaning of it for the development of social identities that watch these kind of videos. Lastly, it is pointed out the importance of social structures related to the gender issue and how the era of image affects these two factors