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YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture: 2nd ed., Jean Burgess and
Joshua Green, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2018, 191 pages, £12.99 (paperback),
£40.78 (hardcover), ISBN-13:...

Article  in  Information Communication and Society · February 2020

DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2020.1726989

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 Information, Communication & Society

ISSN: 1369-118X (Print) 1468-4462 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rics20

YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture

2nd ed., Jean Burgess and Joshua Green, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2018, 191
pages, £12.99 (paperback), £40.78 (hardcover), ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-6019-6

Evelyn Keryova

To cite this article: Evelyn Keryova (2020): YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture,
Information, Communication & Society, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2020.1726989

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INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION & SOCIETY

BOOK REVIEW

YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture, 2nd ed., Jean Burgess and Joshua
Green, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2018, 191 pages, £12.99 (paperback), £40.78
(hardcover), ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-6019-6

The second edition of YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture by Burgess and Green
is an updated version of their 2007 study that was released just two years after YouTube was
founded. While the first edition treated YouTube as an object of study that was not easy to
research due to lack of understanding of the platform at that time, the updated version, on
the other hand, comes in a time where there are multiple studies of internet and social
media conducted by other researchers. However, to update the first edition is an important
move because social media like YouTube are constantly changing, especially in terms of the
language, platforms’ popularity or audience’s participation alone. Although YouTube’s nature
remains the same since its creation, there are extreme changes in genres and popularity of con-
tent creators but also anxieties that emerged from traditional media over the uses of YouTube.
Burgess and Green’s approach to YouTube is by no means a glorification of the platform;
rather, it is an objective research, using mixed methods including ethnography, textual and
visual methods. The core thesis of the book is to explore the history of YouTube throughout
the years, highlighting challenges and problems with its business model and media attitudes.
First chapter uncovers why YouTube studies are important and complex and starts with a
historical overview of YouTube. It draws attention to the early beginnings of YouTube includ-
ing the creation, key features and re-design, but mainly talks about the shift from the website
being somehow a personal storage for videos to self-expression. It also talks about the intro-
duction of a new business model that includes advertising and paid promotion for content
creators.
Burgess and Green capture a relationship between YouTube and traditional media by using
thematic analysis and look at how the press and television news covered YouTube at the very
early beginnings. A bunch of general themes emerged from this study: youth, celebrity, piracy,
copyrights, cyberbullying and morality. While the social anxiety and media panics about
young people emerged since the early beginning of YouTube, it is still a topic that is widely
discussed today. The book identifies more social anxieties and media panics since the launch
of the YouTube Kids app in February 2015 based on the number of instances of exposure to
inappropriate content due to lack of monitoring and problems with algorithm.
A lot of things have changed since 2007. One of them is the fact that the content used to be
ordinary and personal and Burgess and Green identify that videos were never ‘motivated by
the desire for individual attention from large audience’ (p. 39). Same as with the original edi-
tion, concepts of cyberbullying and antisocial behaviour emerged from the new study and
number of controversies have arisen by public, media and researchers, including abusive com-
ments, anonymity, urge of moderating or banning comments, trolling or so-called ‘YouTube
drama’. Burgess and Green also talk about the urge for digital media literacy and describe it as
the fundamental requirement for young people. The book explains that being literate in this
context means not being able to create and consume videos but also being able to be critical
about the content.
Their study of patterns drew on samples of videos from four categories, the same as in 2007.
These are most viewed, most favourited, most responded and most discussed videos. This has
certain limitations, for example, most viewed videos might not be actually most viewed as there
 2 BOOK REVIEW

are lots of problems with fake accounts and fake likes nowadays, but this has not been taken
into consideration for this particular study. The mention of the Lonelygirl15 case, that was the
first significant example of the relationship between amateur and professional content pro-
duction that also violated principles of authenticity, is also a bit dated; same as their reference
of Viacom lawsuit and Mediaset law action against YouTube in 2008, as there are a number of
newer cases that would be worth mentioning in their second edition. The original edition also
included two additional essays by Henry Jenkins (What Happened Before YouTube) and John
Hartley (Uses of YouTube: Digital Literacy and the Growth of Knowledge) which were
explaining and contextualising YouTube and pre-YouTube era more widely. However, the
new edition does not contain those essays.
Burgess and Green’s approach to the research did not change overall, and they did not
repeat the study. They have used a content survey, which was also used in the original edition,
with minor updates, including the use of appropriate language and contemporary compari-
sons. What is new, for example, is their explanation of vlogging culture and them uncovering
the fact that vloggers that were popular in 2007 are still going strong today. This is a good
example of the new language used in the second edition, although, as they mention, the
term might not be new, as it naturally emerged from the webcam culture. Despite the lack
of new examples and updated study, this book is suited for an audience interested in social
media studies, YouTube and its history, problems associated with the platform’s use, fandom
and participatory culture, but also anyone interested in media panics. It is certainly a good
starting point for anyone who would like to understand YouTube culture in more depth.

Evelyn Keryova
University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
e.keryova@sussex.ac.uk http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6198-3448
© 2020 Evelyn Keryova
https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1726989

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