Event Details

Mike Thelwall studied at Lancaster University (BSc and PhD in Maths) and he is currently Professor of Data Science at the University of Wolverhampton. Mike will deliver an insightful and entertaining public lecture about "Social media analyses of YouTube influencers".

Professor Mike Thelwall of the University of Wolverhampton will deliver an insightful and entertaining public lecture about "Social media analyses of YouTube influencers". Mike Thelwall studied at Lancaster University (BSc and PhD in Maths), was an honorary research associate at the Oxford Internet Institute and is currently Professor of Data Science at the University of Wolverhampton. Mike's research is broad ranging (Bibliometrics, sentiment analysis, online research methods), he is involved in all sorts of activities (including for guidance on responsible research metrics use) and sometimes features in the Times Higher Education. YouTube influencers can attract huge audiences for a new personal style of infotainment. Female lifestyle influencers are particularly successful, having collectively garnered billions of video views. This talk shows how the comments left by viewers on these influencer’s videos can be harnessed to assess some of the factors behind their success. The results suggest, for example, that sharing very personal information is an effective way to generate a sense of intimate connection with audience members, a type of parasocial interaction. Examples will also be given of successful chemistry-related YouTube channels.