【中美创新时报2024 年 7 月 5 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译） 科技业内人士曾经引用过一条经验法则，即在线社区的用户中通常只有十分之一会发布新内容，而大多数人登录只是为了查看图片、视频或其他更新。该视频平台的一项调查显示，现在年轻一代正在打破这种分界线。《华盛顿邮报》记者泰勒·洛伦兹（Taylor Lorenz）对此作了下述报道。
在社交互联网诞生的头二十年里，潜水者占据主导地位。根据 YouTube 的调查数据，在 Z 世代中，他们是少数。
科技业内人士曾经引用过一条经验法则，即在线社区的用户中通常只有十分之一会发布新内容，而大多数人登录只是为了查看图片、视频或其他更新。该视频平台的一项调查显示，现在年轻一代正在打破这种分界线。
YouTube 发现，65% 的 Z 世代（其定义为年龄在 14 至 24 岁之间的人）将自己描述为视频内容创作者，这意味着潜水者是少数。这一发现来自美国 350 名 Z 世代成员的回复，该调查来自一项更广泛的调查，该调查询问了数千人他们如何在网上度过时间，包括他们是否认为自己是视频创作者。YouTube 与研究公司 SmithGeiger 合作进行了这项调查，作为其平台趋势年度报告的一部分。
调查询问受访者：“你会将自己描述为视频内容创作者吗？即为观众创作任何类型视频内容的人？” 受访者群体的年龄和性别人口统计数据与美国人口普查数据相匹配，但由选择通过电子邮件接收研究调查的人组成，一些研究发现，这种方法产生的结果不如使用基于概率的样本的调查准确。
YouTube 的报告称，许多 Z 世代成员在观看在线视频后，会用自己的视频做出回应，上传自己的评论、反应视频、深入研究他人发布的内容等等。这种互动通常是在观看流行文化主题的视频时产生的，例如《鲁保罗变装皇后秀》或《全面瓦解》电子游戏系列。报告称，粉丝创作的内容可以比原始素材赢得更多的观看时间。
“见证 Z 世代如何发展粉丝群体令人兴奋，”YouTube 全球文化与趋势总监凯文·阿洛卡（Kevin Allocca ）在一份声明中表示。“他们正在积极地将观众行为从被动观看转变为寻找并在独特的内容‘对话’中发表自己的声音。”
TikTok 对短视频的普及推动了互联网新时代的兴起，这种时代更具参与性。这款应用让一代年轻人可以使用易于使用的移动视频编辑工具，让业余爱好者也能创作出引人注目的视频内容。TikTok 的二重唱和拼接功能可让用户轻松对其他视频做出反应和回应，从而鼓励潜水者成为内容创作者。
YouTube 和 Instagram 对此作出回应，推出了自己的短视频竞争对手和新的编辑工具，例如，可以快速搜索和为剪辑添加音轨。YouTube 短视频于 2021 年推出，该公司表示，该服务上的内容总共获得了数万亿次观看。它催生了斯基比迪厕所（Skibidi Toilet ）等文化现象，这是一部令人费解的动画系列，在 Shorts 上有数十亿次观看。
皮尤研究中心去年年底报告称，根据对 1,453 名 13 至 17 岁青少年的调查，YouTube 和 TikTok 是美国青少年中最流行的社交媒体服务。YouTube 总体使用率最高，但两者都拥有忠实的追随者。皮尤发现，16% 的青少年表示他们“几乎一直在”使用 YouTube，17% 的人对 TikTok 也持同样的看法。
“视频现在是互联网的语言，”网红营销机构创作者权威（ Creator Authority ）的联合创始人兼首席执行官布伦丹·加汉（Brendan Gahan ）说道。近年来，这种格式主导了社交媒体消费。现在，更短的格式和精巧的编辑工具让更多消费者能够采用这种通用语言。“你手上就有了一个制作工作室，”加汉说道。
然而，加汉补充道，随着越来越多的社交媒体用户成为创作者而不是潜水员，对眼球的竞争可能会变得更加激烈。“这是当今 Z 世代最向往的工作，进入门槛非常低，”他说。“建立观众群的竞争将变得越来越激烈。”
研究和分析公司电子商务者（Emarketer）的社交媒体首席分析师茉莉·恩伯格（Jasmine Enberg ）表示，YouTube 的数据符合她在网上看到的趋势。营销人员也注意到了这一点，并越来越多地尝试将商业信息融入用户生成的视频评论和在线对话中。
恩伯格表示，这导致一些年轻人对在线内容的信任度降低，而更多地转向 Z 世代同龄人的信息、建议和评论。“人们对一些较传统的媒体来源缺乏信任，”她说。“他们转向像他们这样的人，以便能够理解和分析他们在新闻、社会、流行文化或娱乐中看到的东西。”
题图：青少年在纽约的一家商场查看手机。YouTube 的一项调查发现，65% 的 Z 世代（其定义为年龄在 14 至 24 岁之间的人）自称是视频内容创作者。SETH WENIG/美联社
附原英文报道：
The majority of Gen Z describe themselves as video content creators
By Taylor Lorenz The Washington Post,Updated July 3, 2024
For the first two decades of the social internet, lurkers ruled. Among Gen Z, they’re in the minority, according to survey data from YouTube.
Tech industry insiders used to cite a rule of thumb stating that only 1 in 10 of an online community’s users generally post new content, with the masses logging on only to consume images, video, or other updates. Now younger generations are flipping that divide, a survey by the video platform said.
YouTube found that 65 percent of Gen Z, which it defined as people between the ages of 14 and 24, describe themselves as video content creators — making lurkers a minority. The finding came from responses from 350 members of Gen Z in the United States, out of a wider survey that asked thousands of people about how they spend time online, including whether they consider themselves video creators. YouTube did the survey in partnership with the research firm SmithGeiger, as part of its annual report on trends on the platform.
The survey asked respondents, “Would you describe yourself as a video content creator, someone who creates any kind of video content for an audience?” The pool of respondents was matched by age and gender demographics with US Census data but consisted of people who had opted to receive research surveys by email, a method that some studies have found can produce less accurate results than surveys that use probability-based samples.
YouTube’s report said that after watching videos online, many members of Gen Z respond with videos of their own, uploading their own commentary, reaction videos, deep dives into content posted by others, and more. This kind of interaction often develops in response to videos on pop culture topics such as “RuPaul’s Drag Race” or the “Fallout” video game series. Fan-created content can win more watch time than the original source material, the report said.
“It’s exciting to witness how Gen Z is evolving fandom,” Kevin Allocca, YouTube’s global director of Culture & Trends, said in a statement. “They’re actively moving audience behavior from passive viewing to finding and adding their voices to a unique content ‘dialogue.’”
TikTok’s popularization of short-form video has driven the rise of that new, more participatory era of the internet. The app gave a generation of young people access to easy-to-use mobile video editing tools, allowing amateurs to create compelling video content. TikTok’s duet and stitch features, which allow users to easily react and respond to other videos, can encourage lurkers to become content creators.
YouTube and Instagram have responded by launching their own short-form video competitors and new editing tools, for example, to quickly search for and add audio tracks to a clip. YouTube Shorts launched in 2021 and the company says that content on the service has collectively earned trillions of views. It has given birth to cultural phenomena like Skibidi Toilet, a mind-bending animated series that has billions of views on Shorts.
Pew Research Center reported late last year that YouTube and TikTok are the top social media services among US teens, based on a survey of 1,453 13- to 17-year-olds. YouTube was most-used overall, but both had devoted followings. Pew found that 16 percent of teens said they use YouTube “almost constantly,” with 17 percent saying the same about TikTok.
“Video is now the language of the internet,” said Brendan Gahan, cofounder and CEO of Creator Authority, an influencer marketing agency. The format has dominated social media consumption in recent years. Now shorter formats and slick editing tools are empowering more consumers to adopt that lingua franca. “You’ve got a production studio in the palm of your hand,” Gahan said.
However, Gahan adds that as more social media users become creators not lurkers, competition for eyeballs could become more fierce. “It’s the most aspirational job for Gen Z today and the barrier to entry is so low,” he said. “It will become more and more competitive to build an audience.”
Jasmine Enberg, principal analyst for social media at Emarketer, a research and analysis firm, said that YouTube’s data fits with trends she is seeing online. Marketers have noticed too, and are increasingly trying to work commercial messages into the user-generated video commentary and conversation forming online.
Enberg said this is causing some young people to become less trusting of online content and to turn more to information, recommendations, and commentary from Gen Z peers. “There is a lack of trust in some of the more traditional media sources,” she said. “They’re turning to people like them to be able to understand and analyze things that they see in the news or in society, pop culture, or entertainment.”
