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Article published In: Pragmatics and Society
Vol. 16:6 (2025) ► pp.828–849

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Commenting behavior as a mirror of parasocial relationships and emotional attachment on YouTube

A qualitative study of comments on product-promoting videos in Spanish

ORCiD logo with link | University of Turku
Published online: 3 February 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.24075.pel
Abstract
Research on Influencer Marketing has flourished in recent years and has also encompassed the audience’s perspective. Nevertheless, there is a lack of studies that specifically focus on the reception of IM as revealed by the YouTube comments. This study examines comments on 12 product-promoting videos of Spanish YouTubers. The purpose is to provide insight into the communicative behavior exhibited by social media users in comment sections and to reveal what these communicative acts reveal of the bond between content creators and their followers in terms of parasocial relationship and emotional attachment. These two phenomena are observed in the light of involvement strategies. The analysis emphasizes the high diversity of comment contents, communicative acts and involvement practices involved. Results shed light on the diverse means that users employ to establish and strengthen parasocial relationships on YouTube. The praising comments appear to symbolize an emotional attachment that bears importance for the users.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Parasocial relationship and emotional attachment in the context of YouTubers and their audience
  • 3.Data and methodology
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1Communicative acts and involvement practices targeting YouTubers
      • 4.1.1Praise and use of emotional lexis
      • 4.1.2Questions, responses and requests for reactions with focus on interrogative and imperative structures
      • 4.1.3Communicative acts and use of enthusiasm markers
    • 4.2Communicative acts targeting the promoted products
  • 5.Discussion and conclusions
  • References
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