Looking at Online Content Collaboration

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In the digital age we have the ability to communicate and collaborate with people in our specific areas of interest.

It's interesting to me that the idea of collaboration has changed in the digital age, as social media has become one of the largest tools in finding communities of shared interest online and collaborating with others. The luxury of social media is the ability to meet and connect with people based on interest, not proximity or geographic location.

When I think of collaboration, one of the first things that comes to mind is YouTube. There are a number of social media sites where you'll hear people talking about collaborating on content creation, but YouTube is one where you hear it most often.

In order to collaborate, we know two or more people share a common goal. As we examine how YouTube content creators "collaborate" with each other, we keep this definition in mind.

YouTube content creators collaborating comes with the shared common goal of creating content that will draw attention. This happens on a number of different levels, primarily that the two collaborators are friends and they already share some common interest.

For example, content creators in the beauty community collaborate with each other to create content for each channel. In this example, NikkieTutorials and Kim Thai created a "get ready with us" video. In this video, NikkieTutorials collaborated with Kim Thai to make a video for her own channel, and another video for Kim's channel.

This video is an example of how there are often many levels to the shared common goals collaborators are looking to achieve. First, Nikkie and Kim share the common goal of creating content for their own beauty channels. They want to create content that will attract subscribers who share their common interest of makeup and beauty tutorials.

The second level of collaboration is the shared common goal of generating views. This video is a good example because it has Nikkie and Kim. NikkieTutorials is one of the most popular beauty content creators on YouTube. Most people who are interested in makeup have at least heard of her, if not watch her videos regularly. She also has done previous collaborations with beauty brands, and has some of her very own beauty products. Unlike Nikkie, Kim Thai has only had her channel a couple years, and is considered a much smaller YouTube content creator.

Here their common goal is to mix audiences. Fans of NikkieTutorials will watch her video, and get to know a new YouTuber, Kim Thai. Kim Thai will also post a video on her channel with Nikkie, and having Nikkie's name in the title will draw audiences to her. When Nikkie collaborates with a smaller content creator, she's exposing them to her 7 million subscribers, and helping boost that creator's audience.

This type of collaboration is often seen across YouTube in various communities. The part I find most interesting about this video is when Nikkie and Kim discuss how they met. Nikkie originally started commenting on Kim's Instagram photos, and the two quickly became friends. This is another example of the way online communities allow us to connect with people who share similar interests.