Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
These platforms are widely recognized as social media due to their content consumption, networking, and community-building capabilities. However, one platform often debated in this category is YouTube.
Is YouTube truly a social media platform?
This page aims to address all your inquiries, including:
Is YouTube classified as social media?
What characteristics define YouTube as a social media platform?
How can one effectively utilize YouTube as a social networking tool?
Continue reading to uncover more insights!
By the way, interested in gaining tips and tricks for marketing your business on YouTube and beyond? Subscribe to Revenue Weekly, our email newsletter, to receive expert advice from digital marketing professionals!
Indeed, YouTube is regarded as a social media platform as it enables content sharing with “followers” (subscribers) and fosters communities through interaction and engagement.
While we have established that YouTube is a social media platform, what type of social media does it represent?
There are primarily four categories of social media platforms:
Networking sites: The majority of social media platforms fall into this category, focusing on facilitating connections between individuals. LinkedIn is a notable example, connecting professionals worldwide.
Communicative sites: These platforms allow users to send messages to each other, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Video-sharing sites: As the name suggests, these social networks are centered around promoting video content. TikTok is a leading example at present.
Social discussion sites: These sites focus on in-depth and engaging discussions, such as Reddit or Quora.
Some social media platforms may fit into more than one category, such as Facebook or Instagram. YouTube, on the other hand, falls into the video-sharing site category.
Now that we have addressed the question, “Is YouTube considered social media?” let’s explore the reasons why YouTube qualifies as a social media platform.
YouTube is classified as social media because:
It features interactive content
It provides free user-generated content
It allows community building
It supports advertising
Let’s delve deeper into these four reasons that classify YouTube as social media:
On the YouTube social media platform, users can engage with content. The platform enables users to like and comment on content, fostering conversations within the comment section.
This ability to interact with content is similar to other social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram. Users can comment on and like or react to content posted on these platforms. Just as with social media networks, the timing of your posts on YouTube is also crucial.
Additionally, YouTube allows users to subscribe to a person’s channel. By subscribing, users receive updates and notifications when new content is posted, similar to following someone on Facebook or Twitter and seeing company updates in your feed.
Due to these features, YouTube is indeed a social media platform.
Is YouTube considered social media? Absolutely, especially when examining the aspect of user-generated content. Social media platforms are powered by content created by users, whether they are businesses, celebrities, or everyday individuals.
On YouTube, users create and share video content with others. They post how-to videos, recipes, and humorous videos for everyone to view, and all this content is free to access.
As a result, YouTube qualifies as social media because it enables users to share free content with one another.
Similar to other social platforms, the YouTube social media platform fosters a sense of community. These platforms allow people to connect with each other, engage in conversations, and build communities. For instance, Facebook groups enable users to join groups based on shared interests.
In addition, platforms like TikTok and Instagram have influencers that contribute to community building.
On YouTube, the same is true. YouTube boasts hundreds of influencers that create communities for people with similar interests to connect. From beauty to action figure collecting to gaming, individuals can find their niche and join communities to build relationships with others on the platform.
So, is YouTube social media? Absolutely, as it allows advertising just like any other social media platform.
YouTube ads, managed through Google’s ad platform, enable you to reach people as they watch content on the platform. You can run them at the beginning of videos, in the middle, on the sidebar of a YouTube page, and more.
While your ads may not appear in the feeds of interested users like they do on other platforms, you can still target potential leads who have yet to discover you.
For those looking to leverage the YouTube social media platform, we can assist you in getting started! Here are four quick tips to help you maximize your results with YouTube content:
Success on YouTube social media requires creating content that resonates with your audience. Content creators upload over 500 hours of content to YouTube every minute. With thousands of creators continuously posting new content, it is crucial to ensure your content meets user expectations.
Consider your industry and target audience. What information is most valuable to them? What do they want to know?
Take these factors into account when planning your content for your YouTube channel. Your goal is to post content that is interesting to your audience, encouraging them to watch, comment, and engage with it.
Another essential element for successful YouTube social media is crafting a compelling title. When people search for YouTube videos, they turn to the title to determine what they can expect to see.
Creating a captivating title is crucial to enticing viewers to click on your video and explore your content. Ensure your title is descriptive and clearly communicates what viewers can expect when they click on your video. Incorporating your target keyword is also recommended!
Next to your YouTube video title, your thumbnail is one of the most critical elements of your video. Your thumbnail serves as a preview of what users can expect to see in your video.
With thumbnails, you have two options:
Choose a moment in your video: You can use a specific moment from your video as your thumbnail. This option is easier as you can extract it directly from your video without additional work.
Custom thumbnail: A custom thumbnail allows you to upload your own graphic to serve as the thumbnail. Many content creators prefer this option because it enables them to be creative and create a more eye-catching thumbnail.
Generally, it is best to create a custom thumbnail to ensure you have a thumbnail that will engage users.
YouTube is social media if you interact with people who comment on your content. Following social media best practices, many people advise engaging with your audience and responding to their comments on your posts.
On YouTube, this principle holds true as well.
To maximize your YouTube presence, take the time to engage with individuals in the comments section. If they leave compliments on your video or ask questions, take the time to respond to
