Commenting on Top Spanish YouTubers: “No Comment”
Javier Marzal-Felici
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Its a common habit in famous youtubers create sporadic videos to answer audiences' comments, suggestions, etc. Do the sample selected have this kind of narrative among their contents? It could be interesting make mention in the conclusions in that case.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 1: It is a common habit in famous youtubers create sporadic videos to answer audiences' comments, suggestions, etc. Do the sample selected have this kind of narrative among their contents? It could be interesting make mention in the conclusions in that case.
Response 1: We thank the reviewer for this suggestion. We have added the following explanatory paragraph:
Indeed, YouTubers often respond to comments made by their followers with ad-hoc videos. In the sample of videos selected, responses by YouTubers appear in the new videos themselves, mixed in with the regular content at random locations within the narration. Users will thus look out for each new video to see whether the YouTuber has chosen their comments to respond to; however, the fact that users do not know the exact moment when the YouTuber will make reference to the followers’ comments gives them another reason to watch the new video in its entirety. In this way, YouTubers can hold the attention of their audience by means of a carefully designed loyalty marketing strategy.
Reviewer 2 Report
No suggestions. Congratulations for the work done.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments
Point 1: No suggestions. Congratulations for the work done.
Response 1: We thank the reviewer for the positive feedback.
Reviewer 3 Report
This is a clearly structured and excellent presented study regarding a timely topic.
Method used offers a new perspective for research in the area of digital media while findings are clear and the theoretical background is very well organized.
One suggestion I can offer to the author, in order to strengthen the theoretical framework, is to go through the theory of hybrid salience (Maniou, T. & Bantimaroudis, P. 2018. Hybrid Salience: Examining the role of traditional and digital media in the rise of the Greek radical left. Journalism, Doi: 10.1177/1464884918796587) and add its adaption to this work in part 1.3 (Commenting on YouTube Videos). Hybrid salience fits very well in this study, since users’ comments (on YouTube or any other digital platform) constitute one of the core characteristics of this theory, regardless of the content (news or entertainment) examined.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 3 Comments
Point 1: This is a clearly structured and excellent presented study regarding a timely topic.
Method used offers a new perspective for research in the area of digital media while findings are clear and the theoretical background is very well organized.
Response 1: We thank the reviewer for the positive feedback.
Point 2: One suggestion I can offer to the author, in order to strengthen the theoretical framework, is to go through the theory of hybrid salience (Maniou, T. & Bantimaroudis, P. 2018. Hybrid Salience: Examining the role of traditional and digital media in the rise of the Greek radical left. Journalism, Doi: 10.1177/1464884918796587) and add its adaption to this work in part 1.3 (Commenting on YouTube Videos). Hybrid salience fits very well in this study, since users’ comments (on YouTube or any other digital platform) constitute one of the core characteristics of this theory, regardless of the content (news or entertainment) examined.
Response 2: We agree with the reviewer regarding the opportunity to incorporate a reference to the theory of hybrid salience into section 1.3 of the paper. We have therefore made the following insertion:
Documenting a hybrid interaction between journalists and readers, Maniou, & Bantimaroudis (2018) propose a theory of hybrid salience. Their research suggests that word-of-mouth salience, as a horizontal influence, exerts a great deal of influence on public salience, demonstrating that people form opinions by looking at newspaper articles as well as readers’ comments. In some cases, the latter seem to be more important than the former (p.15). This perspective can be extrapolated to the narratives developed by YouTubers on their channels and can facilitate an understanding of how their public salience is constructed.
We have also added the following reference to the bibliography:
Maniou, T. A., & Bantimaroudis, P. (2018). Hybrid salience: Examining the role of traditional and digital media in the rise of the Greek radical left. Journalism, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884918796587
Point 3: English language and style are fine/minor spell check required.
Response 3: We submitted the text for translation and revision to Martin Boyd, a translator certified by the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario and the American Translators Association.
