YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS!!! How YouTube Monetization Can Fuel Misinformation, and What Libraries Can Do About It. (Lauren Fowler Blog #2)



I love to scroll. I’ll admit it, I do. When scrolling, it can feel like the videos I see just appear because they’re funny, popular, or maybe my phone is listening to me. But behind every click is a system carefully designed around money. And nowhere is this clearer than on YouTube.

Through the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), creators earn revenue once they hit certain thresholds: 1,000 subscribers, 4,000 watch hours, or 10 million Shorts views. Ad revenue is the ultimate prize, which means success depends on maximizing clicks and watch time. That’s why so much content leans on clickbait, defined by Merriam-Webster as “something…designed to make readers want to click on a hyperlink especially when the link leads to content of dubious value or interest." A video titled “THE TRUTH WILL SHOCK YOU!” almost always outperforms “A Careful Analysis of Current Events.” Accuracy doesn’t always pay...

...and that’s the problem. As mentioned by Adams et al. in their research, misinformation often champions regarding viewer attention as it is not constrained by truth and can be sensationalized to maximize curiosity and emotion. On YouTube, this means outrage and fear often outperform nuance, giving conspiracy takes and rage-bait a lift over fact-checked reporting. As Marwick and boyd (2010) point out, social media encourages creators to perform for “imagined audiences.” On YouTube, those audiences include not only viewers but also advertisers and algorithms, which push creators toward dramatic thumbnails, overtly exaggerated titles, and exaggerated storytelling.

For libraries, this can be considered an information literacy problem. If platforms reward what is clickable instead of what is credible, patrons need tools to recognize the difference. Librarians can step in by teaching critical media literacy. This could be done by holding workshops and providing handouts helping users ask why certain videos appear in their feeds and how to separate sensational hooks from reliable information.

As boyd and Ellison (2007) remind us, platforms are never neutral. Today, monetization is part of that design. For information professionals, understanding this dynamic is essential if we want to prepare our communities to navigate a digital landscape where clicks, subscribers, and money drive visibility.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Social Media for Libraries: Training for Library Marketing

Image
How can libraries prepare staff to communicate effectively in a fast-paced digital environment? Library marketing requires a broad skill set. Staff need to possess strategic thinking, visual communication skills, community awareness, and a strong foundation in professional ethics. Training builds these capacities. Training also strengthens confidence, improves consistency, and supports a unified message across all platforms. Effective marketing development begins with purpose. Staff must understand how outreach supports library goals. Staff must also grasp how promotion reflects library values such as intellectual freedom, equity of access, and community service. Workshops on tone, accessibility, privacy, and message clarity help create shared expectations. The American Library Association provides guidance on accessibility   through its Code of Ethics . Libraries benefit from structured learning in practical skills. Tools such as Canva ,  LibraryAware ,  and Meta Busine...
Read more

Libraries Reaching Rural Communities Through Social Media

Image
How can libraries serving rural areas use social media to bridge the access gap? For many rural communities, the library is one of the few public institutions that provide free internet access, educational programs, and reliable information. Yet the people who most need these services often live far from the library building itself. This is where social media can serve as a critical connector. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and even YouTube allow rural libraries to reach patrons beyond physical walls, sharing resources and programming with people who may not be able to visit regularly. Social media also helps highlight the unique role rural libraries play. A Facebook post about a new audiobook collection or a YouTube video tutorial on how to use the library’s digital catalog can make resources more visible and accessible. Even sharing photos from community events creates a sense of connection, reminding patrons that the library is more than just a building—it’s a hub for learnin...
Read more

A Missed Opportunity? - How libraries could use YouTube to increase visibility - Beth Wolf Blog Post #1

Image
After my undergraduate degree, I am ashamed to say that I fell into a huge book slump for years. If you don't know what a book slump is, I am very jealous of you. Personally, I didn't have a term for what I was going through until I became an avid consumer on, what I affectionately call, BookTube. I was an English major during my undergrad degree and, while I loved most of the books that we were reading, consuming so many books that I did not personally choose for myself, the opposite of what the BookTubers I now regularly watch call "mood reading," really burned me out on reading for a while. Flash forward to a couple years ago. I was facilitating the book club of a (now previous) job and looking for books to recommend to my book club. In my Google search, I found some videos on YouTube of book recommendations for book clubs. This was pretty interesting but hold that thought. I wasn't obsessed yet. I was still falling into the same traps of reading books that are...
Read more