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

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.