Wandering gazes, empathetic voices, joyful smiles: a nexus analysis of the multimodal features of Finnish YouTubers’ vlogs

Abstract The mental well-being of young people is a major societal concern worldwide. Digital media, including video-sharing platforms such as YouTube, are part of young people’s everyday lives, providing entertainment, mental health information, and peer support. Social media content creators have the potential to play a significant role in responding to young people’s information needs, shaping their perceptions of health, and influencing their health behaviors and decision-making. This study aims to deepen our understanding of how YouTubers conceptualize and engage with mental health ideologies and practices. A nexus analytical lens was employed to examine the multimodal characteristics of 32 videos created by six YouTubers, focusing on how they position themselves when discussing mental health topics. The results revealed that the identified positions of YouTubers – marketer, diarist, gatekeeper, peer supporter, information provider, and healer – are not only built on words but also on their gazes, expressions, voices, gestures, postures, and the postproduction choices in their videos. These mediational means used to create YouTube content reflect YouTubers’ personalities and, thus, are a product of their sociocultural activities accumulated over a lifetime. This study poses a salient question about the competencies young people should have when using social media services, particularly when seeking mental health information.