Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Major Professor Not Listed / Based on the Uses and Gratifications (U&G) approach and Parasocial Interaction (PSI) theory, this study examined how people use live streaming platforms in China. Uniquely, it sought to understand the effect of romantic relationships on how and why people watch Host Live Shows (HLSs) and explored the relationships between Chinese audiences and live- streamers. Through an online survey, four viewing motivations were identified: Community Building, Ego-boost, Escape, and Bandwagon. Ego-boost is a relatively new motivation of media use, which means audiences watch and interact with HLSs to get compliments, self-confidence, self- validation, and ego-boosts. This study found audiences’ perceived realism and PSI were both very neutral. However, emotion projection of audiences onto streamers was observed – most viewers highly agree that streamers are their friends. Moreover, this study found the quality of interpersonal communication is affecting audiences’ HLS dependence and the degree of PSI, while the quantity of interpersonal communication might not be – the more satisfied a person is about his/her interpersonal communication, the heavier he/she depends on HLSs and the stronger his/her PSI is. As expected, the degrees of both romantic relationship status and romantic relationship satisfaction influence people’s HLS use. While compared with females, males are affected by romantic relationships more, both the status and satisfaction level. Lastly, when it comes to people’s romantic lives and social lives, HLSs are more likely to be used as alternatives to meet their unsatisfied needs from their “real partners.”

The beauty community on YouTube is a popular outlet for influencer generated video content. Beauty YouTubers provide their viewers with makeup-related videos from tutorials to the latest trends on the platform. As a result, the influencers have gained high subscriber counts that generate revenue through advertisements and brand partnerships. The influencers create relationships with their subscribers that lead to loyalty in the form of video views and merchandise purchasing. This study provides a content analysis of common characteristics within 10 popular beauty YouTubers’ videos examining the strategies used by the influencers. The top five videos from each beauty YouTuber were selected resulting in a total of 50 videos analyzed. Parasocial Interaction and Framing theories were the theoretical frameworks for this study. The results of this study indicated a series of commonly used characteristics within the most popular videos posted by the top beauty influencers on YouTube.

Listan över influerare som har gjort skönhetsingrepp kan göras lång. För att nämna ett exempel har Bianca Ingrosso med ett följarantal på 343 000 på Youtube talat öppet om att hon gjort lipfillers (Ingrosso, 2020). Dessa inlägg där influerare talar om hur de korrigerar sin kropp i kombination med att de unga är i majoritet på internet och sociala medier (Svenskarna och internet 2019) ligger till grund för vår vilja att genomföra denna undersökning. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur influerares reklam och framställning av skönhetsingrepp kan skapa betydelse för hur unga kvinnor ser på den egna kroppen. För att genomföra studien har vi använt oss av sex stycken kvalitativa intervjuer med kvinnor i åldrarna 15–17 år. Intervjuerna har spelats in och transkriberats och materialet har sedan analyserats för att besvara våra frågeställningar. Utifrån våra intervjuer kan vi se att influerares sätt att tala om och göra reklam för skönhetsingrepp har betydelse för unga kvinnors attityder till den egna kroppen. Några av respondenterna har även uttryckt att de blivit osäkra gällande sin egen kropp efter att ha sett inlägg gällande skönhetsingrepp från en influerare. Vi kan tydligt se att respondenterna tror att unga kvinnor är den grupp som påverkas mest av influerares framställning av skönhetsingrepp. Intervjuerna visar att respondenterna tar del av ett dominerande skönhetsideal på sociala medier och de beskriver idealet som att man ska vara smal, lång och vacker. Vi kan tydligt se, genom de analyserade intervjuerna, att de unga kvinnorna som deltog i denna studie är kritiska till influerare som talar om och gör reklam för skönhetsingrepp, då de tycker att det uppmanar andra till att korrigera sin kropp. Trots kritiken så spelar influerare en stor roll i de unga kvinnornas liv och de uttrycker att de får inspiration av influerare gällande var och vad man äter, hur man klär sig och hur man tränar. Vi kan därmed se en viss ambivalens i respondenternas svar då de följer specifika influerare samtidigt som de riktar kritik gentemot dessa. / The list of influencers who has had cosmetic procedures done can be made long. To mention one example, Bianca Ingrosso with 343 000 followers on Youtube, has spoken openly about her lip fillers (Ingrosso 2020). These types of posts, where influencers talk about how they correct their body, in combination with the fact that young people are a majority of the internet and social media users (Svenskarna och internet 2019) forms the basis of our motivation to conduct this study. This study aims to analyze whether, and if so, how influencers advertising and speech about cosmetic procedures contribute in creating meaning regarding how young women view their own body. This study was conducted with six qualitative interviews, with women in age 15-17. The interviews have been recorded and transcribed and the material has been analyzed to answer our research questions. Throughout our analyzed interviews can we see that influencers' speech and advertising about cosmetic procedures are meaningful regarding young women's attitudes to their own body. Some of the respondents expressed that they felt insecure about their own body after seeing an influencer talk about cosmetic procedures. We can also see that the respondents think that young women as a group of people are affected by influencers' opinions about cosmetic procedures. In the interviews, we can also see that the respondents take part in constructing a dominating beauty ideal on social media and they define the ideal as being skinny, tall and beautiful. Clearly the young women who took part in this study are critical of how influencers talk and do commercials about cosmetic procedures, they think influencers tell others to correct their body. Despite the criticism, the young women in this study are still inspired by influencers, regarding where and what they eat, how they dress and how they work out. We can clearly see some ambivalence in the way the respondents answer as they follow specific influencers while they also are criticizing them.