YouTube, the world’s second-largest search engine, has quietly become a major platform for influencing public perception of agriculture. A new study, led by Anu Karki in collaboration with Dr. Shuyang Qu, Dr. Fally Masambuka-Kanchewa, Dr. Michael Retallick, Dr. Alexa Lamm, Dr. Kevan Lamm, Dr. Catherine Sanders, Dr. Allison Byrd, and Dr. Nicholas Gabler, examines how pork production is depicted on YouTube and how viewers react. The key insight? It is not only about what is shown but also how it is framed.
More people are now turning to social media for answers, positioning platforms like YouTube as key influencers in food perceptions. This study examined 147 pork-related videos and 735 top comments on YouTube, analyzed how they are framed and how they associate with eachother.
How did they do it?
The researchers created a codebook by initially reviewing existing literature on the framing of animal agriculture and public attitudes toward pork production. After establishing these frames, they examined a sample of videos to detect any new frames not previously identified. To determine the media frames and sentiments of the 147 YouTube videos related to pork production, they used the video titles, descriptions, and thumbnails as indicators of the media frame. They manually coded these elements based on the codebook, considering text features such as the titles, descriptions, and overlay text on thumbnails. They also assessed the sentiments by analyzing factors like color, facial expressions, facility condition and font style of the overlay text.
To understand how viewers responded, they selected the top five comments from each video, which summed up to 735, and analyzed them in the same way, examining both what people discussed and how they felt. The frames the researchers coded were; factory farming concerns, animal welfare concerns, human health concerns, environmental concerns, societal concerns, pork production information and technology, challenges faced by pork producers, entrepreneurship, and farming lifestyle. They then examined the numbers to see if the way a video was framed actually influenced how people or audiences responded to it through comments, and guess what? It did!
What did they find?
- The leading frames of the YouTube videos were pork production information and technology (46%), entrepreneurship (19%), animal welfare concerns (18%), farming lifestyle (17%) and factory farming concerns (10%).
- Among the 147 videos, 42% titles expressed positive sentiments, 24% expressed negative sentiments, and 35% expressed neutral sentiments. Similarly, 30% of the video thumbnails showed positive sentiments, 25% showed negative sentiments, and 46% showed neutral sentiments.
- Most comments fell in the frames of animal welfare concerns (35%), pork production and technology (17%), entrepreneurship (13%), factory farming concerns (12%), and farming lifestyle (10%).
- While some audience comments often reflected the titles or thumbnails of the videos, the sentiments expressed in these comments were always linked to or reflected the video title or thumbnails.
Why does it matter?
This study clearly demonstrates how the portrayal of pork production on YouTube significantly influences public perception. Whether videos focus on innovation and entrepreneurship or raise concerns about animal welfare and factory farming, the audience reacts accordingly. This serves as a wake-up call for everyone in the agricultural sector. It is important to note that social media goes beyond entertainment and has become a powerful influence, especially on visual platforms like YouTube, where content shapes narratives and perceptions. Therefore, to present the facts about pork production, stakeholders must engage actively in the conversation, because on platforms like YouTube, perception is easily crafted by framing.
