Giving a new makeover to STEAM: Establishing YouTube beauty gurus as digital literacy educators through messages and effects on viewers

The present research examines YouTube content creators, specifically YouTube beauty gurus, as digital literacy educators and how they can represent STEAM. Beauty videos represent a popular category of channels on YouTube, garnering millions of subscribers and lucrative sponsorship opportunities. Although YouTube beauty gurus primarily aim to entertain and inform their audiences about beauty, makeup, and fashion, their content may also communicate technical information and skills related to video production. Applying uses and gratifications and social cognitive theories, this two-part study examined the technology themes in popular YouTube beauty gurus' videos and the effects of this content on emerging adults. Study 1 was a content analysis of 102 YouTube beauty gurus' videos. Analyses indicated that the observed YouTube beauty gurus applied various techniques (such as adding text and social media links to videos) and included positive educational messages (such as educating others about cultures) in their videos. In Study 2, an online experiment revealed that watching a YouTube beauty guru's video can motivate viewers to produce a video, which is mediated through source attractiveness. Overall, this research illustrates how YouTube content creators can represent the technology field and educate viewers about technology uses. This research has significant implications for digital literacy approaches to STEAM education.