South Korean YouTubers as Cultural Intermediaries: An Analysis within the Framework of Community Relations

Abstract

YouTube has increasingly emerged as a prominent platform for cultural dissemination and community management, offering content creators the capacity to sustain real-time audience interaction and dynamic forms of cultural representation. This study examines the role of South Korean YouTubers as cultural intermediaries and investigates how they manage community relations through their vlog content. Employing a qualitative netnographic framework combined with interpretive content analysis, the study analysed a corpus of 10 videos drawn from five major South Korean daily-life vlog channels: “Jhyun,” “Hamimommy,” “Honeyjubu,” “planD,” and “KitchenStory” each with subscriber bases ranging from 601,000 to over 3 million. The findings reveal that these mega-scale vloggers construct their content around “slow and calm life at home,” centering daily routines, Korean culinary culture, and domestic aesthetics. Rather than relying on direct calls to action, they sustain community engagement through viewer feedback embedded in video content. Operating as “local cultural intermediaries,” these content creators function as digital ambassadors of the Korean Wave (Hallyu), popularizing K-vlog and K-video formats as a distinct pillar of K-culture’s digital dimension.