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July 3, 2017  |  By Lisa Schmechel In Agenda Setting, New Media

Engaging Young People in Transatlantic Relations Online

“Americans try German food for the first time”. This title of a Buzzfeed with a simple concept video drew over 13.8 million views on Youtube. While other online platforms get a lot of buzz, Youtube is the most used online platform for teens, with 91% using the platform according to a National Cyber Security Alliance/Microsoft poll in the US, and 94% in Germany. Young people aged 13-24 spend 12.5 hours a week on Youtube, compared to 8.2 hours watching traditional television, leading to the fact that Youtube stars have become important role models in teenagers’ lives. Engaging them in discussions about culture and politics through Youtube could be educational and aspirational. German Youtube star LeFloid conducted an interview with Angela Merkel that included questions by interested fans with the hashtag #netzfragtmerkel, therefor engaging them in political discussion. It reached over 5 million views. In the US, Youtube star Tyler Oakley interviewed Michelle Obama, talking about college plans, and the comments show that young people appreciate a positive message that speaks to their aspirations.

Engaging young people through Youtube influencers could be a chance to get them interested in transatlantic relations and think about their aspirations. Especially for young people who might not want to pursue a college education this could be interesting, as Germany has low youth unemployment and relies greatly on the vocational training, which has become a model highly appreciated in the US. A communication strategy including influencers could be a great way to do an online campaign evolving around the actions proposed in 3. Bridging the Atlantic: Towards a New Education Agenda.

The first step would be to find Youtube stars on both sides of the Atlantic who are honestly interested in German-US relations, so the campaign is as genuine as possible. Flula Borg, a popular German comedian living in the US comes to mind, as he speaks both to US and German audiences. There could be many formats to get people interested in the campaign: collaboration on videos between US and German influencers, travel vlogs, “Americans try” or “Germans try” formats to get to know the other culture better. As young people like to watch comedy on Youtube, relatable videos like ‘My funniest high school experience’ with both Youtubers from the US and from Germany could reach them effectively. They could encourage viewers to share stories about their own experiences in their home country or from their exchanges to the US or to Germany. Videos like this are great way to introduce the online platform and transatlantic curriculum proposed in the Atlantic Memo, where young people learn more about culture and history of the US and Germany and discuss the important themes outlined. A crucial factor is that the campaign is completely transparent as it relies heavily on trust and authenticity.

The online campaign could also accompany the proposed working class exchange program to give people a direct insight into the exchange through social media platforms like Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat. It’s a great way to get an authentic first-hand account by the people involved and show young people more about successful careers that are not the result of a college education.

 

Apart from influencers, decision-makers can take part in the campaign themselves, using the campaign’s hashtag (for example #talkingtransatlantic) on social media platforms, reporting on their everyday work or explain why transatlantic relations are important to them. But since social media is not a one-way street they need to be open to get involved with their audience’s questions, and take young people seriously.

As young people become more and more immersed in online culture, it’s important to meet them where they are and not talking to them, but with them about transatlantic relations at eye-to-eye level.

Lisa Schmechel is a Master’s student of National and International Administration and Policy at University of Potsdam.

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17 replies added

  1. Michael Ravitsky July 3, 2017 Reply

    Lisa – I really like this proposal because (1) it focuses on the marginalized groups inherently unreachable by university-based channels and (2) it considers the future generation of people on both sides – those who have never lived without the internet, cell phones, and instant connectivity via a variety of social media applications. Do you know if there is any way of getting analytics of YouTube views? For example, to assemble a collection of videos and determine, generally, where the viewers are located geographically (and, by postal code, to therefore understand their general socioeconomic situation, etc). Hypothetically, if it were possible to get any kind of viewership data, what data would you be looking for in order to structure your approach to finding “influencers” and selecting content? -Mike

    • Anna Xu July 4, 2017 Reply

      Yup! YouTube has YouTube analytics. You can see:
      – what countries your viewers are from
      – their sex and age
      – how long they watch your video
      – what search terms they used to find your video
      – how they got to your video (YouTube, WhatsApp, embedded link, etc)

  2. Hendrik Alexander Lux July 3, 2017 Reply

    Hi Lisa,
    your approach on how to catch the attention of the younger generations is very valid and a digital strategy is much needed. But is Youtube also the right platform to start a discussion, is there a lot of discussion in the comments? And how would you prevent the videos of beeing free of content? I’m perhaps a bit too sceptical, but seeing which videos and TV-shows are popular with young people … Would like to hear your thoughts.
    Greetings,
    Hendrik

  3. Sarah Sporys July 3, 2017 Reply

    Dear Lisa, I think your idea is really interesting and I agree that it’s important to find a strategy to get young people involved. I was wondering if you are aware of any YouTube influencers/stars interested in transatlantic relations? Best, Sarah

    • Anna Xu July 4, 2017 Reply

      I’ll give you a starter list of popular American-German YouTubers who speak English.

      1. Don’t Trust the Rabbit – German woman talking about Germany
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHalU4mJmSY

      2. Herr Atrim – American man teaching German
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb3huCtZzVc

      3. Wanted Adventure – American woman talking about her life in Germany
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkP-swtAt9Y

      4. Get Germanized – German man talking about German culture
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9rqG9DfqRo

  4. R. Andrew Gomez July 3, 2017 Reply

    Hi Lisa, I really liked your idea about about using social media to promote exchange programs for vocational training (and feeling a bit silly for not having thought about that myself, frankly). Do you think this is something that could be promoted by unions in Germany/the US or whichever organization is in charge of administering vocational training programs?

    • Lisa Schmechel July 31, 2017 Reply

      Hi Andrew.
      Thank you and thanks for the suggestion. I hadn’t actually thought about bringing in unions, but it’s a great idea! Unions are having a hard time in the US, and slowly their popularity in Germany decreases as well. So I think it would be a good thing as well for them. And there are chambers of commerce on both sides of the atlantic, that could promote it.

  5. Johanna Rudorf July 3, 2017 Reply

    Hi Lisa,
    What a neat idea! I was wondering how you would ensure sustained viewership on these channels and how you would extend your reach to include students who are not already (at least somewhat) interested in transatlantic relations?

    • Lisa Schmechel July 31, 2017 Reply

      Hi Johanna. Thank you for your comment. I don’t think there’s any other way to secure sustained viewership than to produce content that people like, and that can be indeed difficult. Some studies have looked at what young people like to watch the most and no 1 is comedy, so that might be a good start. It probably needs to have a broad content, that brings people in, and then goes more into detail. The buzzfeed video about food I mentioned in the article is something I would watch about a different country as well, and if they want to throw some information in I’d be happy to watch that, but I think it’s different for everyone.

  6. Felicitas Pietrulla July 4, 2017 Reply

    Hi Lisa! Lovely idea 🙂 just thinking about the technical part of finding influencers: Instagram is quite inflated due to all these bots out there. But apparently, Instagram is about to fix it in the next few months. I am not sure though how the current status on youtube looks like, which would nevertheless be crucial to find out before relying on youtube analytics statistics (or similar services). Thank you again for sharing this bottom-up approach with us! Best, Felicitas

    • Lisa Schmechel July 31, 2017 Reply

      Hey Felicitas.
      Thank you 🙂 I didn’t know they are gonna do something about it, but it’s good to hear. And you’re right about the looking closely at the analytics on Youtube. Thank you for the input! Best, Lisa

  7. Justus Lenz July 4, 2017 Reply

    Hi Lisa,
    Thanks for your proposal. I agree, we have to be open to new media formats to reach younger people. It`s not easy though, to strike the right tone. Our social media team for example spent the last months developing and promoting a campaign to get young Germans interested in politics before the next federal elections in September (https://gnbk.de). Our views on Facebook are very good, yet I`m not sure how big the impact really is. But nevertheless, we have to try to get political messages on the new media platforms.

  8. Julian St. Patrick Clayton July 4, 2017 Reply

    Lisa,
    Thanks for this and thanks for the info-graphic. It helps to define your message.

    I’m a big advocate of using mediums that digital natives can latch onto in order to promote the basic principles and fundamental importance of this transatlantic partnership. As with my own proposal, if this idea ever got off the ground, much of the background attention will have to be paid to convincing participants to make the leap from passive supporter (aka a viewer) to an active supporter (aka a voter, spokesperson, traveler etc). I wholly agree with the idea that targeting the digital/mobile/TV audience can create new generation of Atlanticists; especially because you’re trying to reach them where they’re already at. But, I’d love to chat more about what elements you’d include in this engagement strategy in order to steadily evolve this from cultural understanding and online dialogue into pursuing actionable changes in policy.

  9. Brandy Svensson July 4, 2017 Reply

    Lisa,
    Using online media to increase awareness is a great initiative! My thoughts echoed Julian’s comments above…how do we take viewers of youtube videos and motivate them enough to be proactive? There is an inundation of information on the web and while it is a great conduit for information – it can lack an opportunity or a full exchange of ideas or dialogue. Do you have any suggestions that could enhance this as a platform for a more meaningful exchange of ideas?
    Great idea!
    Brandy

  10. Charlotte Carnehl July 5, 2017 Reply

    Hi Lisa, great idea and vivid descriptions – I really like the approach you suggest. Referring to what others wrote above, I am curious: Do you know of any studies showing a change in attitude towards a certain topic/country/position as a result of a successful youtube campaign? I’d be interested in looking into that!

  11. Maximilian Schaefer July 7, 2017 Reply

    Hi Lisa,
    as far as I’m concerned this is a great idea and I find it really helpful that you used a graphic to sum it all up. Have you thought about campaigns on other social media platforms besides YouTube that could also help in reaching US and German youth? Maybe a contest on Instagram or a Tumblr blog?
    Best regards,
    Max

  12. Heiko Teigelkoetter July 19, 2017 Reply

    Hi Lisa,
    Thanks for bringing youtube into this discussion! I think your proposed format would work great with other proposals including my own (establishing diversified social media platforms). Flula Borg might be an excellent choice too, since he has repeatedly engaged as a cultural transmitter (Conan etc.). However, he and others sometimes limit themselves to well established stereotypes too. Would you leave the agenda setting to them or put in place a relatively clear framework?

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Atlantic Expedition is a fellowship program aiming to empower a younger and more diverse generation of leaders in transatlantic relations.

The Atlantic Expedition is currently in its second round. After fellows of the first Expedition developed policy recommendations and created the Atlantic Memo “Transatlantic Relations in a New Era: The Next Generation Approach”, participants of the second Expedition joined forces to develop new strategies for communicating transatlantic relations to a diverse audience and consequently making the transatlantic relationship a more inclusive endeavor.

From 9-14 October, fellows of the second Atlantic Expedition traveled to Chicago and Houston to present and discuss their ideas and proposals with representatives from politics, media, business and civil society. They published their recommendations in a second Atlantic Memo titeled “Atlantic Expedition II: Towards a More Inclusive Transatlantic Partnership” .

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