The Role of Village Youtubers in Community Empowerment

Edi Santoso, Dian Bestari, Dwi Pangastuti and W. Megandika Wicaksono

Communication Department, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, 708 HR Bunyamin Street, Purwokerto, Indonesia

Keyword: Youtuber, Village, Community, Empowerment.

Abstract: The term Village Youtuber refers to the trend of the emergence of content creators for the Youtube platform

in various villages. As in Kasegeran village, Cilongok district, Banyumas regency, Central Java, dozens of

youths have become successful YouTubers. This study tries to examine the role of these YouTubers in

empowering local communities. Data collection for this qualitative research was conducted through in-depth

interviews and observations. The results of the study show that the constructive use of YouTube by these

youths has encouraged them to become more empowered both personally and socially. Personally, they have

reversed fate, from poor to well off. The increased of economic status encourage them to collaborate in

developing the village, through charity activities or economic development for the village.

1 INTRODUCTION

Youtube is the largest video sharing site. In the

Hootsuit survey, by January 2021, Youtube is the

second most used application in the world (Kemp,

2021). Youtube users continue to increase, not only

in urban areas but also in rural areas. They are not

only viewers but also content creators (Youtubers).

That is what happened in Kasegeran Village,

Cilongok District, Banyumas Regency, Central Java.

In that village, around 30 young people focus on

producing Youtube content, such as workshop

tutorials to mystery stories using only simple devices.

The activity, which was initiated by Siboen

(Siswanto), A motorcycle mechanic, has continued

since 2016 during the pandemic (Suwarna, 2021).

Apart from Kasegeran Village, there are also many

YouTubers from other villages in remote Indonesia

who are victorious. From East Manggarai Regency,

East Nusa Tenggara, for example, appears YouTuber

Ronsi Geronsiyono (22) with 1.05 million followers

(Soekirno, 2021). As a social media platform, the

presence of Youtube is like presenting two faces. On

the one hand, social media is considered a new

problem that comes along with the increasing number

of internet users. Social media is synonymous with

various problems in the information age, such as

exploitation, invasion of privacy, pornography,

terrorism, hoaxes, or hate speech (Hemsley et al.,

2018). Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that

social media has now become a fertile field for

content in the form of incitement, slander, false news,

and hate speech. On social media, people become

irritable and emotional (Januarius, 2017). But, on the

other hand, social media is also praised as a form of

democratization of mass media (Gayo-Avello, 2015).

Several studies show the use of social media for

positive activities. As Hartoyo and Supriadi (2015)

wrote, social media is used for social activities, for

example in the exclusive breastfeeding campaign by

the Indonesian Breastfeeding Mothers Association

(AIMI). Edi Santoso's study of citizen Journalism

practices in Brebes Regency also show how social

media has a significant role in encouraging the

development of rural areas (Santoso, 2019). Some

studies have been carried out on Youtube, both in

qualitative and quantitative approaches. The research

themes revolve around the influence of the personal

aspect of Youtubers (Ladhari et al., 2020; Budiasa &

Savitri, 2005), the influence of Youtube on people's

attitudes (Balakrishnan & Griffiths, 2017;

Zimmermann et al., 2020; Alzara, 2019), the medium

aspect of Youtube (Li et al., 2020). the business

dimension or monetization of Youtube (Han, 2020;

Schwemmer & Ziewiecki, 2018), and the use of

YouTube for journalism (Djerf-Pierre et al., 2019).

From the internet search, there is no research which

specifically studied the use of Youtube in community

empowerment.

The study of the use of Youtube for community

empowerment parallels the study of the Social

Construction of Technology (SCOT). In the SCOT

Santoso, E., Bestari, D., Pangastuti, D. and Wicaksono, W.

The Role of Village Youtubers in Community Empowerment.

DOI: 10.5220/0010803900003348

In Proceedings of the 3rd Annual International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities (AICOSH 2021), pages 47-52

ISBN: 978-989-758-603-3; ISSN: 2685-273X

perspective, technology should not direct human life

(technological determenism), but on the contrary,

humans should shape the use of technology. The use

of social media is indeed increasingly significant in

the world of politics, social interaction, and economic

development. This is shown by a number of

literatures that describe how social media has become

a strategic tool in political action, democracy

promotion, business marketing, and public relations

management (Betton et al., 2015; Coleman &

Blumler, 2009; Winograd & Hais, 2008; Qualman,

n.d.). The use of social media in economic and

community development has also attracted the

attention of scholars such as Fernback (2005) and

Laudeman (2005).

A number of studies point to the fact that social

networks can increase the level of community

welfare. Eagle et al. (2010) found that social network

structure and diversity of individual relationships

were correlated with community economic

development. Meanwhile, in Canberra Australia,

Howard (2012) found a correlation between the use

of social media by local governments and the

improvement of public services. Research on the use

of digital technology in governance (e-government)

has even become a separate phenomenon in recent

years.

2 RESEARCH METHOD

This study uses a qualitative design, with a

descriptive approach. Descriptive approach reveals

events or facts, circumstances, phenomena, variables

and circumstances that occurred during the research

by presenting what actually happened. This approach

places researchers as the key to conducting inductive

analysis (Sugiyono, 2010). Data mining was carried

out through: (1) observation, (2) in-depth interviews,

and (3) focus group discussions (FGD). Observations

are used to identify practices and narratives of

hyperlocal journalism that have been running on

social media. Meanwhile in-depth interviews and

FGDs were chosen to explore the practice of using

social media, by selecting informants purposively,

namely village media activists, village government

officials, village empowerment experts, and social

media experts. The researcher uses narrative analysis

to explain the qualitative data. The term narrative

involves several things: a relationship between parts,

a sequence that forms a kind of plot, a selection that

emphasizes which parts are more important and

which are less important, and a special combination

of time and place (Neuman, 2014).

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Kasegeran Village is one of the poorest villages in

Cilongok District, because 25-27 percent of its

residents fall into the poor category. Almost every

year this village experiences a drought every time it

enters the dry season, so that some RW (Rukun

Warga) always experience a clean water crisis. The

majority of the population work as farmer laborers

and penderes (harvesters of sap water to be processed

into sugar). Around 50 percent of the 1,776 families

(4,776 people) become penderes with daily income

between Rp 25,000-Rp 30,000. The rest are field

farmers, farm laborers, and traders whose incomes are

Rp 60,000-Rp 70,000 per day, but do not always have

income.

For decades, the majority of residents of

Kasegeran Village have had a difficult life because

there are almost no job opportunities for residents,

most of whom are junior high school graduates and

do not have special skills. The area of agricultural

land in the form of rice fields is limited, because most

of the land in the village with an area of 618.9

hectares is fields. Coconut trees dominate the number

of plants, the rest are secondary food crops and a few

rice fields (Soekirno & Wicaksono, 2021). With this

condition, various social problems arise, such as the

high level of juvenile delinquency.

However, different conditions have been seen in

Kasegeran Village in recent years. The presence of

dozens of YouTubers in this village has brought

significant changes. In the midst of depressed

economic conditions due to the impact of the Covid-

19 pandemic, some villagers were actually able to buy

motorized vehicles and renovate houses. Luxury

houses began to appear in Kasegeran.

The presence of these Kasegeran Youtubers

illustrates the reality of community empowerment,

especially when community empowerment is

interpreted as a concept of increasing community

welfare in development. Development and the

empowerment process are an inseparable unit

because to achieve a development goal the process

that must be passed is to empower the community so

that community empowerment is realized in

development (Laksono, 2018).

This increase in welfare is reflected in the changes

in the lives of these YouTubers. The pioneer of this

Kasegeran Village YouTuber is Siswanto (37) who is

more familiar with the nickname Siboen. Siboen--the

child of toy seller only graduated from elementary

school (SD). Hearing his parents' complaints, the

village head of Kasegeran Saifudin sent Siboen to

Magelang, Central Java to attend a training program

AICOSH 2021 - The Annual International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities (AICOSH) “Life After Pandemic: Perspectives,

Changes, and Challenges”

at the Antasena Children's Social Rehabilitation

Center in 2000. In this program, Siboen chose to

study mechanics. Because he was ranked first out of

335 students in the training, Siboen got a job offer at

a motorcycle factory from Japan. However, he

refused the offer because he wanted to open a bike

shop in his own village.

In 2004, Siboen opened a bike shop in his village.

But because it was quiet, he decided to migrate to

Jakarta. In the Capital, good fortune was not yet his.

He returned to his village, and intends to re-open a

bike shop by previously honing his skills at a reliable

mechanic in Yogyakarta. When the workshop was not

yet crowded, Siboen was inspired by a successful

Youtuber from Jakarta. At that time he just found out

there is a social media called Youtube that can make

money.

Siboen then learned to be a self-taught youtuber

since 2016. Not long after, he was able to create

tutorial content about motorcycle repair that he

mastered. A year later, his Youtube account has

produced the first "salary" of 1.8 million rupiahs.

Since then, he has been increasingly passionate about

creating content, especially regarding motorcycle

issues. Unexpectedly, many people love to learn from

the tutorial content. In a short time, his followers

continued to grow to reach 1.2 million. His income

quickly shot up from millions of rupiah to more than

two hundred million rupiahs per month. From his

income as young as this youtuber, Siboen can buy

land, build a house and a bike shop.

Empowerment starts from the figure of Siboen

who does not want to succeed alone. Siboen shares

the secret of his success as a Youtuber to his relatives

and friends. At least he has fostered more than 30

youths in his village. Currently, there are 33 active

Youtubers on Kasegeran, although not all of them

make money. Some youtubers who have produced

can be seen in Table 1

The majority of these Youtubers previously lived

hard like Siboen. After successfully monetizing

Youtube, along with the increase in loyal subscribers

and viewers, their standard of living slowly rose. As

experienced by Suroso who has 3 YouTube channels,

namely Adipati Seger, Adi Croom, and Calon

Budayawan. This employee at one of the coconut

sugar collectors has been working as YouTuber for

the last 1.5 years. Previously, for two months, he

watched and learned from Siboen about what it is and

how to use YouTube to earn an income. Suroso tells

how hard his life was before becoming a youtuber:

Working for a sugar collector, I usually earn IDR

35,000 per day. Obviously it wasn't enough for the

family's needs. I once did not eat rice for three days

because of the lack of income. I only have IDR 7 000

to feed my wife and children. Now through YouTube,

I can earn IDR 2.5 million to IDR 7 million a month.

(Suroso)

Table 1: List of YouTubers who are already earning.

No Name Profession Age YouTube

Channel

1 Siswanto Mechanic 37 Siboen Chanel

2 Suroso Labore

42 Adipati Sege

3 Tirwan Small trade

40 Angger Pradesa

4 Kuswan Scavenge

40 Sura Blendong

5 Syam fresh graduate 25 Mister Syam

6 Arema D. College graduate 22 Digna Mbul

7 Karto Labore

42 Karto Blero

8 Narto Carpente

42 Narto Cu

9 Romi Small trade

20 Inisial RH

10 Taufik H. labore

32 Taufik Nf

11 Arif Mechanic 37 Ireng Setiawan

At least now for daily meals, Suroso and his

family are no longer in trouble. He was able to buy a

new motorcycle vehicle. Suroso's income is not only

from Youtube, but also from the help of his loyal

channel viewers. One person, for example, regularly

gives Rp. 300,000 per month to Suroso.

Economic empowerment ultimately affects the

surrounding community, either through charity

activities or productive businesses that absorb labor.

Like Siboen, after his success he developed various

businesses, such as a repair shop, a motorcycle parts

shop and a fishing arena. For the various business

units, he recruited workers from Kasegeran residents

themselves.

Currently Siboen is the Chairman of the Village-

Owned Enterprise of Wiragemi, Kasegeran Village

and is starting to realize his dream to create a

recreation area in his village so that villagers do not

have to go far for recreation. He has made K-Boen

Park a place to play and eat for visitors. In the future,

Siboen wants to create a tourist forest in his village as

a place of recreation as well as empowering residents

who live on the edge of the forest.

The YouTubers from Kasegeran Village share

their income by routinely buying rice and cooking oil

to be distributed to hundreds of needy residents. They

repair uninhabitable houses so that their owners

rejoice. They don't forget to fulfill the needs of houses

of worship such as the Koran. If depicted, the

contribution of village youtubers in realizing

prosperity can be seen in Figure 1

The empowerment process is essentially an effort

to make a community have more control over its

environment. In practice, empowerment certainly

involves various parties (Badaruddin et al., 2020).

Therefore, the practice of community empowerment

The Role of Village Youtubers in Community Empowerment

here is conceived of as an effort or way by which

people, organizations and communities are directed to

be able to master their lives (Indrayani, 2016). At

least, there are two important parties in the process of

empowering these YouTubers, namely the Siboen

team and the village government.

Siboen took the initiative to form a kind of

mentoring team for new YouTubers or prospective

YouTubers. Through this forum, Siboen performs

three functions, namely (1) coordination, (2)

collaboration, and (3) mentoring. Coordination is done

mainly to avoid disputes between YouTubers. They

prefer collaboration over competition to achieve

success. This collaboration is manifested in the

process of creating content together. For example, in

making mystery content, they only use one camera

whose content is divided into each of the Youtuber's

channels. Furthermore, each youtuber provides a

narration or comment. Monitoring is done by Siboen

incidentally, for example, occasionally they gather at

Siboen's house to share experiences and knowledge.

The mentoring process is also carried out indirectly

when Siboen and other YouTubers work together in

the field.

Figure 1: Contribution of village youtubers.

The second party, namely the village government,

also supports this youtuber empowerment program.

Seeing the enthusiasm of the youth to become

YouTubers, the village government also declared

Kasegeran as a 'Youtuber village'. Government

support that has been running, among others, is by

seeking adequate technological infrastructure,

namely through the village internet program. Through

this program, internet access becomes easier and

cheaper. They worked with Telkom to install a server

at the village hall and then the internet signal was

spread through wifi poles in 4 RWs to reach residents.

One transmitter pole can provide internet service for

1 RW or a radius of about 200 meters. To enjoy the

internet, there are about 150 households that do not

need to subscribe per house, but simply buy internet

vouchers from agents appointed by the village. To

enjoy the internet for 2 hours, the voucher price is

only IDR 2,000. As for the voucher for Rp. 5,000,

they can get 24-hour internet facilities.

The village government is currently also preparing

a 'Village Studio' which will facilitate the youtubers in

producing their content. Through this studio, Saifudin

also hopes that village information, especially about

culture, government, religion, sports or others will be

visually distributed through global networks.

The description of the empowerment model of

Kasegeran Youtubers can be seen in figure 2

The increase in the income of these Youtubers in

the end also encourages independence, which is an

indicator of empowerment. Theresia (2014) said that

empowerment is the concept most often used in

community capacity building activities that

emphasize community independence. Community

empowerment is an effort to increase the dignity of

the layers of society who are now unable to escape the

trap of poverty and underdevelopment.

Figure 2: Empowerment Model of Village Youtubers.

Apart from being empowered personally, these

Youtubers are also empowered socially. Their

existence then has a positive influence on the

surrounding community. The village head of

Productive

Business Unit

Economic

Development

Successfull

Youtubers

Village

Welfare

Charity

Social

Harmony

Community

Support

Siboen

Management

Youtube

Monetization

Mentoring

Youtubers

Empowerment

Empowered

Youtubers

Government

Support

‘Village

Internet’

project

‘Village

Studio’

Project

Youtubers

Village

Project

AICOSH 2021 - The Annual International Conference on Social Sciences and Humanities (AICOSH) “Life After Pandemic: Perspectives,

Changes, and Challenges”

Kasegeran said that these Youtubers had become an

inspiration for local youth. Not only inspiring to

become a Youtuber, but also inspiring to try. The

juvenile delinquency rate has also decreased. Seeing

what happened to Siboen and other YouTubers, the

young people of Kasegeran are now aware that

anyone can be successful.

4 CONCLUSION

The role of village youtubers in empowering the

community starts from their increasing economic

independence. From growing personally, finally

growing socially. Their success has inspired young

people in Kasegeran. Their presence helps drive the

village economy. With the support of the village

government, they pioneered the youtuber village

program. Through this program, information

technology can be used constructively, especially for

rural communities.

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