YOUTUBE USAGE BY Y GENERATION AS A CONTENT CONSUMER: STUDY ON USAGE PURPOSES, USAGE LEVELS AND FOLLOWED CONTENTS

YouTube, one of the social media environments brought along by Web 2.0 technology, is a new-gen internet application which is preferred by users for watching, uploading and sharing video. Thanks to the facilities it offers, anyone able to use the internet may experience this environment either as content producers or consumers or both. Various usage practices of YouTube environment in accordance with the personal choices enables people of various generations to benefit from it by following and accessing contents without a membership requirement. This study especially focuses on YouTube choices of Y generation and aims to elaborate on YouTube usage purposes of Y generation as content consumers in terms of usage levels and what contents Y generation follows. Within this scope, field study findings, which have been obtained from 600 subjects chosen from among the students of Süleyman Demirel University in accordance with the cluster sampling method, are shared. Study findings indicate that Y generation prioritizes YouTube when they watch videos, choose gather information and access entertainment. Within this scope, Y generation pays the least attention to gaming videos and live broadcasts, whereas they are most interested in music videos. Furthermore, participants’ profiles have an impact on YouTube usage at various levels