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| Kim Seon-tae, a 36-year-old public servant, stars in Chungju City's YouTube channel. Captured from YouTube |
By Jun Ji-hye
A growing number of local governments are attempting to reflect the tastes of young people and capture their hearts and minds through YouTube.
Until recent years, local governments have mainly presented promotional and policy videos in a formal style and consequently gained little attention.
However, they have recently begun producing videos in more varied forms in an attempt to appeal to the MZ Generation ― a term referring to Millennials and Generation Z as a single generational group.
In many cases, young public servants are the creative driving force behind such content. Sometimes they star in the videos themselves.
This trend began after the YouTube channel of Chungju City in North Chungcheong Province achieved great success on the back of creative and humorous video content created by Kim Seon-tae, a 36-year-old public servant.
Since 2019, Kim has created more than 200 video clips including the "coffin dance" from 2020 which publicized social distancing rules during the COVID-19 pandemic. The video generated more than 8.5 million views.
Chungju City's YouTube channel now has more than 360,000 subscribers. This is more than the city's 210,000 population and also more than 183,000 subscribers to the YouTube channel operated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
Other local governments have been rushing to follow in the footsteps of Chungju City.
Seoul's Gangseo District has become the first local government to introduce a virtual YouTuber.
The district uses the outspoken virtual character, created from its mascot called "Saromi," in some of its video clips in a bid to attract more young viewers.
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| Virtual YouTuber "Saromi" promotes Gangseo District in Seoul on its YouTube channel. Captured from YouTube |
The first video utilizing this virtual character generated 149,000 views and also attracted positive responses from district residents, the district office said, noting that a young public servant who has been working there for three years came up with the idea of utilizing the virtual YouTuber.
Last year, YouTube shorts created by Yeongju City of North Gyeongsang Province to promote its local specialty ― ginseng ― gained popularity among young viewers and quickly went viral through various social networking services.
The city of Daegu presented a parody of the crime noir film "New World" (2013) on its YouTube channel.
The Busan Metropolitan City's channel delivers local news in the local dialect in an attempt to break from the formal.
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