We know who we are: expressing national identity on YouTube video comments

YouTube is a prominent social media platform in which users can see and upload videos, along with login and comments. Even though many YouTube users maintain anonymity while commenting, the language used in the comments may reveal the identification of a specific community. Wonderland Indonesia Chapter 1 is a YouTube video that provides an extensive spectrum to identify Indonesia’s identity. Thus, this research was conducted to respond to the research question concerning the expressions of nationalism in the comments section of the video. Mixed methods were performed to analyze the representation of Indonesian identity through YouTube videos and their comments, as well as the implementation of social network analysis. The YouTube comments of Indonesian-related videos uploaded by Alffy Rev, a young Indonesian YouTuber, were analyzed. The textual analysis of YouTube comments has been carried out using Intelligence Social Analytics. The key findings of the research include various topics that came up in the YouTube comments that representing Indonesian identities, using bilingual languages to reflect the dynamics between Indonesia’s local identity and global identity, Indonesian cultural heritage and independence declaration, as well as emphasizing Indonesia's geographical and cultural diversity. These findings are in accordance with the expectations of YouTube users, stating that the uploaded videos are the creations of the amazing Indonesian youth. Furthermore, this research found the Michaelis–Menten model that may contribute to the YouTube video message with YouTube users' comments.