Niklas Steenfatt is sitting in his living room and speaking into a camera.
In the background, a floor lamp provides pleasant lighting, in the foreground it is about the "Top 10 biggest mistakes in your studies".
Poor learning methods, skipping lectures or stressing yourself out about exams - things that Steenfatt advises against and which he addresses in one of his YouTube videos.
"I want to show young people how to bring out the best in themselves," says Steenfatt.
“I would have wished that earlier myself.” For the 28-year-old, however, things went pretty well even without an online guide.
After his A-levels, Steenfatt completed a bachelor's degree in computer science in Hamburg at the top of his class.
This was followed by a master's degree in mathematics from the British elite university of Cambridge.
In addition to field reports from his student days, Niklas Steenfatt has been giving tips on YouTube since 2020: from productive learning strategies to scholarship applications to the perfect Power Point presentation.
He hits a nerve with this: 200,000 people follow his channel on the platform, and some videos have more than a million clicks.
It's not just Steenfatt who talks online about topics such as studying, learning success and careers - the segment now even has its own name: "StudyTube" is the dictum used to summarize the content on YouTube.
From concrete tips and instructions to video blogs - so-called "vlogs" - from everyday life on campus and question-and-answer videos, everything is included.
In addition to YouTube, Instagram also offers a platform for learning influencers, with around 16.3 million posts under the hashtag “Studygram”.
On Tiktok, clips with this tag have a combined total of 4.3 billion views.
The target group are young people, especially students, sometimes also schoolchildren.
They want to benefit from the experiences of their role models, get better grades,
get their dream internships and create the perfect career start.
The offer for this is huge.
Virtual Learning Rooms
One trend that has been particularly popular during the lockdown is “study-with-me” videos.
Youtubers film themselves learning, creating the modern version of a study group.
Being productive online together, cramming at Hogwarts, on picturesque beach promenades or in dimly lit jazz clubs - "StudyTube" makes it possible.
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"Pupils and students are receptive to this content because their lives are largely determined by it," says Sven Dierks.
He teaches media and business psychology at the University of Media, Communication and Business in Frankfurt.
Influencers are particularly successful when they appear close and tangible to their subscribers.
Roughly like a person from your own everyday life.
Just like the Youtuber Rebecca Alvarado.
She discovered the trend of joint online learning during Corona and opened a virtual space for subscribers to her YouTube channel on the Discord chat platform.
There your viewers can exchange ideas and learn together.
"I check the channel once or twice a day and ask to speak up," says Alvarado, who herself is studying molecular biotechnology in Heidelberg.
On her YouTube channel "Rebecca Elizabeth", the 29-year-old gives insights into her everyday university life.
“I would like to make this accessible to everyone.
Everyone should feel addressed by my content,” explains Alvarado.
The tips and advice from her videos are rarely subject-specific: It's about finding a room in a shared flat, preparing for your exams or writing a study plan.
From Youtuber to private coach
According to Sven Dierks, this is by no means a matter of course on social media.
He says: "The problem with a lot of content online is that it is not editorially checked." Anyone can impart "knowledge" on social media and also earn money with it.
"If things are going well for someone - for example, the videos get a lot of clicks or the number of followers is high - the person automatically appears competent to us," says Dierks.
As a source of information, social media plays an important role for young people.