When you’ve got clown like Rory Jennings getting Talksport gigs & sharing shows with ‘pundits’ like Neville & Carragher then yes these guys are rather different from forum posters.
The opinion isn’t the issue, is the credence given to these fans.
Well the forum is different but thats about it.
I suppose we should blame the YouTube audience for the current pack of would-be pundits that see the limelight because of their social media following, and their abilitty to portray a "mate vs mate" argument in a entertaining (for some) manner. What sells isnt the content of the discussion of their opinions, its purely about the banter. Ben Foster (curiously enough) might want to take some of the blame for helping lift some of these guys into credibility through feature on his own podcast/show.
Someone like Micah Richards who has had a extremely succcessful career as a footballer at least has a lot of credit for to his name despite being known these days primarily for being an extremely likeable guy that is peak banter on TV.
I suppose the "banter" reporter is a lot easier to digest once they have played football, as opposed to being fans who are just opinionated dudes with a camera. Probably helps that Micah actually has a personality as well. Chris Kamara is another guy who I can sit and listen to talk nonsense all day about fotball, simply for being ridiculously likeable and fun to listen to. Then again all of these guys have actual TV careers because of their football background, not YouTube careers based on their clickrate.