research-article

You Watch, You Give, and You Engage: A Study of Live Streaming Practices in China

Authors:

Daniel WigdorAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '18: Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Paper No.: 466, Pages 1 - 13

https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174040

Published: 21 April 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Despite gaining traction in North America, live streaming has not reached the popularity it has in China, where live- streaming has a tremendous impact on the social behaviors of users. To better understand this socio-technological phenomenon, we conducted a mixed methods study of live streaming practices in China. We present the results of an online survey of 527 live streaming users, focusing on their broadcasting or viewing practices and the experiences they find most engaging. We also interviewed 14 active users to explore their motivations and experiences. Our data revealed the different categories of content that was broadcasted and how varying aspects of this content engaged viewers. We also gained insight into the role reward systems and fan group-chat play in engaging users, while also finding evidence that both viewers and streamers desire deeper channels and mechanisms for interaction in addition to the commenting, gifting, and fan groups that are available today.

Supplementary Material

ZIP File (pn3813-file4.zip)

Download
1.33 MB

suppl.mov (pn3813-file3.mp4)

Supplemental video

Download
58.00 MB

suppl.mov (pn3813-file5.mp4)

Supplemental video

Download
17.50 MB

MP4 File (pn3813.mp4)

Download
227.06 MB

References

[1]

Eric P S Baumer, Phil Adams, Vera D Khovanskaya, et al. 2013. Limiting, Leaving, and (Re)Lapsing: An Exploration of Facebook Non-use Practices and Experiences. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '13), 3257--3266.

Digital Library

[2]

Ting Cao and Ruichao Ren. 2016. Live Streaming Industry Research Report (in Chinese). Retrieved from http://www.imxdata.com/archives/10426

[3]

Juliet Corbin and Anselm Strauss. 2008. Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory.

[4]

Audubon Dougherty. 2011. Live-streaming Mobile Video: Production As Civic Engagement. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI '11), 425--434.

Digital Library

[5]

Rebecca Fannin. 2017. Livestreaming Catches On Much Faster In China Than U.S. Retrieved August 30, 2017 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccafannin/2017/05/0 8/livestreaming-catches-on-much-faster-in-china-thanu-s/#1d51270d4861

[6]

Daniel Gros, Brigitta Wanner, Anna Hackenholt, Piotr Zawadzki, and Kathrin Knautz. 2017. World of Streaming. Motivation and Gratification on Twitch. In Social Computing and Social Media. Human Behavior: 9th International Conference, SCSM 2017, Held as Part of HCI International 2017, Vancouver, BC, Canada, July 9--14, 2017, Proceedings, Part I, Gabriele Meiselwitz (ed.). Springer International Publishing, Cham, 44--57.

[7]

Oliver L Haimson and John C Tang. 2017. What Makes Live Events Engaging on Facebook Live, Periscope, and Snapchat. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '17), 48--60.

Digital Library

[8]

William A Hamilton, Oliver Garretson, and Andruid Kerne. 2014. Streaming on Twitch: Fostering Participatory Communities of Play Within Live Mixed Media. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '14), 1315--1324.

Digital Library

[9]

Dave Harley and Geraldine Fitzpatrick. 2009. Creating a conversational context through video blogging: A case study of Geriatric1927. Computers in Human Behavior 25, 3: 679--689.

Digital Library

[10]

Mu Hu, Mingli Zhang, and Yu Wang. 2017. Why do audiences choose to keep watching on live video streaming platforms? An explanation of dual identification framework. Computers in Human Behavior 75, Supplement C: 594--606.

Digital Library

[11]

Iresearch Inc. 2017. Chinese Pan-entertainment Live Streaming Platform Development Research Report, 2017. Retrieved from http://report.iresearch.cn/report/201703/2962.shtml

[12]

Oskar Juhlin, Arvid Engström, and Erika Reponen. 2010. Mobile Broadcasting: The Whats and Hows of Live Video As a Social Medium. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI '10), 35--44.

Digital Library

[13]

Yumi Jung, Rebecca Gray, Cliff Lampe, and Nicole Ellison. 2013. Favors from Facebook Friends: Unpacking Dimensions of Social Capital. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '13), 11--20.

Digital Library

[14]

Shipra Kayan, Susan R Fussell, and Leslie D Setlock. 2006. Cultural Differences in the Use of Instant Messaging in Asia and North America. In Proceedings of the 2006 20th Anniversary Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW '06), 525--528.

Digital Library

[15]

Jae-On Kim and Charles W Mueller. 1978. Factor analysis: Statistical methods and practical issues. Sage.

[16]

Hyosun Kwon, Boriana Koleva, Holger Schnädelbach, and Steve Benford. 2017. "It's Not Yet A Gift": Understanding Digital Gifting. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW '17), 2372--2384.

Digital Library

[17]

Jinglan Lin and Zhicong Lu. 2017. The Rise and Proliferation of Live-Streaming in China: Insights and Lessons. In HCI International 2017 -- Posters' Extended Abstracts: 19th International Conference, HCI International 2017, Vancouver, BC, Canada, July 9--14, 2017, Proceedings, Part II, Constantine Stephanidis (ed.). Springer International Publishing, Cham, 632--637.

[18]

Danielle Lottridge, Frank Bentley, Matt Wheeler, et al. 2017. Third-wave Livestreaming: Teens' Long Form Selfie. In Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI '17), 20:1--20:12.

Digital Library

[19]

Damien Ma. Young Chinese People May Just Not Be That Into Western-Style Democracy. Retrieved June 20, 2017 from https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/07/yo ung-chinese-people-may-just-not-be-that-into-westernstyle-democracy/277885/

[20]

Alice E Marwick and danah boyd. 2010. I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience. New Media & Society 13, 1: 114--133.

[21]

Daniel Miller, Elisabetta Costa, Nell Haynes, et al. 2016. How the world changed social media. UCL press.

[22]

MiniMatters. The Best Video Length for Different Videos on YouTube. Retrieved August 30, 2017 from https://www.minimatters.com/youtube-best-videolength/

[23]

Ben Moshinsky. Chinese millennials have created a $5 billion industry in their search for 15 minutes of fame. Retrieved August 1, 2017 from http://www.businessinsider.com/credit-suisse-note-onchinese-livestreaming-industry-2016--9

[24]

Heather L O'Brien and Elaine G Toms. 2010. The development and evaluation of a survey to measure user engagement. Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology 61, 1: 50--69.

Digital Library

[25]

Ray Oldenburg. 1999. The great good place: Cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, bars, hair salons, and other hangouts at the heart of a community. Da Capo Press.

[26]

Anthony J Pellicone and June Ahn. 2017. The Game of Performing Play: Understanding Streaming As Cultural Production. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '17), 4863--4874.

Digital Library

[27]

Emilee Rader, Rick Wash, and Brandon Brooks. 2012. Stories As Informal Lessons About Security. In Proceedings of the Eighth Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security (SOUPS '12), 6:1--6:17.

Digital Library

[28]

Katrin Scheibe, Kaja Fietkiewicz, and Wolfgang Stock. 2016. Information Behavior on Social Live Streaming Services. Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice 4: 6--20.

[29]

Lauren Scissors, Moira Burke, and Steven Wengrovitz. 2016. What's in a Like?: Attitudes and Behaviors Around Receiving Likes on Facebook. In Proceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (CSCW '16), 1501--1510.

Digital Library

[30]

Stefan Siersdorfer, Sergiu Chelaru, Wolfgang Nejdl, and Jose San Pedro. 2010. How Useful Are Your Comments?: Analyzing and Predicting Youtube Comments and Comment Ratings. In Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on World Wide Web (WWW '10), 891--900.

Digital Library

[31]

Max Sjblom, Maria Trhnen, Juho Hamari, and Joseph Macey. 2017. Content Structure is King. Comput. Hum. Behav. 73, C: 161--171.

Digital Library

[32]

Max Sjöblom and Juho Hamari. 2017. Why do people watch others play video games? An empirical study on the motivations of Twitch users. Computers in Human Behavior 75: 985--996.

Digital Library

[33]

John C Tang, Gina Venolia, and Kori M Inkpen. 2016. Meerkat and Periscope: I Stream, You Stream, Apps Stream for Live Streams. In Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '16), 4770--4780.

Digital Library

[34]

Alex S Taylor and Richard Harper. 2003. The Gift of the Gab?: A Design Oriented Sociology of Young People's Use of Mobiles. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 12, 3: 267--296.

Digital Library

[35]

Twitch.tv. 2016. Twitch.tv - About. Retrieved August 30, 2017 from https://www.twitch.tv/p/about/

[36]

Xinyuan Wang. 2016. Social media in industrial China. UCL Press.

[37]

Chris Weller. 2017. Chinese women are creating a billion-dollar live streaming industry based on singing and slurping soup. Retrieved June 30, 2017 from http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-women-livestreaming-industry-2017--4

[38]

Michael Wesch. Youtube and you: Experiences of selfawareness in the context collapse of the recording webcam. Explorations in Media Ecology 8, 2: 19--34.

[39]

Ziming Wu and Xiaojuan Ma. 2017. Money As a Social Currency to Manage Group Dynamics: Red Packet Gifting in Chinese Online Communities. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA '17), 2240--2247.

Digital Library

[40]

Jiang Yang, Mark S Ackerman, and Lada A Adamic. 2011. Virtual Gifts and Guanxi: Supporting Social Exchange in a Chinese Online Community. In Proceedings of the ACM 2011 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW '11), 45--54.

Digital Library

[41]

Mingshu Zhang. 2013. zhongguoren xiangyao shenmoyang de minzhu {What kind of democracy do Chinese people want}. Beijing: Social Science Documentation Publishing House.

[42]

Baohua Zhou. 2017. {Who's using Live Streaming? Live Streaming User constitution, behavior and evaluation analysis}. News Journalist, 3: 52--62. Retrieved from http://www.cqvip.com/qk/96951x/201703/671502584. html

[43]

Rui Zhou, Jasmine Hentschel, and Neha Kumar. 2017. Goodbye Text, Hello Emoji: Mobile Communication on WeChat in China. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '17), 748--759.

Digital Library

[44]

YY 6.0. Retrieved August 30, 2017 from http://www.yy.com/yy6/

Cited By

Gomez Lacap JPalma ALlano JManalo CManalo RGermar G(2024)A Path Model of the Factors Affecting Customer Engagement and Purchase Intention via Live SellingConsumer and Organizational Behavior in the Age of AI10.4018/979-8-3693-8850-1.ch001(1-32)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-8850-1.ch001
Nasrul Efendi Pioner Pelawi Anto Tulim (2024)Live Streaming, Content Marketing, Flash Sale In Online Shopping Decisions For E-CommerceJurnal Ekonomi10.24912/je.v29i3.252129:3(383-400)Online publication date: 6-Dec-2024
https://doi.org/10.24912/je.v29i3.2521
Akın M(2024)New Trend in Online Shopping: L-commerce (Live Stream Commerce) and a Model Proposal for Consumer AdoptionEskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Dergisi10.17153/oguiibf.138472119:2(474-488)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.17153/oguiibf.1384721
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

You Watch, You Give, and You Engage: A Study of Live Streaming Practices in China
1. Human-centered computing

Recommendations

Vicariously Experiencing it all Without Going Outside: A Study of Outdoor Livestreaming in China

The livestreaming industry in China is gaining greater traction than its European and North American counterparts and has a profound impact on the stakeholders' online and offline lives. An emerging genre of livestreaming that has become increasingly ...
More Kawaii than a Real-Person Live Streamer: Understanding How the Otaku Community Engages with and Perceives Virtual YouTubers
CHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Live streaming has become increasingly popular, with most streamers presenting their real-life appearance. However, Virtual YouTubers (VTubers), virtual 2D or 3D avatars that are voiced by humans, are emerging as live streamers and attracting a growing ...
What Makes Live Events Engaging on Facebook Live, Periscope, and Snapchat
CHI '17: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Live streaming platforms bring events from all around the world to people's computing devices. We conducted a mixed methods study including interviews (N = 42) and a survey (N = 223) to understand how people currently experience events using Facebook ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '18: Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2018

8489 pages

ISBN:9781450356206

DOI:10.1145/3173574

General Chairs:
Regan Mandryk
University of Saskatchewan, Canada
,
Mark Hancock
University of Waterloo, Canada
,
Program Chairs:
Mark Perry
Brunel University London, UK
,
Anna Cox
University College London, UK

Copyright © 2018 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

Sponsors

SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 21 April 2018

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Request Permissions

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article

Conference

CHI '18

Sponsor:

SIGCHI

CHI '18: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 21 - 26, 2018

Montreal QC, Canada

Acceptance Rates

CHI '18 Paper Acceptance Rate 666 of 2,590 submissions, 26%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

Upcoming Conference

CHI 2025

Sponsor:
sigchi

ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 26 - May 1, 2025

Yokohama , Japan

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

216
Total Citations
View Citations
6,564
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)1,012
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)94

Reflects downloads up to 10 Feb 2025

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Gomez Lacap JPalma ALlano JManalo CManalo RGermar G(2024)A Path Model of the Factors Affecting Customer Engagement and Purchase Intention via Live SellingConsumer and Organizational Behavior in the Age of AI10.4018/979-8-3693-8850-1.ch001(1-32)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-8850-1.ch001
Nasrul Efendi Pioner Pelawi Anto Tulim (2024)Live Streaming, Content Marketing, Flash Sale In Online Shopping Decisions For E-CommerceJurnal Ekonomi10.24912/je.v29i3.252129:3(383-400)Online publication date: 6-Dec-2024
https://doi.org/10.24912/je.v29i3.2521
Akın M(2024)New Trend in Online Shopping: L-commerce (Live Stream Commerce) and a Model Proposal for Consumer AdoptionEskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Dergisi10.17153/oguiibf.138472119:2(474-488)Online publication date: 1-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.17153/oguiibf.1384721
Hu YStegner LKotturi YZhang CPeng YHuq FZhao YBigham JMutlu B(2024)"This really lets us see the entire world:" Designing a conversational telepresence robot for homebound older adultsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3660710(2450-2467)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3643834.3660710
Li JGuo JLeshed G(2024)Meditating in Live Stream: An Autoethnographic and Interview Study to Investigate Motivations, Interactions and ChallengesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36374178:CSCW1(1-33)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637417
Wan QLu Z(2024)Investigating VTubing as a Reconstruction of Streamer Self-Presentation: Identity, Performance, and GenderProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373578:CSCW1(1-22)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637357
Chen QGan JBellucci AJacucci G(2024)"I Felt Everyone Was a Streamer": An Empirical Study on What Makes Avatar Collective Streaming EngagingProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36373448:CSCW1(1-25)Online publication date: 26-Apr-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3637344
Freeman GHu YPanchanadikar RHall ASchulenberg KLi L(2024)"My Audience Gets to Know Me on a More Realistic Level": Exploring Social VR Streamers’ Unique Strategies to Engage with Their AudiencesExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3651036(1-7)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3651036
Wang PHu SWen BLu Z(2024)“There is a Job Prepared for Me Here”: Understanding How Short Video and Live-streaming Platforms Empower Ageing Job Seekers in ChinaProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642959(1-14)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642959
Shen CXu YLc RLu Z(2024)Seeking Soulmate via Voice: Understanding Promises and Challenges of Online Synchronized Voice-Based Mobile DatingProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642860(1-14)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642860
Show More Cited By

View Options

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Figures

Tables

Media

View Table of Conten