As we analyzed in the article (Live Streaming: A Trend You Can Not Ignore), we had known why the live-streaming became a big thing and the audiences of worldwide were expected to reach 900 million within 5 years.
For the media industry, the number of audiences is undoubtedly the most important factor in determining its prosperity or decline. So in this paper, we wanted to talk about what reasons would cause audiences of the live-streaming industry to grow up fast.
The Motivation of Live-streaming Audiences
Before the popularity of PC and network technology. We can only watch video via TV or Movie Theater. Especial TV is almost part of the daily life of the general public. So early scholars began to study the needs and motives for watching TV. In a study of research on children points out, when children watching TV, there are three needs would be met, namely entertainment, information and social effects (Schramm, Wilbur, Jack Lyle, and Edwin B. Parker, 1961). Another study also said that the motivation of watching TV has kind of three including entertainment, learning, and companionship (Palmgreen & Rayburn, 1979). These two paper’s conclusion is very close. Both they have pointed out that audiences thru watching TV to learn or know something and get companionship and social effects by viewed together or discussed.
When the people like watching someone else play games, live-streaming gradually becoming popular, some scholars began to study this phenomenon. So Chen (2015) showed that learning, entertainment, and social function were found to be significant motivations. This result coincides with decades of TV’s viewing motives. They learn game skills and because of streamer’s humor to feel entertaining, finally, they through the chatroom to interact with the streamer or other audiences to reach social effects. Another study on the social networking site (SNS) noted the motives of users using SNS is amusement, social, information and self-presentation. And the results show that motivations will facilitate users’ interactions in social media, which in turn impacts satisfaction and continued use of social media (Meng-Hsiang Hsu, Chun-Ming Chang, Hsien-Cheng Lin, Yi-Wan Lin, 2015). This conclusion still similar to TV’s motivation. The difference is, “Learning” be replaced by “Information”, then add a thing called “Self-presentation”. The “Information” is mean that user could get information from SNS, in fact, it still belongs “learning”. And for “Self-presentation”, it refers to the users through the network community to achieve the purpose of self-presentation.
About this, the streamer is no doubt. And the audience who try to attract attention from chatroom too. This argument was confirmed. In order to get concern from streamer and other users, the audiences will send funny messages in the chatroom to reach the purpose of self-presentation (Chen, 2012). Regardless of streamer or audiences, when he or she does self-presentation who may be able to get spiritual rewards which include praise, participation, self-identity or sense of honor. And spiritual rewards will have a significant impact on the willingness of audiences’ continued use (Lai, 2016). Finally, we can define that the motivations for watching live-streaming are entertainment, social function, learning, and self-presentation. In particular, entertainment and social functions are a very important presence.
The Social Function of Live-Streaming
In the lasted article (Live streaming raise a burst of an upsurge in the worldwide), we had mentioned that live-streaming has the same characteristics as SNS. Someone paper said that when people in the environment of the internet, through forums, comment, or chatroom to communicate with other user or administrator of the site to get feedback belongs an interactive relationship with interpersonal (Hoffman & Novak, 1996). And we know that the SNS’s user can satisfy themselves some needs like as interact with others, build of relationship and sustain it (Wang, Liu & Cheng, 2012). As we have mentioned, live-streaming is an SNS too.
So the audiences through chatroom to interact with other user or streamer to get feedback, this confirms what has just been said! And, whether streamer or audiences, they both want to build and sustain the relationship by this interaction. As what Lai & Chang (2016) showed in a paper which is related user of live-streaming: “User use live-streaming platform to meet needs of emotion, belonging, and want to be accepted”. When users realize the similarity of their values with their groups, they will have a higher tendency toward We-Intention to use SNS (Cheung, Chiu & Lee, 2010).
Social Presence
In terms of the live-streaming, a Social present is a very important theory. It was defined by Short, Williams, & Christie (1976): “the salience of the other in a mediated communication and the consequent salience of their interpersonal interactions”. It is mean social presence is, the degree of sense of the existence to perceive other people when using a media tool for communicating. After that, Hung & Chen (2015) further pointed out that social presence will be higher when the instantaneity and intensiveness of message higher in the environment of internet media. So, if we review the history of internet communication, you will see from forums to Skype, the degree of social presence is getting higher and higher.
In the live-streaming, the degree of social presence is almost as strong as face to face conversation. You do not even have to speak, just a wink or motion will contain countless messages. Such message density and immediacy cause the social presence very powerful. The interaction would impact the involvement of web users (Novak& Hoffman, 1997). And a good experience of social presence would let SNS users feel that the real feeling in the environment of SNS then make them have a sense of identity for the group of SNS and trust them, and this process will cause them willing to keep use SNS (Wang et al, 2012). Based on the above, we can clearly expect that audiences will be willing to keep use live-streaming even addicted to it because of its social presence is a very nearby upper limit.
Onlookers Forming (Herd Behavior)
We always curious when a group of people gathered to talk about something. We are likely to rush up to observe, then, we become one of the group. Maybe you will see some people started clamor because someone did it first, and more people started clamor because some people did it too. This situation is called onlookers-effect (or Herd Behavior). Some people think that the rise of live-streaming is closely related to this behavior. An online magazine in Hong Kong reports that: “Onlookers behavior is caused by people’s curiosity with other people and life. Those who have this mentality are combined with other people who like to prove his existence through performance so that live-streaming to become famous overnight” (Chester Ho, 2017). We can say that is the same thing either streamer show himself/herself in front of the screen, or street artist performs his/her special skills. They both cause onlookers behavior formed, and they both want to get donation or admiration from their audiences.
Conformity behavior means a person who changed his/her behavior because of he or she is affected by an effect of society, and the effect comes from other members of the social group (Allen, 1965). Sometimes, people think that the decisions of other people made will better than make it by he or herself, so they tend to imitate that (Burnkrant & Cousineau, 1975). When someone purchases something on the internet, he or she maybe will make a decision of information conformity. That is due to he or she is affected by electronic word-of-mouth (Ho, 2013). When a product has a high reputation, people would feel curious about it. So they focus on it, then collecting every information related thereto (Lu, 2010). French social psychologist Gustave (1895) published a book which called The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind. He mentioned that when a person is in an unintentionally formed crowd (called Casual Crowd) who will lose his/her mind due to 3 causes, namely, Anonymity, Contagion, and suggestibility. He or she will loss of thinking ability and moral values in short-term so his/her behavior will become anomie. Coincidentally, these characteristics of Gustave said has similarities with Bakhtim’sCarnival Theory.
The behavior of onlookers is good for CTA (Call to Action). American scholar M. Granovetter (1978) has proposed a Threshold Model. He thought that everyone has a threshold value in mind and it is difficult to quantify. When a number of collective behavior of a crowd reached the level of someone’s threshold, he or she will start to do same behavior. If you want someone to do something active, you just let he or she know how many people are doing the same thing. Once the level of the threshold is reached, they will be persuaded. There is no doubt that live-streaming is has been influenced by onlookers-effect, including the number of users and the willingness of donating to streamers. What else is that we can use this effect to earn more benefit? It deserves our deep consideration.
Summary
After our review of previous literature, we infer there is 4 factor, respectively motivation, social function, conformity behavior and social presence, to cause the audiences to watch live-streaming and willing to keep using. First, users are based on some motivations decides to watch live-streaming. Next, the social function of they perceived is they wanted, so decides to keep using. Conformity behavior enhanced their motivation, and social presence deepened their perception of social function.
Look at the model map, it clearly shows how 4-factor act on the influence between audience and their willingness to keep using. First, users are based on some motivations decides to watch live-streaming. Next, the social function of they perceived is they wanted, so decides to keep using. Conformity behavior enhanced their motivation, and social presence deepened their perception of social function. Through the model, we can expect the number of users will be more and more due to a virtuous circle. That involves an important concept which we have mentioned in this article called threshold, and network externalities, we discuss in the last article. And then, more and more people fell into this big whirlpool.
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