Author: Yanqin Gao
A Study of User-Generated Content Based Mobile Video
Applications in China and the West
New Media and Digital Culture Media Studies School of Humanities University Van Amsterdam
Table of Content
1. Introduction ... 1
1.1 Background ... 1
1.2 Research Question and Thesis Introduction ... 3
2. Literature ... 5
2.1 Current Academic Debates in China ... 5
2.2 Current Academic Debates in Western Countries ... 10
2.3 Comparing China and Western Countries: Contrasting Views ... 12
3. Methodology ... 14
3.1 Categorization and Cases... 15
3.2 Method of Case Study ... 17
4. Case Study and Analysis in Each Category ... 19
4.1 Real life Live Streaming Mobile Applications ... 19
4.1.1 Inke (China)... 19 Who - Users ... 20 What - Content ... 21 Why - motivation ... 22 How - Process ... 24 4.1.2 Periscope (West) ... 25 Who - Users ... 26 What - Content ... 27 Why - Motivation ... 29 How - Process ... 30
4.1.3 Comparison and contrast ... 31
4.2 Short Video Mobile Applications ... 34
4.2.1 MeiPai (China) ... 35 Who - Users ... 36 What - Content ... 37 Why - Motivation ... 38 How - Process ... 40 4.2.2 Instagram (West) ... 42 Who - Users ... 42 What - Content ... 44 Why - Motivation ... 45 How - Process ... 46
4.2.3 Comparison and Contrast ... 49
5. Conclusion ... 51
1. Introduction
1.1 Background
Video is increasingly playing an important role in people’s daily lives, whether for obtaining information, entertainment, news sharing or social networking. Coupled with the improvements of the Internet environment around the world, video applications on mobile phones are becoming extremely popular, as videos can be accessed from anywhere. For both China and Western countries, video users are primarily from younger generations, and there is abundant evidence that their watching habits are increasingly shifting from watching on computers to cell phones.
Different cell phone APP stores feature various kinds of video applications developed for news, short videos, video editing, live streaming, social networking, etc. The reports about the current situation of mobile applications in China and Western countries are a somewhat different in terms of statistical approaches that they apply, but they all reveal the trend that users are spending more time watching videos on their mobile phones through these video applications.
The video industry in China has undergone rapid changes over the past few years. China Netcasting Services Association (CNSA) issued a report on the current development of China’s Internet videos based on the data provided by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), and according to this report, there were 461 million online video users up until June 2015. Among these users, 354 million were watching videos through mobile video applications (CNSA 15).
The growth in the number of mobile phone users is the key premise of the growth in the number of video APP users. In a report issued by CNNIC in 2013, 78 percent of total video APP users watch videos on their computers, while 62 percent watch videos on mobile phones
(CNNIC 9). In 2015, the two percentages changed to 54 percent and 77 percent CNSA (21). There was a dramatic decline in the number of users watching videos from computers, and an obvious increase in the number of video APP users. Among all video users, young people aged 20 – 29 years old account for the most with 37 percent (17). Additionally, the report cited 80 percent of users watching online videos on a daily basis, more than that of any other form of traditional media (CNSA 40). Based on these statistics, we can assume that video users in China
are gradually shifting from watching on personal computers to mobile phones.
In Western countries, reports also indicate similar trends as that of China. Comscore, a cross-platform analysis company based in the U.S., wrote in its 2016 Mobile APP Report that since 2013, “total digital media time spent has grown 53%, driven mostly by mobile APPs” (Comscore 5). Up until June 2016, the digital media time spent on mobile APPs accounted for more than 58 percent of the total amount, and 80 percent of total digital media time were spent on smart phones. Of all the time spent on multimedia APPs, 68 percent was spent on YouTube, followed by Netflix with 21 percent, and Hulu with 4 percent. Disregarding television programs, YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu are three major online platforms where people watch videos. In Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update 2016–2021 White Paper, it summarized that “[m]obile video traffic accounted for 60 percent of total mobile data traffic in 2016. Mobile video traffic now accounts for more than half of all mobile data traffic (“Cisco Visual Networking Index” 2017).” From these statistics, we can see that people are committing more time to videos that are accessible from their phone. In addition, mobile video traffic is an important impetus to the general growth of online video traffic.
Since video APPs are now the main source for people to watch videos in their daily lives, these APPs can well represent the current development in the video APP industry in different countries. Moreover, the research into popular video APPs is more meaningful because it can truly reflect the characteristics of current social trends. A common feature of the emerging video APPs is that they all rely heavily on user generated content (UGC). And the development of user-generated content coincides with general trends of the Internet industry. According to the China User Generated Content Report issues by iResearch in 2013, the standing point for UGC is video because videos provide more real and direct experience, compared to words or graphics. The report also pointed out that mobile phones are the new territory of user-generated content (iResearch 8). Researchers at Social Annex said that “UGC has an enormous scope” and
“consumers on average spend 5.4 hours per day with user generated content” (Dhamdhere 2016). DM News wrote, “web content increasingly is dominated by user generated content” (DM News 2015). According to Statista, user generated short clips are the leading type of video content streamed to smart phones in the U.S. (Statista 2015). Although there is not much long-term statistical analysis on UGC, it can be assumed that UGC is also expanding, and video content is an essential part of it. From the role of users, the content users created, and how the APPs are
designed, we can observe some society-related trends. To some extent, the APPs themselves are mirrors reflecting the social environment and groups of people. In fact, popular UGC-based video APPs in different countries are developed based on the same technologies, and with similar designs. However, these APPs become very different in many aspects when they are introduced to different countries. Therefore, this thesis aims compare similar UGC-based video APPs in China and in Western countries with the same methodology to better analyze both similarities and distinctions. Jumping out of the Western perspective and analyzing these APPs from a Chinese perspective will surely bring out new findings.
1.2 Research Question and Thesis Introduction
This thesis will look at the major UGC-based APPs that allow users to create and share videos both in China and in Western counties. In general, video APPs include integrated video APPs, live streaming, television relay, short videos, video editing APPs, and etc. Some of them provide mainly professionally produced content, while others rely greatly on content created by users. Among these APPs, the APP versions of online video Web sites also provide users with films and dramas, and other kinds of professionally generated content. While emerging video APPs including short videos APPs, live streaming APPs, and video editing APPs rely heavily on its users to create content. Instead of analyzing the mobile APP versions of the major video Web sites such as YouTube or Youku, this thesis will focus on the relatively new video APPs where users can create content of their own, and also network based on that contact. The video APPs developed in China and in Western countries are very similar in terms of technology; however, they have very unique features and functionalities developed to meet the needs of users that are specific to their regions. This thesis aims to compare those technically similar video APPs and find out the similarities and differences between them. These APPs are usually discussed separately within their own social context, rather than in comparison with similar APPs in other countries. In general, they are all video platforms that allow users to easily create personalized videos or start live streams on their phones. Instead of being just tools, they are developed to expand the social conversations among their users. Despite of the fact that these APPs in
different countries have a lot in common, there are great cultural differences between them if one looks at the traits of their users, the content created, motivations, and the functions provided within the APPs. The fact that they are designed aiming to meet the needs of their potential users
and what users do within the APPs are all good reflections of cultural and societal similarities and differences.
This thesis will focus on two categories, which are UGC live streaming and short videos. The two APPs for live streaming that will be analyzed are Inke (China) and Periscope (Western countries); the two short video apps are respectively Meipai (China) and Instagram (Western countries).
Inke is the leading interactive live streaming platform in China, where broadcasters gather and users’ network with each other (Myapp_Inke 2017). So far, it has been downloaded for more than 250 million times on Android phones (ASO114_Inke 2017). Periscope is a live streaming social networking APP used in many Western countries. Inke is often called “the Chinese version of Periscope” (QonRoger 2016; 36krnext_Weibo 2015).
Meipai is a short video social networking APP that allows users to create high quality videos (Myapp_Maipai 2017). It has been downloaded for more than 507 million times
(ASO114_Meipai 2017). Although Instagram started as a photo sharing social networking APP, it has since introduced short videos, which has made it even more popular (Desreumaux 2014).
In order to better compare these APPs, it is important to know what research has been done in this field. By reading the literatures both in China and from Western countries, it can be observed that the scholars in both camps approached the topics about popular video APPs in very different ways. In many Western countries, scholars often take quantitative approaches to
analyze user behaviors. Many of the discussions are centered on the technological basis and conditions that have made the development of those video APPs possible. In comparison, Chinese scholars put more emphasis on the social influences of those APPs, and how they actually work in terms of content management, profiting models, and user engagement.
Looking into the literatures in both camps, they focused mainly on APPs in their own countries, and not much research has been done in analyzing platforms from different countries. Since they all have their own perspectives and approaches when analyzing their own platforms, it is necessary to apply a same method so findings can be more consistent and more comparable.
This thesis will apply the Chinese approach when looking at the four selected APPs. In the analysis of the APPs in China and in Western countries, this thesis will apply the genre theory proposed by Chinese scholars in their research of online user generated contents. The genre theory looked at user generated content from four aspects, namely “who, what, why, and
how” (Zhao et al. 71). To answer these four questions, this thesis will look at the four aspects in each APPs to analyze who their users are and what they are allowed to do, what content that users have generated, the motivation of the users, and how content is created and shared through the platform.
To sum up, this thesis will try to answer the following research question: What are the similarities and differences between the most popular mobile APPs for live streaming and short videos in China and in Western countries, and how those differences reflect cultural differences.
These APPs rely mostly on user-generated content and the social connections of users. When comparing these platforms, this thesis will apply the genre theory used by Chinese
scholars in analyzing user generated content, which will focus on four questions: who, what, why, and how. Through this comparison, this thesis aims to find out the common features in these platforms, and more importantly what is unique to these platforms. Furthermore, this thesis will also try to discuss those differences in a cultural context, and point out the limitations in user generated content in different countries.
2. Literature
Since this thesis aims to compare the mobile video APPs that contain user generated content in China and in Western countries, it is necessary to look at related literatures in both academic camps. In terms of video media, there is not enough communication and exchange between these two camps and how they approach the topic is quite different. Due to the particularly isolated media environment in China, it has developed various APPs for mainly domestic users. Not only are the platforms different that scholars in both camps look at, but they are also analyzed from different perspectives. Therefore, in this part of thesis, literature from China and Western countries will be discussed separately.
2.1 Current Academic Debates in China
Since there were few published articles in China that analyzed the videos APPs that will be looked at detail in this thesis, the focus is on literature about user generated content, video media, and critiques about video platforms. In general, the video platforms being discussed were mainly large online video Web sites where people can watch professional dramas, shows, and
programs. There were few in-depth discussions about the emerging video APPs that were very popular among the youth in China. The articles and work written by Chinese scholars were mainly from the major and most comprehensive online publishing platform of graduation theses and journal articles, CNKI.NET (China National Knowledge Infrastructure). According to the research question and case study of this thesis, relevant literature for these topics included user generated content, the “SoLoMo” mode (Xiaonan 96), video media in China, and research about specific platforms or mobile applications.
“SoLoMo” refers to the social, local, and mobile, which was coined by Doerr from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) in 2011 to predict the future development trend of Internet to be social, local, and mobile (Gillum 2012). It was used by Chinese scholars when discussing the Internet industry and online videos. In general, there were several academic research conducted concerning the overall landscape of the status quo of video media and the media environment in China (Sun and Huang 70; Wang and Zhao 74; Zhao 68). However, most of these articles focused on the dominant video Web sites in China such as Youku, iQIYI, and Tencent Video (Chen 2013; Li 64). Only a few short critiques mentioned video APPs on mobile phones currently popular with user generated content (Wang 2016; Yang 52; Fu 2014; Zhang 2014). Additionally, there were many articles that took the “SoLoMo” mode as a theoretical framework and background of their research (Li 96; Long 87; Li and Wu 2013; Chen 73). The following paragraphs will summarize the current academic debates in terms of user generated content, “SoLoMo”, and video platforms in China.
In 2011, John Doerr from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) first coined the word “SoLoMo” to predict the future development trend of Internet to be social, local, and mobile (Gillum 2012). This concept has been widely accepted in both Chinese and Western academia. When the term “SoLoMo” is applied specifically to analyze the video platforms, it has several implications. In terms of the “Social” aspect of videos, most of the video platforms would not confine the sharing activities of their registered users within their connections on their own platforms, but would allow instant and direct sharing to other social media platforms or a specific person in his or her contact lists. For example, on Facebook and Twitter in Western countries and Weibo and WeChat in China, videos have now become important content in cross-platform social interaction. If a certain video was shared from a cross-platform to WeChat friends or moments (Wechat friends community), the name of this platform would also be shown in the
moment that could attract potential users to use that platform and enable even more social interactions within or outside the video platform.
Being “local” means that the video applications should also integrate location based services into the functions. The video applications will first obtain the location of the users with the users’ permission, and then allows the users to search the video sources published by other users near him or her, or the application itself can recommend locally relevant videos to certain users. In this way, the video applications can customize the videos contents more accurately according to the users’ location and indicated interests, and increase the stickiness and loyalty of the users to the videos on their platforms.
“Mobile” first means that people can watch videos anywhere and anytime. This has already been a reality because of the widely covered Wi-Fi signal in China and in Western countries, and the quick development of 3G/4G mobile technology and services provided by various mobile service companies. Being “mobile” also indicates the freedom and flexibility for users to upload creative contents onto the video platforms, which are often referred to as “user generated content”. Video APPs on mobile phones have made it possible for users to capture any scene easily and instantly with their phones and upload their videos onto the APPs so that other users can watch even real time. These APPs often have functions that allow users to edit and process their videos by taking some quick steps. These three elements are indispensable to and interdependent upon each other. “Mobile” is the foundation for “social” and “local” because it provides the technological and content basis for watching and sharing of videos. It can be seen that the development of online videos platforms also fits into this “SoLoMo” mode, and the core is user generated content.
The discussion of “SoLoMo” is also closely related to other fields in the Internet industry. Yaping Long, an e-commerce researcher, considered “SoLoMo” as the foundation and source of business model of WeChat marketing, as WeChat is a phone-based APP, and it relies totally on user's’ friend community (87). This concept was also discussed in the network in the field of scientific research (Li and Wu 2013), and as part of a new business model combined with O2O (Chen 73). In almost all of the academic work concerning “SoLoMo”, it was discussed as the basic condition for either social networking media platforms or for profiting in business models. In addition, this concept was also creatively used in the research of video media. Xiaonan Li, in her master dissertation Study on the Online Video Social Behavior and The Trends in the Online
Video Socialization in China, connected the concept of “SoLoMo” to the future development of the video industry. Li deemed “mobile” as the physical condition for the other two elements, which would contribute to the boom of user generated content (96). She regarded mobile phones as the best carrier of socialization (100) and local is the future direction of development (104). However, “local” has also been realized by APP developers these days as most of video APPs have location-based functions that allow users to discover either other users or videos nearby.
In the academic articles about user generated content, although there is no universal definition to this term, most of the scholars agree to three characteristics of user generated content given by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in its 2007 report: published on the Internet, creative in nature, and produced by non-professionals. Based on these characteristics, Shulan Sun and Yibiao Huang, experts in information management, asserted that UGC is not only about creativity and innovation, but represents certain social relations (Sun and Huang 70). Zhan Wang and Hongtao Zhang also pointed out that user generated content is the result of online virtual community, and further stated that virtual community is the reason why user generated content can also generate profits (74).
In terms theoretical debates about UGC, Zhao et al.’s article Conceptualization and Research Progress on User-generated Content was one of the most dominant in the Chinese academia. As professionals in information management, they retrieved and combed related literatures from both China and Western counties, and proposed an analytical framework to UGC based on genre theory. They conceptualized UGC into four dimensions — who, what, why, and how — which referred to the roles of users, the content created by them, their motives in doing so, and the process of creating contents (68).
Current academic debates in China about video platforms are closely related to the concept of UGC. User generated content was most discussed together with online video websites in China. Benshuang Xiao discussed the media landscape with a focus on the mode of UGC, which was also referred to as the “YouTube mode” (2014). Lin Li analyzed the modes of video Web sites in China, and identified that “the main development modes of video Web sites in China were ‘legal copy + free + advertising’ and ‘Hulu + UGC’” (64). UGC mode online video websites were the starting point of her research (2012). Yongfeng Chen used YouTube as a case study, and looked at the development of the online video media industry as a whole in the context of the discipline of communication study (2013).
Yanxuan Wang categorized live streaming into three categories: spontaneous
rebroadcasting, platform-produced content live streaming, and UGC live streaming, and viewed them as important components of the current new media landscape in China (2016). Of the three kinds of live streaming, this thesis will only focus on UGC live streaming. Debates about UGC live streaming in China were mainly centered on the problems and future prospects of UGC in the societal background of “everybody can be a broadcaster.”
Zilong Wang further discussed the participants and content in the wave of online
broadcasting in China leaded by UGC live streaming platform Periscope (2016). Tiannan Yang wrote in Talent Magazine that “in the wave of live streaming, we have come to the age of Web Celebrity 3.0” (52). Lintong Wang and Rujin Bai took Inke, the largest live streaming APP in China, as case study, analyzed live streaming from the perspectives of time-bias and space-bias of network media, and discussed the positive prospects of the industry in terms of freedom of the contents (2016). Ting Yao discussed the transforming power of live streaming and its
applications (2016). Bingjie Zhu wrote in his article the current problems in live streaming in this UGC dominated industry such as homogenization and vulgarization (2016). However, few of the articles were discussed with the detail analysis of specific live streaming platforms.
The discussion about short (or micro) video applications in China mainly focused on two aspects: (1) short videos apps for social networking; and (2) news in short video forms.
According to the concept of short or micro video given by SocialBeta, “a new form of video in a few seconds that relies on instant shooting and editing on intelligent mobile platforms allows real-time sharing” (SocialBeta 2015). Video news should not be included in this category.
Ruoyan Fu stated that short videos have led social networking into a new era with a burst in User Generated Contents (2014). Zixuan Zhang et al. considered shorts videos as a future trend in social life and news industry (2014). Wang et al. summarized the types of short video applications into three categories: social networking, tool, and news, and put forward the current problems in these UGC-based platforms (2015). Xiaohong Wang and Yaoti Ren wrote in Media Observation the new characteristics and challenges faced by the short videos whether for the purpose of social networking or news collecting (2016).
From the literature above, there are several discussions about UGC and online video Web sites, however, research into the emerging video APPs is still relatively small. The video APPs were often discussed as part of the social trend or phenomenon instead of as research objects.
Almost none of the research analyzed these APPs in terms of users, content, functions, etc. Although Western country APPs were sometimes mentioned in these articles, they were not analyzed in detail, or in comparison.
2.2 Current Academic Debates in Western Countries
In order to see how Western scholars were discussing the same topics, the following paragraphs will also focus on the discussions about user-generated content and various UGC-based platforms. One of the major differences between the discussions in two camps is that although the “SoLoMo” mode originated from Western countries, it was seldom used by
Western scholars as a theoretical framework to discuss the Internet industry or video platforms. Just like the Chinese scholars, discussion about UGC in Western countries was also closely related to the major online video Web sites, and there was not much analysis of the emerging popular video APPs. The main source of literature from Western countries is journal articles, and published works on Google Scholar. As there were also very few articles directly related to the research question of this thesis, the same keywords were used to find out the dominant research results about the closely related topics. The keywords were respectively “user generated content”, “live streaming”, “short/micro video”. Articles analyzing specific APPs were also looked at. In general, the western scholars emphasized more on the technological basis of the video platforms, and used quantitative statistics to study the personal behaviors of users. In terms of UGC, it was mostly discussed with YouTube as a leading case. Much Chinese academic work discussing UGC mentions YouTube, as it is the inspiration for the establishment of Youku in China.
The academic debates about UGC in Western countries often took YouTube and its user generated content video system as case study. YouTube, “the world’s largest UGC VOD system”, is creating new patterns and social interactions (Cha et al. 1357). In Users like you? Theorizing agency in user-generated content, José van Dijck referred to “you” as active internet contributors who were able to put in creative effort out of professionalism, and all this was made possible by UGC platforms such as YouTube (41). Jin Kim explored the institutionalization of YouTube, analyzing how it transformed towards professionally generated content (PGC) from its original establishment as a UGC platform (2012). Also, there were statistical researches about YouTube such as video popularity characteristics (Cha et al. 1357) and social networks on YouTube
(Cheng, Dale and Jiangchuan Liu 229). Apart from discussions around YouTube, UGC videos were also discussed in their relationship with traditional television. Jiyoung Cha found that “the time consumers spent using the Internet to watch user-generated video content reduced the time they spent on watching television” (79).
This topic was also discussed from the perspective of social behaviors. Namkee Park, Younbo Jung, and Kwan Min Lee looked into the role of social norms and ego-involvement in uploading behavior and intention (2002), which are the reasons why people are willing to create UGC videos in the first place. However, as YouTube is the dominant UGC platform, not much was discussed about other popular forms of UGC based platforms.
Much of the debates about live streaming were discussed from the aspect of technology, such as the basic conditions for live streaming and how live streaming applications actually function. Stonebraker, Cetintemel and Zdonik identified eight rules for stream processing concerning data and data process (43-45). Viswanathan Swaminathan also analyzed the streaming system and protocols in his article Are We in the Middle of a Video Streaming
Revolution? (2013). Siekkinen, Masala and Kämäräinen took Periscope as case study and looked at the anatomy of live streaming with the method of API crawling of videos (2016). Other
academic works also related live streaming to user generated content distribution. Karine Pires and Gwendal Simon retrieved datasets from YouTube Live and Twitch to illustrate the “behavior of UGC live streaming video system” (229). Debates in the topic of live streaming were heavily focused on the technological perspective, and not much discussion was centered on the role of mobile live streaming applications in the society or specific live streaming platforms.
Short or micro videos were considered to be “a new form of user-generated content on social media platforms” (Redi et al 1), which motivated creativity among the society. They were also seen as an important part of the new media structure, as they turned audience into publishers and at the same time provided mobile and real-time communication (Huang, Zhang and Yang 2016). Lei Zhang, Feng Wang, and Jiangchuan Liu took Vine as case study to understand how user-generated content function on video clip platforms (2014). Although the past debates were closely centered on the mobile APP Vine since it was a pioneer in micro videos, it has now changed greatly. The web version of it has been officially shut down as of January 17, 2017. Users can only search for archived videos saved on the server, and the function for hosting new videos has stopped. The APP is still available, but has “shift[ed] to Vine Camera, a different APP
that will also let users create 6.5-second looping videos that they can either save or post to Twitter” (Huddleston 2017).
Through reading the literature in China and Western countries, there were some differences in how the scholars in both camps approached similar topics. Firstly, the Western academics tended to focus more on analyzing the technological environment, which provides the foundation for the development of all video platforms, while the Chinese academics focused more on the social impact brought by those platforms and the business model behind them.
Second, although the concept “SoLoMo” was originated in Western countries, it was more frequently used as a theoretical framework by the Chinese scholar when analyzing the Internet industry. This concept was not found in the popular academic articles of Western countries when analyzing video platforms.
Third, as the media environment in China is very unique, the platforms that were being discussed were distinctive to their own societies. In terms of specific video APPs in China and Western countries, Chinese academics more frequently took the popular Chinese APPs as case studies to analyze their influences on the society.
Lastly, the definitions of short or micro video were slightly different in the Chinese and Western academia. Short video applications in China sometimes also included APPs providing news in the form of videos that often last for a few minutes, while from the Western point of view, short/micro videos are mainly videos APPs with UGC that aim to promote social
networking. After looking into the related academic works in China and Western countries, this thesis can better situate itself in the current discussions by bridging the gap between both camps, and provide new insight on the UGC based video APPs in both spheres. As this thesis aims to compare the similar mobile APPs in China and Western countries, it is essential to take into account how they have been analyzed.
2.3 Comparing China and Western Countries: Contrasting Views
Looking at the debates and discussions from both camps, it is obvious that the Chinese and Western scholars have their own approaches and focuses when studying the video platforms with user generated content. In the West, discussions about UGC platforms were mainly focused on YouTube, while other popular UGC based video platforms were not given enough attention, including mobile APPs. In China, more emphasis has been put on theories about UGC, but
detailed analysis about specific UGC platforms is relatively small. This essay will include the popular UGC based video platforms on mobile devices because they are gaining more popularity among users, and are leading the social networking trends in different societies.
Rather than focusing on the already much debated platforms such as YouTube and Youku, this essay aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of video applications on mobile devices. By drawing comparison and contrast between UGC based video APPs on mobile devices in China and Western countries, this thesis will provide clearer insight into both the uniqueness of these applications and the similarities between them, and try to understand those differences in a broader context.
Based on the academic articles written by both Chinese and Western scholars, there are several things neither have paid enough attention to. Although the concept of UGC has been discussed since 2006 when the phrase was first created, academic works from both sides are still discussing this topic together with major video Web sites in both societies. There is very few detailed or in-depth analysis of the UGC video content on the popular mobile APPs, which are becoming the dominant platform where people spend increasing amount of time.
Second, the current debates, whether from a technological perspective or a social
perspective, are mainly about platforms in their own society rather than in comparison to similar APPs developed in other societies. Since platforms both influence and reflect certain aspects of the society and certain groups of people, it is vital to look at the platforms that are built based on the same technologies, but are socially very distinctive. As the media industry has changed since the inception of YouTube or Youku, this thesis aims to analyze the emerging popular UGC based video APPs as a complement to the current debates.
When analyzing the selected video APPs, this thesis will apply the same method to the four UGC based APPs from China and Western countries: who, what, why and how.
Chinese scholars Xuxiang Zhao, Zhe Fan and Qinghua Zhu proposed these four aspects when they discuss user-generated content in their article (69). In terms of those concepts, this thesis will analyze the users of the specific APPs, the video content on those APPs, the reason why users are on that platform (their motivations), and the detailed process of content creation in those APPs.
This thesis aims to contribute to the current debates in the following aspects: (1) connect the academic research in the video APPs that are based on UGC in China and in Western
countries; (2) compare the similar but socially different video APPs; and also (3) discuss the current situation and limitations in the development of user generated video APPs. Since the academic debates on both sides are different, this thesis will mainly apply the approaches of the Chinese scholars, so that this thesis can provide a unified comparison between APPs from China and Western countries.
3. Methodology
Different countries have different ways of categorizing APPs, and different analytical methods for those APPs. It is essential to keep consistency when analyzing APPs. In this thesis, I am interested to learn more about APPs from Western countries when analyzed from a Chinese angle. The methodology of this thesis is composed of two parts. The first is to choose the APPs from different categories as objects of case study, and the second is to make comparison and contrast between similar APPs. This thesis will only look at APPs that are related to videos.
For the first part, as the research question of this thesis is to compare and contrast the UGC based mobile video applications in China to similar applications in Western countries, it is essential to have an understanding of the general landscape of the video media applications in China. Therefore, the first method of research can be divided into two steps: (1) to categorize the popular applications in China; (2) to choose the most representative application in each category and find its counterpart in Western countries.
For the second part, this thesis will also contrast and compare the groups of contrasting cases with the Chinese approach: “who, what, why and how”, based on the analytical framework proposed by Chinese scholars. These four questions refer to different aspects of the APPs and their users, allowing us to see more clearly how these APPs reflect cultural differences and features of the video media industries in both spheres.
3.1 Categorization and Cases
Figure. 1. Categorization of Video APPs in China by TalkingData.; “Report of Mobile Video App Industry 2015”; TalkingData; June 2015; https://www.talkingdata.com/index/files/2015-06/1434099182962.pdf.
According to a report about the industry of mobile video applications from TalkingData, China’s largest independent big data service platform focusing on the mobile APP marketplace (TalkingData_About 2017), mobile video applications in China can be divided into three main categories: online videos applications, TV/live streaming applications, and micro videos (see fig. 1).
This categorization by modes is inclusive of almost all the video mobile applications currently in the marketplace, which is beneficial to research as it provides an overall and comprehensive understanding of the industry and helps to better sort out the major UGC based applications in China. As online video applications are simply the extension of online Web sites on mobile devices, and online video Web sites have already been widely compared with each other, this thesis will only focus on the other two categories. As shown in fig. 1, live streaming applications include live TV, vertical live streaming with professional content, and real life live streaming. Since the former two subcategories are mainly composed of professional-generated
content, they will not be part of the research in this category. To answer the research question proposed in this thesis, I will only look into popular applications in the categories of real life live streaming and short videos.
Since this thesis aims to find out the similarities and differences between the popular mobile video APPs in China and Western countries, the next step is to choose the most popular or representative applications in the categories selected above, and then looked for their similar APPs in the West.
In the category of real life live streaming, the APPs to be compared are Inke and Periscope. Inke, officially launched in 2015, is now the most popular live streaming mobile application for both iOS and Android in China. According to a report published by QuestMobile (2016), total monthly active users for Inke has surpassed that of YY, a live streaming APP founded 10 years earlier than Inke, and now ranks first among other similar applications in the market.
Inke also topped the ranking in terms of monthly user amount and active rate in May 2016, which is 61 percent on Android and 64 percent on iOS, according to the data provided by QuestMobile.
The most similar mobile application in the West is Periscope, which was acquired by Twitter. The APP was regarded as number one among the popular live streaming APPs (Top Mobile Trends 2016), and was named the best iOS apps of 2015 by Apple (Warren 2015).
In the category of micro video mobile applications, Meipai from China and Instagram will be a pair of contrasting cases. According to AppAnnie, Meipai is “[the] No.1 on APP Store overall list for 24 days continuously” under the category of photo and video in iOS China (2017). It also has the most number of downloads among the search results of “short video” in Myapp Android APP store, the most dominant android APP store in China (2017).
Advertising Age introduced Meipai to its audience as “a video app with parallels to Vine” (Flemming 2015), and Meipai has often been called the Chinese version of Vine. Although Vine was originally the most similar APP to Meipai, this thesis will not choose it as case study because it has now greatly changed, and is much less popular than when it was launched. It has now been changed into a total different APP called “Vine Camera”, and some of the functions have been shut down. Thus, this thesis will study Instagram instead, which describes itself as “A simple, fun & creative way to capture, edit & share photos, videos & messages with friends &
family” (Instagram 2017), and is much more popular among users than Vine. To sum up, this thesis will analysis the following APPs as the objects of case study.
Table 1.
APPs to be researched in this thesis:
Live stream Short video
China Inke Meipai
West Periscope Instagram
3.2 Method of Case Study
As mentioned before, western scholars tend to analyze the video APPs either from a technical point of view, researching the technological basis upon which the APPs operate, or with quantitative statistics trying to reveal a certain pattern in user behaviors. The Chinese scholars tend to analyze those APPs by looking at their contents, functions, and the social influences upon users. Since a unified method is needed to look at APPs from China and
Western countries, this thesis will choose the Chinese approach to look at the APPs. By applying the same Chinese lenses on APPs in both China and Western countries, the analysis of this thesis is not only more consistent, it can also allow us to look at the Western APPs in a different way. and lead to different results from the current research perspectives.
This thesis will apply the analytical framework put forward by Chinese scholars (Zhao et al. 68), which looks at UGC from four aspects: who, what, why, and how.
“Who” refers to the types and roles of users. According to Zhao et al., the roles of users are complicated. From a cultural perspective, they are receivers and participants; and from an economic perspective, they are producers and consumers. They divide users into three categories: individual users, organizations, and user community. In order to analyze the users of UGC
platforms, we need to look at how they choose, participate, and create as an individual, and also how they their behaviors facilitate the formation of the general user community (Zhao et al. 71). In the case analysis of this thesis, I will look at both what users are allowed to do within the
APPs as individuals and statistics of the user demography of the APPs in general. And also, I will look at the users of the APPs as individuals, organizations, and communities.
“What” refers to the types and attributes of UGC. According to the authors, there are five types of UGC: entertainment, social networking, business, interests, and public opinion (Zhao et al. 71). Most of UGC is a mix of these types. For the APPs to be researched in this thesis, their content is mainly combinations of all these types, with entertainment and social networking as dominating. When analyzing the content of the four APPs, the video content being published on the platforms that are available to the public will be analyzed. Since most of them are a
combination of all the types above, this thesis will look in detail what categories of video content they provide and how or whether they fit into the five types mentioned above. Although the detailed categorization in each APP might be unique in its own way, the content still falls into the five types as the purpose of video APPs is for entertainment, networking, and communication.
“Why” refers to users’ motivation to create contents. The motivations for users to create content can be both internal and external. External motivation mainly comes from material and financial stimulation, while internal stimulation comes from user’s personal desire and sense of belonging to a certain social group (Zhao et al. 72). The users’ motivations to use different APPs can be partly revealed by what platforms allow them to do to meet their needs. Although the motivations of users are not directly seen in the APPs being analyzed, they can be reflected by certain design and functions in the APPs since they are developed to meet certain needs of its target users. In terms of the question “why”, this thesis will try to find in each APPs what are the functions that is in accordance with users’ motivations, and how these APPs are designed to meet their needs. The motivations are almost always internal and external. Business and marketing purposes and direct financial gains are all external motivations for users.
“How” refers to the process of how UGC is created by users. The Chinese scholars summarized the process into four types: individual, collective, competition, and collaborative (Zhao et al. 72). The individual process is the creating and publishing activity that only involves the content creator himself. Collective means that the content created by individual users are in some way inter-related. The effort to gain more attention and generate more “likes” can be seen as competition. Collaborative refers to the creation of content with the same purpose, for example a campaign. This thesis will look into the detailed publishing processes on each of the platforms, which involves the aforementioned four processes. Individual creating process will be
put most emphasis on because it can be directly demonstrated through the posting process in the APPs.
4. Case Study and Analysis in Each Category
This part of the thesis will analyze the selected APPs in detail. Bolter and Gromala (34) referred to computer applications as a “wooden mirror”, as it demands the viewers to express their desires to it and what they can see is the reflection of themselves and the world around them.
They also stated the interface as a window as it “helps us to forget the interface and concentrate on the texts or data inside (42)”. This is also true to mobile applications. Since the design of interfaces is a reflection of the society and culture, the following chapter will be discussing the APPs from the aspects of who (users), what (user generated content), why (users’ motivations), and how (the process of content creation).
4.1 Real life Live Streaming Mobile Applications
The first pair of APPs to be researched and compared is Inke from China and Periscope from Western culture. Both APPs are popular real life live streaming APPs where anyone can create their own content and share it with others. Their basic functions are similar in that they allows users to stream their lives on mobile phones, and viewers can comment and like anytime during the live stream. However, analyzing them in detail from the four aspects, who, what, why, and how, unique features can be revealed and cultural differences can be observed. The
following analysis will first look at each APP and then discuss their similarities and differences.
4.1.1 Inke (China)
Inke is a live streaming platform on mobile devices that aims at making live streaming an essential part of daily life. Since its launch in 2015, the application has become popular among younger users, and now it has the largest number of users compared to other live streaming APPs in China. According to Sohu News, the CEO of Inke published an open letter to all its 130
million users (Sohu Pivot 2017). This number means that one in every 10 people in China use Inke to live stream their life. Unlike other live streaming platforms that rely heavily on celebrities and stars to attract the attention of fans or regular users, Inke is innovative in that it aims to create a platform where normal people can easily do live streaming. They don’t have to be a celebrity to
stream their life. Within the APP, users can link their Inke account to other social media accounts and share videos and links to those platforms. Inke also provide real-time services to make live streaming a better experience for both the broadcasters and the viewers. Sohu News owed the success of Inke to three reasons: better 4G data access and wider internet coverage, higher definition of the front cameras on mobile phones, and a better eco-system with rules that enable the benign interaction between the platform, broadcasters, and users (Sohu Pivot 2017). The following paragraphs will analyze this APP in the four aspects by retrieving data from the Internet and by looking at the features in the APP.
Who - Users
Users of Inke can be divided into two groups: viewers and broadcasters. In general, Inke’s target users are mainly the young generation who were born post-1990. It intends to identify itself as an online convergence of fashion and beauty. The majority of broadcasters on Inke are female, while the ratio of male to female users is approximately 6:4 (Tai 2015). The existence of young attractive female broadcasters explains why there are more male users than female users. According to QuestMobile, in May 2015, the number of use per user is 34 times and the total number of use amounts to almost 880 million. The total duration of all live stream videos were estimated to be over 218 million minutes (2015). From these statistics, we can have a general understanding of the user community of Inke. Although the vast majority of broadcasters are female, there are more male users who are interested to watch the live streams. Within the APP, every user has his/her own identity account and all activities of the users can be tracked and recorded in his/her personal profile (see fig. 2). Users can manage the list of broadcasters they have subscribed to, and check those who have subscribed to them (called fans). They can see their earnings, which is in the form of “Ying Piao” (which means box office on Inke), exchange it into RMB, and withdraw the deposit to their real-name verified bank accounts.
In the user profile, there is also a user level system. Users can unlock the next level by contributing more time in the APP, posting more videos, receiving or giving more gifts, to name a few examples. The higher one’s level, the more privileges one receives. For instance, an Inke avatar will glow when one enters a broadcast room, or one can choose to stay invisible in the rankings. From the settings and design of Inke, we can see how individual users are managed and regulated by the platform. As a standardized platform, it also tries to provide personalized
Figure. 2. Inke Profile Page Screenshot.
What - Content
The tabs on top of the main page indicate clearly what kind of video content Inke provides. There are a total of eight tabs: subscription, trending, nearby, videos, Sakura, talents, gaming, good voices. A click on any one of them will lead users to a different APP page (see fig. 4). The subscription page provides the user with a short cut to the live streams they are
subscribed to. The trending page presents the current most popular live streams; however, the ranking algorithm here has no public rules. The level of the broadcaster, location, number of likes, and other factors will all affect the order of live streams presented. Nearby shows
broadcasters based on their locations obtained by the APP. If the broadcaster does not allow Inke access to his/her location, Inke will interestingly present your location as “in Mars.” The video page does not provide live streaming, rather, it is video clips captured during live stream. Sakura is a new feature of Inke started in April 2017 (see fig. 3). It is a competition initiated by Inke to select 10 beautiful female broadcasters from 10 tracks including gaming, talent, creativity, and etc. The competition lasted one month from 24 April to 27 May, during which “Sakura Muses” are selected based on the voting and gifting of the viewers. The page for talents, gaming, and good voices gathers live streams with personal performances, gaming screens, and live singing performances. The content on Inke is inclusive of entertainment, social networking, business, interests, and public opinion. Live streaming is a new way for people to communicate and express their emotions.
Figure. 3. Sakura Muse Screenshot. Figure. 4. Tabs on Inke Screenshot.
Despite of all these categories, the content of live stream on Inke are in fact mainly about the personal life of the broadcasters, and often take place in a quiet indoor environment. Much of the commentary from the online show business is that there are many civil celebrities, Awl-shaped faces, and younger individuals on Inke, but they are not competition to the professionals, as their content are too plain and shallow to retain viewers’ long-term attention (Li 2017). Based on this observation, most of the live streaming videos do not have a theme or topic; they are more like a monologue of life shows with good-looking male or females as the center of attention. Apart from occasionally answering questions raised by viewers, the broadcasters constantly thank them for their gifts; welcome individual viewers for entering the broadcasting space and invite viewers to subscribe to them. To some extent, live streams on Inke are more focused on creating civil celebrities with good-looking faces rather than delivering content with quality.
Why - motivation
Why refers to motivations for users to create the content. The reasons why the users of Inke create live streams are both internal and external. Live streams published can be shared to other social networking platforms to be shared with friends. The interactivity and connection among the users within the APP gives people a sense of community. These factors are the internal motivations of the content creators on Inke. As to Inke’s external connection to other
social networking platforms, it provides either one-click sharing or a copy of links of the live stream video. Both broadcasters and viewers can share a live stream directly to Weibo, their connections on WeChat, WeChat Moments, QQ contacts, and QQ Space, as long as they also installed these APPs on their phone (see fig. 5). These three APPs — Weibo, WeChat, and QQ ‘— are the major social networking platforms in China. According to a report of CNNIC in 2017, WeChat and QQ are the two APPs with most usage rate of all (CNNIC 49), respectively 77 percent and 60 percent. Meanwhile, WeChat moments, QQ Space, and Weibo are the top three social APPs (CNNIC 53). Live stream will not be synchronized on these platforms, but a special post will be generated that can redirect those who click to the mobile web version of Inke. With connection to these popular APPs, broadcasters can attract more viewers to their live stream, and viewers can also share live stream to their connections. In this way, Inke live stream becomes part of users’ social life. An obvious external motivation for users is profit. Viewers can purchase Inke diamonds with via WeChat Wallet, and buy broadcasters gifts with diamonds. There are in total 24 kinds of gifts equivalent to different amounts of diamonds (see fig. 6). The gifts received by the broadcasters will directly go into their earnings account in the form of diamonds, which can later be changed into “Ying Piao” and money in a certain ratio (see fig. 7). This is a direct attraction to broadcasters, since views can be translated into material profit and higher rankings.
Figure. 6. Inke Gifts Screenshot.
Figure. 7. Inke Earnings Accounts Screenshots.
How - Process
The only condition for one to live stream is that he/she has verified his/her identity in Inke’s real-name verification system. Within some easy steps, users can start instantly. Before launching the live stream, broadcasters are allowed to adjust settings, for example, whether to show location, whether the video is private or public, and what specific platforms to share to once they start. Also, they are asked to write a title for their upcoming live stream in order to better attract the interest group. What is unique about Inke is that it has the function of facial beautification, which will automatically beautify the broadcasters so that they can be more confident while live streaming and be more attractive to viewers (Myapp 2017). During the live steam, broadcasters can still share their video to their connections and invite them to watch by clicking the “+” on the upper right corner. They also have the right to kick viewers out of their
virtual broadcasting room in the “-” list. If there comes a moment that the broadcasters want to record, a click on the camera tab will allow them to capture simultaneously. In addition, users can also make changes to their live streams at anytime, including editing the title of video, on/off mirror effect, shifting between front and back cameras, and on/off of the auto-beautification function (see fig. 8). This is individual creating process of live streaming. In addition, there are also competition and collaboration on Inke in the category of Sakura. Broadcasters do live streams with the ultimate purpose of attracting more viewers, and getting more likes than others. The fact that they are all creating content in accordance to the competition themes can be seen as the collaborative process of creation.
Figure. 8. Inke Live Streaming Screenshot.
4.1.2 Periscope (West)
Periscope is a live streaming APP owned by Twitter.Inc, which promotes itself as a platform that allows users to “broadcast and explore the world through live video” (Google Play_Periscope 2017). Launched in 2015, it has grown greatly during its first year. In its own blog post celebrating its first anniversary, it said that “as of today, over 200 million broadcasts have been created on Periscope and over 110 years of live video are watched every day on iOS and Android” (Medium_Periscope 2016). It is often called the Western version of Inke, and the two are often compared in China (QonRoger 2016).
similar, but how they present themselves to the public and what they allow users to do within the APPs are very different. As in Inke, Periscope also has two versions for different devices, which are mobile APP and web version. The web version allows users to do everything that the APP can do except the live streaming functions for broadcasters. Users can only live stream with the mobile APP, but they can still search and watch live stream videos on computers. However, the videos shown on the web version are still in video format for mobile phones, with small size and relatively low definition. What is special in Periscope is that it supports 360 videos, which allow viewers to change their viewing angle to see the surrounding environments of a live stream while watching (Periscope_Help 2017). Since Periscope is now part of Twitter, it is fully integrated with Twitter. Broadcasters can broadcast to a larger potential audience and gain more attention. Despite its early success, it is also facing great challenge, as a number of competitors have entered the space since its launch; Facebook live or YouTube live.
Who - Users
There are no official statistics published by Periscope about the exact number of users. Third party research institutions provide the following statistics. According to a report published by Global Web Index in 2016, three-fourth of Periscope’s total users were aged between 16 and 34, with 41 percent between 16 and 24, and 34 percent between 25 and 34 respectively (Buckle 2016). The report also pointed out that 35 percent of the users were female, while male users accounted for 65 percent. Periscope is officially available in 25 languages, including Chinese. The most popular countries: United States, Turkey and Brazil.
Since Periscope is not available in the major android APP stores in China, and Twitter is not available in China, there are very few Chinese broadcasters. Just like Inke, users have their own account and profile. Once they are logged in with either Periscope or Twitter, in the profile page on Periscope, there shows the number of hearts one has received from viewers, the
accounts a user is following, total followers, blocked accounts, and the past broadcasts (see fig. 9).
According to an official blog post of Periscope, the company launched the Periscope VIP program for those active live stream broadcasters in October 2016 (Periscope Blog 2016). There are in total three tiers for VIP broadcasters: bronze, silver, and gold. In order to upgrade to higher tiers, broadcasters need to meet the minimum requirements, such as in terms of average numbers of viewers per live stream, total number of live streams in a week, and conforming with general
terms to unlock these tiers.
However, this upgrading is not realized automatically in the APP. Broadcasters need to fill out an application first, and enjoy the privileges and rewards granted by Periscope after approval (Periscope VIP Program). No information about these tiers can be seen in the personal profile page.
Figure. 9. Periscope Profile Page Screenshot.
What - Content
As the slogan of Periscope is to let you see the world through others’ live streaming videos, the content of Periscope is very diverse, whether in terms of category, language, or the background of content provider. The suggested search words for live streams indicate what kinds of content are being live streamed in this APP. There are travel, music, sports, news, talk, inspire, art, food, teach, comedy, and First Scope (see fig. 10).
From these search words, we can see that the content on Periscope is mainly focused on entertainment, social networking, interests, and public opinion. Below these categories, there are numbers telling viewers how many live streams are currently available in each category. As shown on the page of live streams (see figure. 11), each live stream contains a title, name of the broadcaster, number of current viewers, and a screenshot of the live stream automatically generated every few seconds.
Since live streams can also be live simultaneously on Twitter, hash tags can also be added. In this case, the live stream can be linked to a specific event or catchword in Twitter. However, not all live streams show keywords or tags. In the video page of Periscope, only one live
streaming event will be shown on the top, which is promoted by the APP (see fig. 12). Below that is a list of recorded videos of live streams that have ended recently. These videos are tagged on the right corner of the category that they belong to.
Based on observation of live streams on Periscope, the content is not limited to indoor scenes or events such as medication, monologue talks, and music playing. There are also many outdoor scenes such as sightseeing views, sports games, and events. A lot of the video content is in English, but there are other languages as well. There are even many live streams that take place in a professional radio or TV studio. For example, JSL News addresses professional news broadcasting to the audience (see fig. 13). What is special about Periscope in terms of content is that it is also used by companies to do branding and marketing. Spotify, for instance, posted a “behind-the-scenes video with Irish folk singer Conor O'Brien from the band Villagers”
(Johnson 2015). Others include Red Ball, Doritos, Benefit Cosmetics, Adidas, General Electric, Ralph Lauren, and etc (Siu 2017).
Figure. 11. Periscope Live Streams Screenshot. Figure. 12. Periscope Video Page Screenshot.
Figure. 13. Periscope Live Stream – JSL Screenshot.
Why - Motivation
What attracts users to use Periscope in addition to broader vision and entertainment are (1) its close connection to Twitter, and (2) that it can be a perfect tool for digital marketing. The first one is internal, as it fits the users’ need to expand their connections so that more people can see live streams. After Twitter acquired Periscope, it became an integrated part of the live
streaming function on Twitter. Videos can be live on Twitter at the same time as they are live on Periscope. As stated on the blog by Kayvon Beykpou, CEO and co-founder of Periscope, “We’re making it easier to see what’s happening by bringing Periscope broadcasts — both live and replays — directly into Tweets” (2016). Twitter, a platform with 328 million monthly active users in the first quarter of 2017 (Statista 2017), can surely give broadcasters on Periscope a larger audience.
Since most people already have a Twitter account, and they can log in with Twitter and share live stream to the connections they already have on Twitter, they are more motivated to use Periscope than other live streaming APPs. Connecting and synchronizing live streaming on a major social media platform helps the broadcasters to reach out to more viewers. In addition to individual users who want to share what they see in their world, this live streaming platform is also attractive to companies as a branding tool. Through live streaming, companies are not only promoting themselves to viewers, they are building a face-to-face communication with them, and this can be more effective than traditional marketing methods. This motivation is external, as the companies intend to transfer the attention they receive during live stream to material gains.
How - Process
The process to start a live stream on Periscope is very straightforward and clear. The settings before one can launch the live stream are very simple so that users can start within a few minutes. For broadcasters, they are first guided to write a broadcast title with a few description words for their upcoming broadcast. Then they can choose whether they want to share their location, whether their live stream allows comments from others, and whether to synchronize their live stream on Twitter (see fig. 14). In addition to public broadcasts, which everyone can search and watch, broadcasters can also select the private mode so that the upcoming broadcast will only be available to those who have been selected. (see fig. 15).
Figure. 14. Periscope - Start Broadcast Screenshot. Figure. 15. Periscope - Private Broadcast.
4.1.3 Comparison and contrast
By looking at Inke and Periscope from the four aspects — who, what, why, and how — both similarities and differences can be observed. In general, the two APPs are similar in their target users, user generated content in the APPs and the basic functions including external connections, interactive design, and incentives measures to users.
In terms of differences, mainly three can be observed. A very distinctive feature of the Chinese app, Inke, is its complicated profiting system, which allows broadcasters to profit from their viewers through this platform. How this profiting system works can be reflected by the acts of users, the content of live streams, and other designs of the APP. Another difference lies in the broadcasters of these two platforms. They are developed to meet different live streaming needs from the users, so they have their own purposes and intention.
The users, design and functions of the APPs can also reveal part of the business model of these two APPs. Although these live streaming APPs are built upon the same technology, and are published around the same time period. They are imprinted with distinctive characters due to the differences of the social environment where they are developed. The following paragraphs will discuss these similarities and difference in detail with reference of the findings above about each APP in terms of the four questions: who, what, why, and how.
There are mainly three similarities between Inke and Periscope based on the previous analysis about their users, content, and APP designs.
The first one is that the users of the APPs are mainly the young generation, the most energetic and creative population. On the one hand, they have strong ability to accept new things and are quick learners of the new technology. Thus, they are able to understand the operation of the APPs and discover all the functions provided. On the other hand, they are more eager to show themselves on a wider stage and connect themselves to the world. Not everyone has the chance to step on a real stage to show himself. These live streaming APPs provide them with free and flexible stages to show him or herself, or what they are seeing to the outer world almost at anytime and at any location.
Secondly, both of the APPs rely heavily on UGC that is solely created by the users of the APPs (whether individuals or companies), rather than on the content created or owned by the APPs. Since live streaming requires real-time interactions, it is difficult to publish professionally generated content which is programmed in advance. It is worth mentioning that although many companies use these platforms to serve the purpose of branding and marketing, the content they create is still counted as UGC rather than professionally made because the APPs are just a channel connecting them to a larger audience, rather than the co-producers of the content.
The third similarity is the basic functions of the two APPs. They can both be connected to other social media platforms and there is not much difference in the functions they provide during after a live stream is created. As live streaming APPs are part of social networking, they do not present themselves as isolated APPs. Live streams on Periscope can be synchronized on Twitter, which means they can be part of the interaction in the users’ Twitter networks. Although live streams on Inke can only be watched on Inke, the URLs of the live streams can be shared to multiple social media platforms and people will be redirected to the web version to watch the live stream. These two live streaming APPs also encourage the connection between broadcasters and viewers. Viewers can make comments or ask questions by commenting under the live stream, and broadcasters can either reply to them by words or verbally. Not only can they communicate and interact with each other during the live stream, they are encouraged to develop personal ties through subscription. Moreover, both APPs are aware of the importance of the users’ loyalty. They both give incentives to their users. Periscope’s VIP program provides its popular
