Information Behavior on Social Live Streaming Services
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JISTaP http://www.jistap.org Research Paper Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice J Inf Sci Theory Pract 4(2): 06-20, 2016 eISSN : 2287-4577 pISSN : 2287-9099 http://dx.doi.org/10.1633/JISTaP.2016.4.2.1 Information Behavior on Social Live Streaming Services Katrin Scheibe * Kaja J. Fietkiewicz Wolfgang G. Stock Dept. of Information Science Dept. of Information Science Dept. of Information Science Heinrich Heine University Heinrich Heine University Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany Düsseldorf, Germany Düsseldorf, Germany E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT In the last few years, a new type of synchronous social networking services (SNSs) has emerged—social live streaming services (SLSSs). Studying SLSSs is a new and exciting research field in information science. What information behaviors do users of live streaming platforms exhibit? In our empirical study we analyzed information production behavior (i.e., broad- casting) as well as information reception behavior (watching streams and commenting on them). We conducted two quan- titative investigations, namely an online survey with YouNow users (N = 123) and observations of live streams on YouNow (N = 434). YouNow is a service with video streams mostly made by adolescents for adolescents. YouNow users like to watch streams, to chat while watching, and to reward performers by using emoticons. While broadcasting, there is no anonymity (as in nearly all other WWW services). Synchronous SNSs remind us of the filmThe Truman Show, as anyone has the chance to consciously broadcast his or her own life real-time. Keywords: Social Live Streaming Services, YouNow, Information Behavior, Information Production Behavior, Information Reception Behavior, Social Media Open Access Accepted date: June 3, 2016 All JISTaP content is Open Access, meaning it is accessible online Received date: May 5, 2016 to everyone, without fee and authors’ permission. All JISTaP content is published and distributed under the terms of the *Corresponding Author: Katrin Scheibe Creative Commons Attribution License (http:/ creativecommons. Staff Member org/licenses/by/3.0/). Under this license, authors reserve the Dept. of Information Science copyright for their content; however, they permit anyone to Heinrich Heine University unrestrictedly use, distribute, and reproduce the content in any Düsseldorf, Germany E-mail: [email protected] medium as far as the original authors and source are cited. For any reuse, redistribution, or reproduction of a work, users must clarify the license terms under which the work was produced. ⓒ Katrin Scheibe, Kaja J. Fietkiewicz, Wolfgang G. Stock, 2016 6 Information Behavior 1. INTRODUCTION points, badges, or money. In the last few years, a new type of social media has We differentiate between two kinds of social live emerged: social live streaming services (SLSSs). Here, streaming services: every user has the opportunity to produce and to • general live streaming services (without any the- broadcast his or her program in real time. In contrast matic limitation), e.g. YouNow, Twitter’s Periscope, to other social media, social live streaming services are Meerkat Streams, YouTube live, or IBM’s Ustream, synchronous, which means that all user activities hap- and pen at the same time. • topic-specific live streaming services, e.g. Twitch When the social live streaming service YouNow (games), or Picarto (art). became more popular during the last year, negative publicity about the “dangerous” behavior of teenagers One of the most widely used social live streaming appeared on the news. Possible violations of person- services is the topic-specific streaming service Twitch ality rights and especially of privacy were reported. (Gandolfi, 2016), which is mainly used for streaming To get a more comprehensive and broader view of the video games and electronic sports (e-sports) events information behavior on live streaming services and (Burroughs & Rama, 2015). There are already several to start a new point for further research, this investiga- investigations and studies about this platform, but only tion focuses on the information behavior on YouNow. few scientific studies on general live streaming ser- It is the first empirical analysis of information behavior vices. We could identify a general paper on YouNow concerning general live streaming platforms. (Stohr, Li, Wilk, Santini, & Effelsberg, 2015), an article Describing and analyzing SLSSs and their users is a on technical issues of such services (LeSure, 2015), one new and exciting research field in information science. about ethical problems (Henning, 2015) and a study What information production behaviors do users of on possible law infringements of YouNow users while live streaming platforms exhibit? And what informa- streaming (Honka, Frommelius, Mehlem, Tolles, & tion reception behaviors can we observe? What are the Fietkiewicz, 2015). Fietkiewicz, Lins, Baran, and Stock motives of using social live streaming services? In line (2016) found out that especially users from Genera- with these questions we have prepared an online sur- tion Y (“Millennials,” born between 1980 and 1996) vey with YouNow users as participants. For studying and from Generation Z (born 1996 and later) utilize the legal aspects of information production behavior YouNow. Wilk, Wulffert, and Effelsberg (2015) ana- an analysis of potential law infringements on YouNow lyzed the improving of video contributions; and, final- streams from Germany and the U.S. by Honka et al. ly, Wilk, Zimmermann, and Effelsberg (2016) studied (2015) was added to the study. video upload protocols. In this article, we apply research about information behavior on social media to general social live stream- 2. RESEARCH BACKGROUND ing services, using the example of YouNow as a case study (Fig. 1). YouNow’s mission statement highlights SLSSs are social media platforms with the following the convergence of social media and television as well characteristics: as user interactions through real-time videos (YouNow, • they are synchronous, 2016). According to Adi Sideman, founder and CEO • they allow users to broadcast their own program in of YouNow, this information service broadcasts about real-time, 150,000 unique live streams daily (2015). Following • users employ their own mobile devices (e.g., Alexa, most users of YouNow come from the Unit- smartphones, tablets) or their PCs and webcams ed States (24.3%), followed by people from Turkey for broadcasting, (12.1%), Germany (8.4%), Mexico (7.6%), and Saudi • the audience is able to interact with the broadcast- Arabia (5.6%) (Monthly unique visitors in February, ing users via chats, and 2016). The average quota of viewers per broadcaster • the audience may reward the performers with, e.g., was (midyear 2015) 11 (Wilk, Zimmermann, & Effels- 7 http://www.jistap.org JISTaP Vol.4 No.2, 06-20 Fig. 1 Live stream on YouNow. Source: YouNow.com berg, 2016, p. 1), but in our experience the distribution p. 2381) concludes. Wilson (2000, p. 49) also defines of viewers is skewed: Few live streams have hundreds “information behavior” in a rather broad way: of viewers, while many streams were watched by less Information Behavior is the totality of human behav- than ten people. ior in relation to sources and channels of informa- tion, including both active and passive information seeking, and information use. Thus, it includes face- 3. INFORMATION BEHAVIOR ON SOCIAL to-face communication with others, as well as the NETWORKING SERVICES passive reception of information as in, for example, watching TV advertisements, without any intention Following Savolainen (2007, p. 109), “information to act on the information given. behavior” as well as “information practice” are “um- brella concepts” in information science. In contrast to Fisher, Erdelez, and McKechnie (2005, p. xix) con- Savolainen (2007), Case (2012), and other researchers, ceptualize information behavior “as including how who link information behavior and information prac- people need, seek, manage, give, and use information tice mainly to information seeking (e.g., Kumar & Rai, in different contexts.” Robson and Robinson (2013, 2013; Majid & Rahmat, 2013), it is possible to broad- p. 169) propose an information behavior model that en these concepts to all information-related human “takes into account not just the information seeker but activities. Here, we are in line with Bates (2010) who also the communicator or information provider.” For defines “information behavior” as every human inter- Spink (2010, p. 4), information behavior is “a behavior action with information. “Information behavior is … that evolved in humans through adaption over a long the term of art used in library and information science millennium into a human ability, while also developing to refer to a sub-discipline that engages in a wide range over a human lifetime.” The phylogeny of information of types of research conducted in order to understand behavior is the evolution of this behavior of the whole the human relationship to information,” Bates (2010, human tribe until today; the ontogeny is the develop- 8 Information Behavior ment of the information behavior of an individual per- “SNS” has two narrower terms: “asynchronous SNSs” son (Stock & Stock, 2013, p. 465). We will work with (e.g., Facebook) and “synchronous SNSs.” Nowadays, this broad concept of “information behavior,” which social live streaming services (SLSSs) are the only