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 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 56 1 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 2 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”