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Digital live streaming applications, combined with the broadcasting of cross-modal, video-mediated communication in the social networking community, have grown in popularity in recent years. A theoretical gap exists regarding a comprehensive framework that explains hardcore viewer engagement through the social exchanges in digital live streaming communities. Traditional viewers engaged with a single-dimensional focal object, but nowadays, viewers interact with multidimensional and multiobjects through the social exchanges (e.g. virtual gifts, emotional supports) in live streaming digital communities. This study aims to address this void in the marketing literature of hardcore viewer engagement under dynamic social exchanges in digital live streaming communities.

This research used a qualitative approach. The data collections were from October 2018 to January 2020. Data were collected in semistructured interviews with 17 Media 21 hardcore viewers.

The outcomes of hardcore viewer engagement and social exchange include three main stages: introduction, immersion and enthusiasm. It indicates that loyalty and active hardcore viewer–streamer relationships were fostered through the process of hardcore viewer engagement and social exchange with multiple objects and dimensions.

There are three main implications to the literature in this study. First, this empirical study extends the concept of consumer engagement to hardcore viewer engagement, and social exchange is found to trigger social behavior and relations in a digital live streaming community. Second, it contributes to the social media community literature. Hardcore viewer engagement provides a broad dimensional scope to examine digital live streaming community participation by integrating the cognitive, affective and behavioral aspects. Finally, it contributes to the literature of social exchange theory. It indicates that the extension of hardcore viewer–streamer social relationships is not restricted to traditional mass media but can be fostered in digital live streaming communities.

It contributes to the consumer engagement literature by exploring in depth viewer engagement dimensionality in a rich digital live streaming context. This study proposed a framework for understanding the stages and outcomes of viewer engagement and parasocial interactions according to three dimensions and multiple objects, which lacked empirical validation in previous studies.

This study also contributes to the social media community literature. In capturing the functions of such groups, the variables of interest were “participation,” “involvement” and “membership.” These variables were determined through behavioral actions or intentions. In contrast, viewer engagement provided a broad dimensional scope to examine digital live streaming community participation by integrating the cognitive, affective and behavioral aspects.

The findings of this study indicate that the extension of parasocial relationships is not restricted to traditional mass media but can be fostered in digital live streaming communities that are designed to bring the viewer close to streamer(s), community members and system functions and activities. Although digital live streaming applications differ from traditional parasocial interaction environments because they offer direct, instantaneous, multiple communication among streamer(s), system functions and community members, the findings of the present study indicate that viewer–streamer–viewer parasocial relationships established both online and offline are often interwoven.

This study aims to investigate the factors that affect an audience's purchase decisions on a new type of social media, namely live video streaming platforms.

This study is based on data from an online survey providing 488 valid responses. These responses are used to test the research model by employing partial least squares (PLS) modeling.

Three antecedents (consumer competitive arousal, gift design aesthetics and broadcaster's image) influence the audience's purchase decisions (impulse buying and continuous buying intention). Chinese impression management (mianzi) acts as a moderator. Self-mianzi, mutual mianzi and other mianzi (i.e. three subtypes of mianzi) moderate the effects of consumer competitive arousal, gift design aesthetics and broadcaster's image on impulse buying.

The findings encourage practitioners developing marketing strategies for live video streaming platforms in the Chinese cultural context to consider peer influence, gift appearance, broadcaster's image and mianzi.

Drawing on the community gift-giving model and face-negotiation theory, this study provides an integrated research model to investigate a new type of social media (live video streaming). It offers insight into virtual gifting behaviors by confirming the effects of three antecedents on the audience's purchase decisions, with mianzi acting as a moderator.

Social live-streaming services are an emerging form of social media that is gaining in popularity among researchers and practitioners. By facilitating real-time interactions between video content creators (i.e. streamers) and viewers, live-streaming platforms provide an environment for novel engagement behaviors and monetization structures. This research aims to examine communication foci and styles as levers of streaming success. In doing so, the authors analyze their impact on viewers' engagement with the stream.

This research draws on a unique dataset collected via a multi-wave questionnaire comprising viewers' perceptions of a specific streamer's communications and their actual behavior toward them. The authors analyze the proposed impact of communication foci on viewing and donating behavior while considering the moderating role of communication style using seemingly unrelated regressions.

The results show that communication foci represent a double-edged sword: community-focused communication drives viewership while reducing donations made to the streamer. By contrast, content-focused communication curbs viewing but drives donating.

Of specific interest for practitioners, the study demonstrates how streaming content providers (e.g. influencers) should adjust their communications to drive engagement in the context of synchronous social media such as social live-streaming services. Beyond that, this research identifies unique characteristics of engagement that can help managers to improve their digital service offerings.

Social live-streaming services provide an environment that offers unique opportunities for self-development and co-creation among social media users. By allowing for real-time interactions, these emerging social media services build on ephemeral content to provide altered experiences for users.

The authors highlight the need to distinguish between engagement behaviors in asynchronous and synchronous social media. The proposed conceptualization sheds new light on success factors of social media in general and social live-streaming services specifically. To maximize user engagement, content creators in synchronous social media must consider their communications' focus (content or community) and style (utilitarian or hedonic).

Social media marketers are keen to understand how viewers perceive their brands on a platform and how the learning experiences from content can impact their attitudes toward a brand. This study aims to focus on examining the effect of firm-generated content (FGC) on X (formerly known as Twitter), using Kolb’s experiential learning theory to analyze the viewers’ learning process. In addition, the study investigates how the length of time a viewer follows a brand and the type of brand can influence their attitudes toward it.

This study involved three qualitative studies on X to investigate how content learning affects consumer attitudes toward two brands, namely, Nike and Subway. The study also examined the impact of the duration of following the brands, with participants following the brands for 4, 8 and 12 weeks, respectively, to assess changes in their attitudes.

The results demonstrate that content learning significantly impacts consumer attitudes. By following brands and engaging with their FGC over time, viewers can transition from being occasional or intermittent followers to becoming devoted brand enthusiasts. Through the four-stage experiential learning process, followers undergo cognitive, emotional and behavioral transformations that collectively shape their brand attitudes. The impact of content learning varies according to the brand type, and the duration of following has a positive effect on brand attitudes.

The study’s findings have significant marketing implications for social media marketers, suggesting that they should restructure their social media platforms as learning platforms to effectively engage followers. Companies should adjust their content marketing strategies from a learner’s perspective, providing followers with content that resonates with them, enhances their learning outcomes and helps shift their beliefs and brand attitudes, ultimately converting them into loyal consumers.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this qualitative research is the first of its kind to apply experiential learning theories to investigate how users learn from FGC by following brands on social media and how this learning ultimately changes their brand attitude. The study provides a unique perspective on social media marketing, enriching the understanding of content marketing and consumer experiences on social media platforms.

Despite the burgeoning popularity of virtual gifting in live streaming, research lacks an in-depth understanding of the drivers behind this behavior. Using para-social relationship (PSR), this study aims to capture viewers’ lively social feelings toward the streamer as the key factor leading to the purchase behavior of virtual gifts. It also aims to establish a theoretical link between PSR and viewers’ holistic experience in live streaming as captured by cognitive absorption and aims to investigates the role of technological features (i.e. viewer–streamer and viewer–viewer interactivity, streamer-level and viewer-level deep profiling and design aesthetics) in shaping viewers’ experience.

Based on 433 survey responses, this study employs a combination of structural equation modeling and neural networks to offer valuable insights into the relationships between the technological environment, viewer experience and viewer behavior.

Our results highlight the salience of PSR in promoting the purchase of virtual gifts through cognitive absorption and the importance of the technological environment in eliciting the viewer experience. This study sheds light on the development of PSR in a technological environment and its relationship with cognitive absorption.

By applying PSR to conceptualize viewers’ perceived connection with the streamer, this study extends the research on purchase behavior in the non-shopping context by providing an enlightened understanding of virtual gift purchase behavior in live streaming. Moreover, by theoretically linking PSR with cognitive absorption, virtual gift purchase and technological features of live streaming, it enriches the theory of PSR and bridges the gap between the design practice of supporting the IT infrastructure of live streaming and research.

The American Sociological Association Communication, Information Technology, and Media Sociology (CITAMS) section has long been concerned with the processes by which social connectedness and solidarity are created in a technology-rich, digitized society. In this chapter, the role of temporal symmetry in facilitating social synchronicity and digital connectedness is explored. Unity through simultaneity, which develops when spatially separated people focus on the same things at the same time, was conceptualized by sociologist Eviatar Zerubavel in a largely pre-digital age (1981) and coined as temporal symmetry. The concept has great relevance for the digital era and helps to explain why social media and digital technology have become so popular, consequential, and, indeed, indispensable in modern everyday life. The chapter explains how temporal symmetry is generated via digital technology in such activities as the viewing of live-streamed events, texting, and synchronous social media use. It examines how the temporal coordination of individuals’ streams of thought and internal rhythms can result in interpersonal similarity, like-mindedness, shared identities, and social synchronicity. Finally, it discusses the impact of these phenomena on digital connectedness, social life, and society in a digital age, contributing to the body of research CITAMS is committed to developing in helping the academy and the general public understand the impact of communication, information technology, and media on people’s techno-social lives.

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to provide a typology for classification of the digital goods business (DGB), analyzing its characteristics with selected cases, to suggest an evolution strategy appropriate for today's digital business economy, and to address the research implications.

Based on a focus group interview, the study identified and classified the DGB models into four types in terms of sales channels and service methods, and further proposed five evolution strategies for the DGM.

The paper proposes five evolution strategies for the DGB: from streaming direct to streaming intermediary; from download direct to download intermediary; from download intermediary to streaming intermediary; from download direct to streaming direct; and from download direct to streaming intermediary. These evaluation strategies will be suitably applicable to the type of digital goods for which a business strives.

As the study is exploratory in nature, further research will be required to empirically confirm the findings of the underlying study regarding various DGBs, such as software, games, and movies. In addition, as the proposed typology reflects only the current state of the DGB industry, a further elaboration of the typology may also prove necessary in the future as technologies and the DGB industry evolve.

Providing a useful theoretical foundation for future DGB studies and valuable insight into practical applications in the ever‐growing DGB field, the paper delivers transitional strategic insights based on digital goods taxonomy. This strategic implication can be applicable to analyzing and explaining current DGB cases.

Purpose: This study aims to identify communication speech acts and transaction terms in online stores (Olshop) during live streaming on Facebook amid the COVID-19 pandemic and to understand communication patterns between sellers and buyers when shopping on Facebook live streaming in Indonesia.

The Need for Research: This research is motivated by the skill gap arising from increasing buying and selling transactions through live streaming on Facebook. Cultural and demographic shifts, along with the widespread availability of modern technologies and marketing 2.0 have resulted in the global population adopting social media at rates far beyond our use of the Internet, making a compelling case by example and analogy that social media has the potential to level the playing field and is effective in reaching their target market.

Methodology: The type of research is descriptive-qualitative using corpus data instruments. The data collection technique in this study was carried out by reading and observing the data and listening to speeches about buying and selling women’s equipment from various online stores on Facebook. Then select and sort the data designated as forms, strategies, and functions of speech acts in buying and selling transactions during live streaming on Facebook. The data analysis technique has three steps: (1) reducing the amount of data; (2) presenting the data; and (3) concluding.

Findings: The results show that there are four types of speech acts between sellers and buyers in the live-streaming online shop on Facebook, namely, assertive, directive, expressive, and commissive speech acts.

The objective of this chapter is to identify the key characteristics of Global Services businesses that will thrive and achieve success in the future. These factors are integrated into three main pillars, which we refer to as the Triple-Win. The first and most obvious pillar is technology as a tool. The second pillar is the design and sustainability of the business model, without which the previous factor would be merely a cost and not an investment. And last but not the least, there is the purpose which gives meaning to the proposal, focusing on the human being and their environment. The DIDPAGA business model sits at the intersection of these three elements.