Now the webcast industry is booming, and new terms such as anchor platform and network celebrity have appeared. Here, I have prepared a paper about webcasting for you. Let's study together!

As a new way of network communication, webcasting has become a hot phenomenon in recent two years. The author analyzes the psychological motivation behind the participants in webcasting from two groups: the anchor and the audience, and finds that the interaction between the anchor and the audience is mainly driven by self-expression. Finally, it discusses how to guide the healthy development of webcasting to reduce its negative impact on participants' psychology.

Keywords: webcast; Self-expression; Participation; lonely

With the rapid development of the Internet and the popularity of intelligent terminals, the interaction between people is becoming more and more diversified, and the so-called webcasting came into being. By setting up an independent signal acquisition device (audio+video) at the scene, it is imported into the pilot terminal (pilot device or platform), and then uploaded to the server through the network and published on the website for people to watch. It can also be divided into "live webcast of performances" and "live webcast of documentaries". The former is common for various anchors to sing, imitate, talk show and perform actions through the lens, while the latter is a live webcast of various meetings, activities or events. Webcast is undoubtedly one of the hot spots in the near future. Live broadcast platform has been established like mushrooms after rain, and the content of live broadcast extends to all aspects of life, and the audience can always find their own interests in it. Relevant data show that there are nearly 200 webcasting platforms in China, and the number of users of webcasting platforms has reached 200 million. Among them, the number of online users of large-scale live broadcast platforms is close to 4 million during the daily peak hours, and the number of live broadcast rooms exceeds 3,000 [1]. This paper mainly discusses the psychological motivation behind the participants of "performance webcast".

First, the psychological dynamic analysis of network anchors

User-generated content (UGC) is created by users, so the threshold for becoming a network anchor is very low. Through a simple camera and microphone, "anchor" can create their own "room" (similar to a chat room) and share their lives with the audience in real time.

The anchors get paid by the audience's "gifts", but the economic return is by no means the only motivation for the anchors to perform. According to a network anchor interviewed by the author, "whenever the system prompts a new audience to enter my room, they will feel more concerned", which is very representative. As a new way of self-presentation, webcasting is mostly used by teenagers. This group generally has a strong sense of self and tends to actively seek social recognition and attract the attention of others [2]. Webcast gave them a platform to show themselves. Compared with social channels such as Weibo, which are mainly written expression, live broadcast is more intuitive and self-presentation is more stereoscopic and diverse, so it is very popular.

In addition to full-time anchors who live by webcasting, there are a large number of "amateur" anchors on the live broadcast platform, who play ordinary social roles in real life, such as students, white-collar workers and workers. However, on the live broadcast platform, many anchors feel that their self-worth has been improved in the attention of "fans". An interviewed anchor claimed, "Sitting in front of the camera, I feel like a different person, as if I suddenly changed from a walk-on to a protagonist." Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory regards "self-realization" as the highest demand of human beings, and for some anchors, self-realization can be achieved more or less through webcasting.

In addition, in real life, the failure of self-presentation may lead to negative consequences such as low self-esteem, but in the live webcast, the pressure of these failures is largely eliminated. Many psychological studies show that under the condition of anonymity, people's speech and behavior will go beyond the usual norms [3]. In most cases, the interaction between the anchor and the audience is anonymous, which encourages the participants of the live broadcast to discuss some topics more freely and openly to some extent. At the same time, deviant behavior is inevitably accompanied by openness, such as some anchors playing pornographic edge balls or performing some wonderful content during the live broadcast.

Second, the audience's psychological motivation analysis

First of all, the interaction between the anchor and the audience in the webcast enhances the audience's psychological participation. The concept of involvement was first put forward by the scholar E.Krugman, and also translated as "participation", which is an important indicator in the study of communication effect [4]. It is generally believed that the higher the participation of the audience, the better the communication effect. In a typical live broadcast scene, the anchor greets the new audience actively and enthusiastically in the "room", and also thanks the fans for giving "gifts" by name, and meets some performance requirements, such as singing designated songs. Here, the audience is no longer a simple bystander and content consumer, but builds live content with the anchor. This form of "unanimous decision" can mobilize the enthusiasm of the audience, enhance the attention of the audience, and finally let the audience participate in the live broadcast more deeply.

Secondly, the information transmitted by webcasting is easy to absorb, which reduces the burden of people's cognitive resources. In the network era of information explosion, it is extremely simple to acquire knowledge, and people can get the information they want immediately with very few cognitive resources. Therefore, most netizens often lack a deep understanding and memory of the information spread on the Internet. The form of webcasting just meets this demand: the anchor image is three-dimensional and vivid, and most of them deliver content in spoken language. For the audience, it only takes a little energy to appreciate and participate in the webcast, and there is enough entertainment to relieve boredom.

Thirdly, the audience can perceive the existence of others and effectively relieve loneliness. Most of the "rooms" of webcasts will indicate the number of viewers; During the anchor performance, the audience can also have some communication, and these settings can make the audience feel a sense of belonging to the group. Being interested in the content of the same anchor can also bring together audiences with similar interests and hobbies to generate more topics. So some live broadcasts are boring, but sometimes they can gather a large audience to comment. This mode of collective comment (called "Tucao" on the Internet) not only satisfies the audience's desire to express, but also becomes a part of the live broadcast content, attracting more people to participate.

Finally, the exposure of the network anchor to his own life satisfies the audience's desire to spy. Psychoanalyst Karen Horney once pointed out that people are born in an invisible and hostile world, and they will have unsafe fears, which will lead to anxiety. Therefore, "snooping desire" belongs to some kind of self-protection need, which can also be said to be human instinct. Before the appearance of webcasting, it was against social ethics to spy on other people's lives, so it was in a state of depression. However, webcasting turned snooping into aboveboard behavior. The anchors broadcast their own meals, shopping and even sleeping. These contents, which originally belonged to personal privacy, have a strong appeal to the audience.

Third, the conclusion

Although the anchor and audience have different motives to participate in the webcast, the interaction between them constitutes the core of the webcast. The audience has a positive or negative reaction to the content of the anchor performance, and the anchor will perform the "plot" that the audience likes more frequently. According to Skinner's reinforcement theory, timely feedback is very important for reinforcement behavior. The live broadcast platform can ensure that the feedback between the audience and the anchor is immediate and effective, and the interaction between the two parties also promotes the continuation of live broadcast behavior.

The appearance of webcasting meets the psychological needs of participants, but its barbaric growth is prone to chaos. Up to now, there have been a lot of negative news about webcasting [5]. The live broadcast originally appeared for the pursuit of personalized voice, but when the audience began to blindly pursue the anchor and the anchor began to blindly please the audience, it would fall into the so-called "group myth".

Therefore, while external supervision is needed, the anchor and the audience should also maintain benign interaction; The anchor attracts the audience with his own talent, instead of grandstanding. The audience should report unhealthy live content in time, instead of applauding. Only by building a healthy live broadcast environment can we promote the sustainable development of webcasting, a new thing. (Author: School of Management, Sichuan University)

References:

[1] Su Hongyu. Webcast: There is danger behind burning money. Economy [J] .2016 (16): 50-53

[2] Zhao Liang. The network psychological performance and counseling of young students. Teaching and management [j] .2012 (36): 61-62

[3] Wang. De-individualization effect--psychological explanation of group deviant behavior. Forum of Association for Science and Technology [J] .2009 (6): 72

[4] Hu Xiaoyun, Xu Fang. Traceability of involvement in research. Advertising research [J] .2006 (1): 22-26

[5] Zhang F. Lively "network celebrities": Problems and countermeasures in the development of webcasting platform. China reporter [J] .20 16 (5): 64-65

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