Live streaming has become a lucrative business for those who do it regularly. It’s also a way to build a tight-knit community. Among the biggest apps offering creators the chance to connect with their fans in LiveMe, and TenEighty UK recently had the chance to sit down with Ellen Liu and Conan Zhang to discuss the app and how it’s changing the live streaming industry.
TenEighty UK: For those who don’t know what LiveMe is, how would you describe the app?
Conan Zhang: LiveMe is a live streaming social app where people show their talents. It’s not like TikTok – we are purely focused on live streaming. People show their talents, [they] chat with each other [and they] network. They sing, they dance and people will send gifts to them. It’s more like a social app combined with live streaming.
Ellen Liu: I think, compared to other apps, one of the advantages that we have is that we have a very, very strong community because we have awesome creators who care about their followers, the people who support them. We also have a very loyal user base who’re dedicated to supporting their creators, and we have a very good team operating on both sides. [This allows for] a building of connections and relationships between communities.
We also have game-ified product features where users have the full experience: leveling, [getting] different rewards. They have badges, all this stuff they can gain from the platform. So it’s live streaming combined with a very good product and a very good community.
Photo Credit: LiveMe / Buffer Festival
TenEighty UK: How do creators and users rise up in levels?
Ellen Liu: It’s very customized. We have new people coming to the platform. We want them to feel supported and engage, and we have all different kinds of programs. For example, we have “New Star”, which is to support the newbies [who] arrive on the platform. We have lowered goals for them to hit. They’re in an individual category; people can see these are new people and network.
For users, if you support people consistently, that [will] help [you with] levelling up quicker. If you’re dedicated to certain activities, they will grant you a badge. We have like Gamer Badge. We have an OG Badge for people who have been on the platform longer. People go crazy for those badges.
Conan Zhang: We have direct sign, [where] people dedicated sign up with our agency. We have different agencies within the app. People come into our platform, they create their own agency, and we have our official agency and different [ones].
For newbie creators, if they’re highly credentialed, we have a Spark Badge, so, yeah, we [have] a bunch of different reward systems within our app.
Ellen: One of our strengths is hosting events regularly. We have competitions between agencies [where] agencies battle agencies. A few months ago, we had East Coast versus West Coast. They battled for how much time they [went] live and how [many] gifts they received, and it was super exciting. People love these types of activities. It makes them feel like they belong to a community.
Conan: It’s not like TikTok [or] Instagram where people purely want to take off and have a huge following. On LiveMe, it’s more about [being] social, making friends. That’s one of our major points, compared to our competitors. We have a very highly-connected community.
Photo Credit: LiveMe / Buffer Festival
TenEighty UK: Would you say that’s one of the reasons why you wanted to start the app, because you weren’t seeing this type of thing on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube?
Conan Zhang: Our CEO [Yuki He] was previously one of the founders of Musical.ly. Initially, they were just creating a social app. People would come here to make friends, and it gradually became a huge business. It’s not what we expected. People naturally form a strong community on our app; the origin [of LiveMe] is making friends.
We also have high quality content, that’s for sure, but it’s not like we’re forcing people. On TikTok, because of the algorithm, the content is promoted in a certain way. We’re promoting everybody – everybody can be a star – that’s the key point.
TenEighty UK: Would you say that sense of community is like a reason you’ve been able to grow so fast?
Conan Zhang: We’re not focusing too much on the monetization and follower count. We are like focusing on the creator.
Photo Credit: LiveMe / Buffer Festival
TenEighty UK: Specific for creators, you mentioned a couple of things that you offer that’s different from other live streaming apps. Is there anything else that you offer that’s specifically unique to LiveMe?
Ellen Liu: We have very good events that connect the community. We have a very good support system for both the creator side and the user/VIP side. We’re also always experimenting [with] new projects.
Conan Zhang: One of our highlights is we have a local event every month for our creators. It’s not like we only invite huge creators like TikTok [and] YouTube, we invite everybody on our platform, as long as you’re a user, you’re welcome.
We want to make online connections come offline. This past year, we’ve been really focusing on building local communities. We have [a] Chicago event and we have [a] Los Angeles event. It’s not like [we] only invite [you] when you reach certain level or anything. Everybody is welcome.
Community is very important.
TenEighty UK: What are you plans for the future? Do you have any new features in the works?
Ellen Liu: We really want to diversify our content, and we want to be on the forefront of new interactive content. For our interactive games, we implemented so [many] elements to intensify the competitiveness. Your agency, for example, if you like the stream like crazy, it boosts your car or it boosts your battle power.
The best part is that, for creators, it’s a great opportunity to monetize, because you can send all prize level gifts that give super cool bonus features. […] So we’re hoping to really combine the interactiveness and the game-ified elements into the streams to give our users and creators the best opportunities and experiences possible.
Conan Zhang: Our VP is promoting AI. They’re creating avatars and a technology to mimic [a creator’s] image, their voice and their tone to help them stream, so they can [keep] streaming while they’re having a rest. So AI is something we are [exploring] into next year.
Ellen: We’re making them into a super assistance tool. For example, they can help monitor your chat, help you draw people’s attention to the gifts that they give or, sometimes, even interact with the chat if you want them to.
TenEighty UK: What safety features do you have in place to ensure your app remains safe for users?
Ellen Liu: There are topics and keywords that we block instantly, and we also have very a strict moderation team, so if we receive any reports we will timely update that into the system.
Conan Zhang: We have 100 people live monitoring 24 hours [a day] all of the content on the platform to remove anything inappropriate immediately. Also, AI helps with the moderation, too. We’re working with AI to further help the safety in our app.
Photo Credit: LiveMe / Buffer Festival
TenEighty UK: Our final question is, why do you think people like live streaming so much?
Conan Zhang: Live streaming is one of the most profitable ways for people doing social media. No matter how many followers you have, you can immediately start earning money on your social platform via live streaming. Compared to TikTok and Instagram, where you have to be really successful to monetize, live streaming is different.
Another thing, I think, is interactiveness. You have the opportunity to meet your audience in real time [and] talk to them.
Ellen Liu: I think it’s the sense of community. In the live streaming world, when you’re online meeting people, there are very, very genuine connections built there. Somehow, it’s much easier than real life and [the] connections feel very, very genuine.
Another part about monetization, the stats are very, very flexible. We have people in all kinds of situations, so people are using this as a very flexible and very accommodating way to really express their personality and build a community around them to also support them.
Conan: You don’t have to be super good looking. You don’t have to be super skilled to be successful on LiveMe. You can be the average person. Be yourself, show your personality. There’ll be people supporting you.
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