The one-and-a-half sided parasocial relationship: The curious case of live streaming

Health Motivation in the Influencer Era: Analyzing Entertainment, Personal, and Social Media Role Models

This research explored how personal and entertainment role models motivate an individual's health goals, and how following a role model on social media affects this process. A survey of 404 adults revealed that identifying a personal role model, such as a family member, friend, or healthcare professional, had a stronger influence on health motivation in comparison to identifying an entertainment role model. Additionally, our findings indicated that following any role model on social media, whether a personal acquaintance or a celebrity, enhanced motivation. Role model attributes that mediated these relationships included perceived similarity, and in some instances, positive and negative norm deviance. This study highlights the importance of leveraging role model relationships in health communication campaigns and developing authentic influencer-driven health initiatives that feature relatable entertainment figures. Additionally, this research supports the need for further examination of how a role model's perceived positive or negative norm deviance influences motivational capability. We discuss implications for the motivational theory of role modeling, health promotion, and entertainment education.

Parasocial Interactions in Digital Tourism: Attributes of Live Streamers and Viewer Engagement Dynamics in South Korea

This study investigates the use of live streaming as a strategic tool in the tourism industry, with a focus on the attributes of live streamers that influence viewer engagement, particularly in the context of South Korea's digital landscape. The purpose of this research is to understand how the attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise of live streamers can affect the parasocial relationships-characterized by perceived friendship and trust-between viewers and streamers and how these relationships subsequently influence viewer loyalty and cooperation intentions. A quantitative research methodology was employed, utilizing a structured online survey distributed by a leading market research agency in South Korea. The survey targeted a diverse demographic to ensure a comprehensive analysis of digital consumer behavior in the tourism sector. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 28.0 and IBM SPSS Amos 28.0, employing structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized relationships. The results revealed that while attractiveness and trustworthiness impact perceived friendship, only expertise significantly affects trust for a travel live streamer. Furthermore, perceived friendship plays a crucial role in fostering loyalty to and cooperation with the streamer, having practical implications for the tourism industry in terms of crafting marketing strategies and training digital ambassadors. Th study extends parasocial interaction theory to the digital travel domain, providing original insights into virtual tourist behavior and highlighting live streaming's significant contribution to viewer engagement. This research has limitations in its geographical focus on South Korea, suggesting the need for cross-cultural studies to validate the findings. Overall, this study offers valuable contributions to the academic literature and practical guidance for the tourism industry, emphasizing the importance of digital personalities in post-pandemic tourism recovery strategies.

Parasocial relationship in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: A moderated mediation model of digital media exposure on political trust among Chinese young people

How to retain people's trust in the government becomes a critical topic during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research on media use and government public relations has proliferated in the past several decades. However, there is a paucity of research investigating political trust in the context of a public health crisis as a communicative process from a relational perspective. This study examined collectivism and parasocial relationships as two potential mechanisms linking digital media exposure to political trust in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. A sample of 465 Chinese young adults aged between 18 and 35 responded to anonymous questionnaires regarding digital media exposure to Nanshan Zhong, collectivism, parasocial relationships, COVID-19 political trust, and general political trust. The results suggested that the formation of parasocial relationships with Nanshan Zhong mediated the impact of digital media exposure on COVID-19 political trust and general political trust, respectively. Meanwhile, the indirect associations were moderated by collectivism. Through repeated exposure to news of Nanshan Zhong on multiple digital media, individuals with higher levels of collectivism were more likely to develop parasocial relationships with him, which subsequently resulted in increased political trust.

Monetization in online streaming platforms: an exploration of inequalities in Twitch.tv

The live streaming platform Twitch underwent in recent years an impressive growth in terms of viewership and content diversity. The platform has been the object of several studies showcasing how streamers monetize their content via a peculiar system centered around para-sociality and community dynamics. Nonetheless, due to scarcity of data, lots is still unknown about the platform-wide relevance of this explanation as well as its effect on inequalities across streamers. In this paper, thanks to the recent availability of data showcasing the top 10,000 streamers revenue between 2019 and 2021, as well as viewership data from different sources, we characterized the popularity and audience monetization dynamics of the platform. Using methods from social physics and econometrics, we analyzed audience building and retention dynamics and linked them to observed inequalities. We found a high level of inequality across the platform, as well as an ability of top streamers to diversify their revenue sources, through audience renewal and diversification in monetization systems. Our results demonstrate that, even if the platform design and affordance favor monetization for smaller creators catering to specific niches, its non-algorithmic design still leaves room for classical choice biases allowing a few streamers to emerge, retain and renew a massive audience.