“You can’t imagine how hard it is”: hardship streamers in live crowdfunding

Introduction. The combination of Live streaming and E-commerce also offers opportunities for people whose family members are severely ill, disabled, or old and facilitates their ability to raise funds by selling commodities and receiving virtual gifts. Unlike other streamers, hardship live streamer...

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Main Authors: Yueru Yan, Pnina Fichman
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Borås 2025-03-01
Series:Information Research: An International Electronic Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://publicera.kb.se/ir/article/view/47599
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author Yueru Yan
Pnina Fichman
author_facet Yueru Yan
Pnina Fichman
author_sort Yueru Yan
collection DOAJ
description Introduction. The combination of Live streaming and E-commerce also offers opportunities for people whose family members are severely ill, disabled, or old and facilitates their ability to raise funds by selling commodities and receiving virtual gifts. Unlike other streamers, hardship live streamers are driven by unique motivations and may employ distinct self-presentation techniques. Method. We analysed TikTok video clips and sales data from 14 male and female hardship streamers. Analysis. We used both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data, including topic modelling, sentiment analysis, and thematic content analysis. Results. We found that 1) hardship streamers used multi-modal cues to facilitate interactivity and authenticity, as they emphasized their hardship and promoted the product; 2) higher literacy level of the streamers and the use of a positive tone positively correlated with better sales; 3) hardship storytelling positively correlated with the time the audience stayed in their live streaming sessions; and 4) females focused more on their hardships, used a more negative tone, and talked faster than males. Conclusion. We provide a unique understanding of the effectiveness of self-presentation strategies used by marginalized live streamers in raising funds on TikTok.
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series Information Research: An International Electronic Journal
spelling doaj-art-9d2b3531a38c449ea701e51793c567b62025-08-20T02:58:18ZengUniversity of BoråsInformation Research: An International Electronic Journal1368-16132025-03-0130iConf10.47989/ir30iConf47599“You can’t imagine how hard it is”: hardship streamers in live crowdfundingYueru Yan0Pnina Fichman1Indiana University Bloomington, United States of AmericaIndiana University Bloomington, United States of America Introduction. The combination of Live streaming and E-commerce also offers opportunities for people whose family members are severely ill, disabled, or old and facilitates their ability to raise funds by selling commodities and receiving virtual gifts. Unlike other streamers, hardship live streamers are driven by unique motivations and may employ distinct self-presentation techniques. Method. We analysed TikTok video clips and sales data from 14 male and female hardship streamers. Analysis. We used both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data, including topic modelling, sentiment analysis, and thematic content analysis. Results. We found that 1) hardship streamers used multi-modal cues to facilitate interactivity and authenticity, as they emphasized their hardship and promoted the product; 2) higher literacy level of the streamers and the use of a positive tone positively correlated with better sales; 3) hardship storytelling positively correlated with the time the audience stayed in their live streaming sessions; and 4) females focused more on their hardships, used a more negative tone, and talked faster than males. Conclusion. We provide a unique understanding of the effectiveness of self-presentation strategies used by marginalized live streamers in raising funds on TikTok. https://publicera.kb.se/ir/article/view/47599E-commerce live streamingonline crowdfundingself-presentationTikTok
spellingShingle Yueru Yan
Pnina Fichman
“You can’t imagine how hard it is”: hardship streamers in live crowdfunding
Information Research: An International Electronic Journal
E-commerce live streaming
online crowdfunding
self-presentation
TikTok
title “You can’t imagine how hard it is”: hardship streamers in live crowdfunding
title_full “You can’t imagine how hard it is”: hardship streamers in live crowdfunding
title_fullStr “You can’t imagine how hard it is”: hardship streamers in live crowdfunding
title_full_unstemmed “You can’t imagine how hard it is”: hardship streamers in live crowdfunding
title_short “You can’t imagine how hard it is”: hardship streamers in live crowdfunding
title_sort you can t imagine how hard it is hardship streamers in live crowdfunding
topic E-commerce live streaming
online crowdfunding
self-presentation
TikTok
url https://publicera.kb.se/ir/article/view/47599
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AT pninafichman youcantimaginehowharditishardshipstreamersinlivecrowdfunding