Modern society is undergoing general social change due to the rapid development of digital information and technological innovation. In human life, all markets where production and consumption take place are being digitalized and changing, and this ha...
Modern society is undergoing general social change due to the rapid development of digital information and technological innovation. In human life, all markets where production and consumption take place are being digitalized and changing, and this has been further highlighted by the COVID-19 crisis. In line with this social situation, the use of live streaming service, an online non-face-to-face service, has increased. However, most of the existing research literature focused on the usability of social live streaming services by producers, and studies on consumer characteristics were insufficient. In addition, it is now necessary to look at the online space from a perspective suitable for the digital age. In a live streaming environment where people with common interests can interact and form relationships, studies on which interaction methods and user emotional reaction methods can enhance the emotional connectedness and awareness of co-location have been limited.
Therefore, this study examines the differences in the emotional connectedness and awareness of co-location according to the type of empathy-expressing interaction (motion type, number type) according to a person's personal characteristics (self-expression tendency, self-exposure) and favorable sensitivity to a celebrity who is a broadcaster of a live broadcast. To find out, the experiment was designed and studied, and the results of the study are as follows.
First, it was found that the emotional connectedness was higher when the empathic interaction type (motion type, number type) was the motion type. In addition, in the user's emotional reaction type (type that can express various emotions, type that can express only hearts), the emotional connectedness was higher when it was a type that can express various emotions. In general, if the live streaming environment is designed so that users can express various emotions, and the interaction method in which those emotions are expressed is expressed through motion graphics, the emotional connectedness can be expected to increase.
Second, as for the empathy-expressing interaction type (motion type, number type), the sense of space in the joint was higher when it was the motion type. And the user's emotional reaction type (type that can express various emotions, type that can express only hearts) had a higher awareness of co-location when it was a type that can express various emotions. This is consistent with the research result that human social relationships are formed in a specific 'space', and that they are formed not only in physical space but also in a space with the meaning of converging various non-spatial aspects. And the memories of experiencing various emotions such as joy and sadness in that space have a positive effect by leading to feelings about the community to which one belongs, the emotions formed in relationships, and furthermore, the feelings for the space.
Third, empathy-expressing interaction types (motion types, number types) and user emotional reaction types (types that can express various emotions, types that can express only hearts) showed higher emotional connectedness in the group with high self-expression tendency. And when the empathy expression interaction type is motion type, the user's emotional reaction type (type that can express various emotions, type that can express only hearts) was higher in the group with high self-expression tendency, and when the empathy expression interaction type was a number type, the awareness of co-location was higher. User emotional reaction types (types that can express various emotions, types that can express only hearts) were found to be higher in the group with low self-expression tendency. Although there was no moderating effect, these results are similar to the findings of a study on personality types that showed that introverts with less self-expression prefer sensory recognition over intuitive recognition, they are much more likely to express and reveal themselves in the online space compared to the real space. It can be predicted that the context worked. In other words, we saw the possibility that people with low self-expression would be able to smoothly form social relationships and communicate emotionally in the online space than those with high self-expression.
And when the empathy expression interaction type was a number type and the user emotional reaction was a type that could express various emotions, the emotional connectedness was higher in the low self-exposure group, and in all other cases, the emotional connectedness was high in the high self-exposure group . These results indicate that self-exposure is an important factor in interpersonal relationships and has a positive effect on mutual communication.
Fourth, sympathetic interaction types (motion types, number types) and user emotional reaction types (types that can express various emotions, types that can express only hearts) do not have a significant moderating effect, but the emotional connectedness in the group with high affinity for celebrities was found to be higher. These results are consistent with the results of the emotion arrangement theory that emotional empathy increases when the emotions expressed by the characters in the media meet the acceptance criteria of the recipient.
And the empathy-expressing interaction type (motion type, number type) and user emotional reaction type (type that can express various emotions, type that can express only hearts) showed a higher awareness of co-location in the group with a high affinity for celebrities. These results were consistent with the Affect Congruence Hypothesis that interpersonal emotions have a positive effect on the formation of emotions in the space where relationships are formed.
In conclusion, in the live streaming environment, depending on the empathy display interaction type, the user's emotional connectedness and awareness of co-location are affected, and the user's emotional reaction type affects the awareness of co-location. In addition, there is a difference in the emotional connectedness and awareness of co-location according to self-exposure, and the awareness of co-location felt by users varies according to their liking for entertainers who are broadcasters of live broadcasts. The empathy display interaction type allows the motion type to feel higher the emotional connectedness and awareness of co-location than the numeric type, and the user emotional reaction type shows that the type that can express various emotions generally has higher the emotional connectedness and joint space than the heart-only type. A study result was obtained that showed a sense of space.
Currently, most of the live streaming platforms are using only one method of empathy expression interaction, either a motion type or a number type. However, it was found that the emotions felt by users differed according to the user's propensity and judgment criteria. Therefore, the empathy expression interaction type does not use only one type, for example, based on the motion type in which the emotional connectedness and awareness of co-location were felt higher. I think that composing the same design as the method will allow more participants to experience a higher emotional connection and awareness of co-location than at present.
As for the user emotional reaction type, it was found that the type that can express various emotions generally gives a higher emotional connection and awareness of co-location than the heart-only type. It is necessary to design so that users can exchange emotional reactions by configuring them in various ways to express both positive and negative emotional expressions. Therefore, live streaming platforms need a design that recognizes and considers such a situation, and this study is meaningful in that it can suggest a direction as an initial study.