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Ploughing digital landscapes: How Facebook influencesthe evolution of live video streaming

Katharina Rein, Tommaso Venturini

To cite this version:Katharina Rein, Tommaso Venturini. Ploughing digital landscapes: How Facebook influencesthe evolution of live video streaming. New Media and Society, SAGE Publications, In press,<10.1177/1461444817748954>. <hal-01672284>

Ploughingdigitallandscapes:HowFacebookinfluencestheevolutionoflivevideostreaming

KatharinaReinandTommasoVenturiniHOWTOCITETHISPAPERRein,K.,&Venturini,T.(2018).PloughingDigitalLandscapes.NewMedia&Society,Forthcoming.http://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817748954

AbstractInthisarticle,wediscussFacebook’sstrategytoinfluencethedevelopmentofanewcommunicationformatknownaslivevideostreaming.WetakethiscasestudyasanexampleofthewaysinwhichWebplatformsoperatetoharnessmediainnovationsandtheirsocialuses.ThecaseofFacebookLiveillustratesexemplaryhow,farfromdevelopingspontaneously,media landscapesareactivelyshapedbythetechnologicalandfinancialinitiativesoftheirmoreinfluentialplayers.Inthisarticle,wedescribehowFacebook’stechnicalinfrastructureandpartnershipschemeinfluencetheeditorialorganisationaswellasthestorytellingoflivevideostreaming.

KeywordsFacebook,livevideostreaming,mediaecologies,mediasystem,socialmediaplatforms,walledgardens

IntroductionItiscommonwhendiscussingthedevelopmentofmediatoemploynotionssuchas‘informationecosystem’or‘mediaecology’.AccordingtoScopus,theformerexpressioniscontainedwithinthetitle,keywordsorabstractofabout150scientificpublications,thelatterinalmost300.Thesecondexpressionhasalsocometodefineadistinctive,albeitheterogeneous,approachtothestudyofmedia.OneexcellentreviewofthedifferentbranchesofthisapproachcanbefoundinStrate(2004).Theseexpressions,andthetheoriesthatcomewiththem,havetheadvantageofdrawingourattention

to the complexnetworksof interactions that connecthumanand technological actorswithin themediasystem:the‘massiveanddynamicinterrelationofprocessesandobjects,beingsandthings,patternsandmatter’characteristicofhumancommunication(Fuller,2005).Theyalsoencourageustoreflectupontheway in which media constitutes a sort of secondary environment and how the ‘balance’ of suchenvironments influences the quality of collective life (Postman, 2000). Finally, they have the merit ofrefusinglinearanddeterministicmediahistoriesandreplacingthemwitharicherevolutionaryapproach,accordingtowhich‘theevolutionofmediacannotbeunderstoodoutsidetherelationshipsthatthemedia“species”establishwithinanecology’(Scolari,2012,2013:1434).Usingabiologicalmetaphortohighlightthecomplexityandinterrelationofthemediasystem(Logan,

2007),however,comeswithadistinctivedrawback.Oftenagainsttheintentionofmediaecologists,thesemetaphors end up naturalising communication technologies and presenting their development as anorganicevolutionemergingspontaneously fromthe interactionsofamultitudeofactors.Suchecologicalframing is particularly common when describing digital media, since the rapid and often unexpectedtransformationsseemtodefeatallcentralisedplanningandofferthebestexampleofundirectedevolution.Butthedecentralisednatureofdigitalmediashouldnotblindustothefactthattheirdevelopmentisin

nowaynaturalorartless.Surely,themediasystemcomprisesalargenumberofactors,butsomeofthemare more powerful than others and their strategies affect heavily the directions in which the systemtransforms.Theworldofdigitalmediasystemsresembleslessapristineecosystemevolvingfreelyundertheinvisiblehandofsocietyorthemarket,rathermoreacultivatedlandscapeinwhichnaturaltendenciesinteractwiththeinitiativesofalargebutnotindefinitenumberofinfluential‘gardeners’or‘farmers’.Amongthesepowerfulactorsare,ofcourse,theso-calledsocialmediaplatforms.Conceptssuchasmediaindustries(HavensandLotz,2012;Hesmondhalgh,2002)andcommunication

power(Castells,2009)arenotnew,noristheobservationthatlargemediaconglomeratescanplayacrucialrole in influencing the public sphere. Firsfarit observed in broadcastingmedia that such influence has

becomemoreandmoreevidentindigitalmediawiththeriseoftheso-called‘platformeconomy’(KenneyandZysman,2016)or the ‘platformcapitalism’ (LangleyandLeyshon,2016; Srnicek,2017).Colonisinggrowing shares of Internet communications, platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube haveprogressivelydisciplinedtheinitialspontaneityofonlineexchanges(Taylor,2014;Wu,2010).Farfrombeingneutralmediators,suchplatformsbringwiththemadistinctive‘medialogic’(VanDijck

andPoell,2013),whichpromotecertaineconomicandsocialarrangementsoverothers(Gillespie,2010).Adoptingacriticalstance,observershavestudiedhowplatforminfrastructuresencourageuserstoproduceandsharecontents(Boyd,2014;Jenkinsetal.,2013),butalsokeepthesecontentswithinwellorganised‘walled garden’where they can be captured andmonetised (Fuchs, 2014;Mandiberg, 2012; VanDijck,2013).In thisarticle,wewillprovidean illustrationof these ‘gardening’ (orratherploughing) initiativesby

discussing the strategy deployed by Facebook to harness the development of a new communicationstechnologyknownas‘videolive-streaming’or‘socialstreaming’.Wechosethisspecificcasestudybecauseit concerns one of themost promising innovations in the currentmedia landscape (froma commercialviewpoint,atleast)andbecauseFacebookispursuingaparticularlyaggressivestrategyaroundit.SincetheintroductionofitsFacebookLivefeature,theplatformhasvigorouslypushedthenewservicethroughitstechnicalandcommercialinfrastructures,evengoingasfarastotweakitsnewsfeedalgorithmstofavourlivevideo.What’smore,theplatforminitiatedanambitiousprogrammeofpartnershipswithtop-tiernewsproducers,andforthefirsttimeinitshistory,offereddirectfinancinginexchangeforsteadyproductionofcontentforitsLivefeature.Afterprovidingaquickoverviewofsocial live-streaming,wewillpresentourmethodologybased

on the analysis of press experts and of interviewswith Facebook’smedia partners, aswell aswithcompanies involved in Facebook’sMedia Solutions programme. Drawing on such sources, we willdescribehownewspublishers(bothtraditionaland‘pure-players’)areaffectedbyFacebook’sstrategyto influencetheemergingusesofsocialstreaming.Althoughitmaybeearlytoassessthe long-termsuccessofsuchastrategy, it certainlydoesnot fall shortof technicaland financialmeans.While itseffectsmaybetemporary,theyarealreadyverytangible.

Socialvideostreaming,thestateofthemarketLivevideostreamingcanbedescribedas‘theabilitytobroadcastvideotoaremoteaudienceintheinstantthatitiscaptured’(Juhlinetal.,2010).Whileapplicationsforreal-timevideotransmissionovertheInternetarenotnew(desktopvideoconferencinghasbeenaroundforyears),livevideoasasocialmediumisamorerecentphenomenon.Theearliestsociallive-streamingplatformswereintroducedabout10yearsago–withComVuPocketCasterlaunchingin2005,followedbyBambuserandUstream(Juhlinetal.,2010).Platformstypically offer the possibility to capture video from mobile devices and share them with an onlinecommunity,allowing‘peoplebrowsethroughlivebroadcasts,accessarchivedclips,andfollowandinteractwithindividualusers’(Juhlinetal.,2010).Suchinteractionsoccurmainlythroughtext-basedchatscoupledwithlivestreams,whereviewerscancommunicatewiththestreamerandwithotherviewers.Thecombinationofreal-timevideoandchatpromoteshighlevelsofengagementandconstitutesakey

characteristicofsociallive-streaming.DrawingonMcLuhan’s(1964)theoryoffidelityandparticipation,Hamiltonetal. (2014)hypothesise that the ‘hot’and ‘high fidelity’mediacomponent(thevideo)allowsuserstosharearichexperience,whilethe‘cool’,‘low-fidelity’mediacomponent(thechat)facilitatestheinteraction.Viewersconnectthroughunexpectedeventsandfeel‘partofauniquegroupofpeoplethatsawsomething special as it happened’ (Hamilton et al., 2014). The chat intensifies this connection byencouragingstreamerstoadjusttheirbroadcasttotheinterventionsfromtheaudience(Figure1).Despite its potential, social video streaming proved challenging for providers: although users enjoy

watchinglivevideostreams,mostofthemdonotbecomeregularstreamers.BenRubin,CEOofthelive-streamingappMeerkat,thinksthatboththeunfamiliaritywithlivevideoandthe‘highemotionalcostofbeingentertaininginaliveformat’arethemainobstacles(D’Onfro,2016b).TechmagazineRecodequotesRubininane-mailtohisinvestors:

BeforeInstagram,peoplealreadyknewwhatconstitutedabeautifulphotoandtriedtotakethem.Withlivevideo,noonereallyknowswhat‘good’livevideotheycancreateis.(RubininWagner,2016a)

Figure1.ScreenshotofaBambuserLiveBroadcast(Bambuser,2016).AccordingtoJuhlinetal.(2010),‘manyusersstrugglewithboththetechnologyandtheconcept’andend

upproducing ‘uneventful’ videos thatdisplay lowquality in termsofvideoproductionandcamerause.Consequently, although some videos fall into categories such as ‘video logs’, ‘tours’ and ‘social events,groups,andfamily’,muchofuser-generatedcontentconsistsof‘testsanddemonstrations’.Lefttoitsownspontaneous development, social live-streaming seemed unable to generate a sufficient base of activebroadcasters,whichcontributedtothefailureofmanysociallivevideoservices(includingMeerkat),thebusiness models of which were aimed at consumers. As publishing activity remained relatively low,numerousproviderscouldnotgeneratesufficientrevenuesfromsubscriptionsandadvertisingtobecomeprofitable(Wagner,2016a).Providersthatdidmanagetobecomeeconomicallysustainableeitheroptimisedtheirplatformstothe

needsofcommercialclientsandadopted ‘freemium’modelsorencouragedtheemergenceofnewnichemarkets(Kharif,2015).TheexamplesofUstream,BambuserandTwitchillustratethisdevelopment.Ustream offers a broad variety of services targeted at corporations, including professional video

production services, data analysis and strategic consultancy (Zimmerman, 2016). Though the platformremainedfreeforusers,Ustreamnowchargesmonthlyfeesfrommorethan5300companiesincludingSonyandLinkedIn(Kharif,2015).Inarecentpressrelease,IBMannouncedthatithadacquiredthecompanyandplanstointegrateitsservicesintoanewcloud-videounit(Zimmerman,2016).Bambuser,whichcommencedasaprojectdedicatedtocitizenjournalism,founditsbusinessmodelin

collaborationwithmediacompanies.Sinceitslaunchin2008,Bambusermadeanameforitselfasasourcefor eye-witness videos of political events, such as the uprisings of the Arab Spring. In 2013, the newsorganisationAssociatedPressinvestedintheplatform,explainingthat

through Bambuser, AP can source UGC video news live from the scene from eyewitnesses exclusively for itsbroadcastandonlinepublishercustomers.ThisnotonlyensuresthattheAPremainstheforemostglobalprovideroflivevideonews,butalsohelpsitscustomersovercometheirownUGCchallenges.(Lunden,2013)

Twitch,ontheotherhand,becameprofitablebyenteringthenicheofonlinegaming.Whilewatchingisfreeforallviewers,fanscanbuymonthlysubscriptionstogetmoreprivileges,suchasexclusiveaccesstothechatsoftheirfavouritestreamers.Withthisconcept,Twitchbuiltabaseof12,000professionalgamebroadcasters.Viaits ‘partnershipprogram’,thesestreamersgetashareofthe‘advertising,subscription,andmerchandisingrevenueTwitchcangeneratefromtheirchannel’(GilletteandSoper,2015).Meanwhile,Twitchalsoprofitsfromcollaborationswithvideogameandconsoleproducers.Itwasnotuntil2015,however,thattwonewapps–MeerkatandPeriscope–sparkedaboominthe

industry.ThenewmarketentrantswerewellreceivedbecausetheywereconstructedtointegratesmoothlywithTwitter, allowingusers to stream to their followers, searchTwitter’suserbaseandpromote theirstreamsviaTwitter’spushnotifications (Morrison,2015;Wagner,2015). Inan interviewwithAdWeek,BradHunstable,CEOofUstream,claimedtheexponentialgrowthofthemobilevideomarketwasanotherreasonforthesuddensuccessoftheapps(Morrison,2015;Statista,2016).Digitalvideoispredictedtobeone of the fastest growing revenue sources in the global media market, with the video advertisingmarketplaceshowingexpectedgrowthratesof18.75%perannumin(Statista,2015).Theimportanceof

video streaming in this regard is already evident. In 2014,Twitchwas the fourth-largest peak-InternettrafficsourceintheUnitedStates,surpassingevenFacebook(Popper,2014).Giventhispotential,itisnotsurprisingthatcompaniessuchasTwitter,Google,AmazonandFacebook

soonenteredthesocialstreamingmarketaspowerfulcompetitors.Meerkat,forexample,sufferedablowwhenTwitter,whichhadboughtitscompetitorPeriscope,announceditwould‘removeMeerkat’saccesstotheirsocialgraphinfavourof[...]Periscope’(Bacheller,2015).AlthoughPeriscoperemainsanindependentapp, its livecontent isnow fully integrated into themainTwitterapp.Videosshared fromPeriscope toTwitterappearinusers’TwitterfeedsinthesamewayasTwitter’snativevideo(Wagner,2016b).Meanwhile, in2015,Google launchedYouTubeGaming indirectcompetitiontoTwitch.Chromecast,a

deviceandappthatenablesuserstostreamcontentfromNetflixandotherproviderstoTVscreens,andanewpremiumsubscriptionservicecalledYoutubeRed,which iscurrentlyavailable in theUnitedStates,Australia, New Zealand,Mexico and SouthKorea, rumoured to roll-out in theUnitedKingdom in 2017(Ingram,2016;Titcomb,2016).YoutubeRed,anad-freeversionofYoutube,competeswithmusicandvideostreamingservicesalike:NotonlydoesitofferexclusivenewTV-styleshowsfeaturingYoutubestarssuchasPewDiePew,aswellasarangeof independentmovies, italsogivessubscribersaccesstoGooglePlayMusic,Google’smusicstreamingservice,andenablessubscriberstodownloadandconsumecontentoffline(Titcomb,2016).Moreimportantly,GoogleplanstoupdateitsYouTubeappwithalive-streamingfeature(Martin,2016).Thefirmhasbeenactiveinlivevideoforawhile,withitsGoogleHangoutsOnAirandlive-streaming via theCreator Studiodashboard on YouTube, but the new app featurewillmake live videostreamingmoreaccessible,asexplainedbyYouTubeproductmanagerKurtWilms:

Becauseit’sbuiltrightintotheYouTubeapp,mobilelivestreamingwillhaveallthefeaturesyourregularvideoshave–you’llbeabletosearchforthem,findthemthroughrecommendationsandplaylistsandprotectthemfromunauthorizeduses.(WilmsinMartin,2016)

As for Amazon, beside buying Twitch in 2015 for US$970m (Kharif, 2015), the e-commerce giantintroducedaPrimeserviceformoviestreamingandrecentlyannouncedthelaunchofAmazonDirectVideo,aplatformsimilartoYouTube(Ingram,2016b).Finally, Facebook,whose users already consume around 100million hours of video per day, is also

investingheavily into live-streaming (D’Onfro,2015). In2015, the socialnetworkstarted tooffervideoembedding,allowing ‘Facebookvideos tomovearound theweb’ (a servicepreviouslyonlyprovidedbyYouTube),andimproveditsvideoadvertisingservices,allowingcustomisationandtargetingbygender,ageandlocation(Rosenbaum,2015).Recently,Facebookimplemented‘Twitter-like’featuressuchasverifiedaccounts for celebrities, trending topics and hash-tags, to drawmore professionally generated content(Kafka,2013).However,withtheincreaseinprofessionalcontent,Facebookhasexperienceda‘21%declinein“originalsharing,”orpersonalupdates’(Griffith,2016).Thenewlive-streamingfeature,FacebookLive(Figure2), couldbenefitbothcontent formsas thenetworkclaimspeoplewatch livevideo three timeslongerandcomment10timesmoreoftenincomparisontoon-demandvideos(D’Onfro,2016a;Facebook,2016a).

Figure2.FacebookLiveapplicationforiPhone(LavrusikandTran,2015).Firstreleasedforcelebritiesandverifiedpagesin2015,FacebookLivewasfullylaunchedinApril2016

(Cohen,2016).Fromthebeginning,thenewservicewasactivelysupportedbyFacebook.Inanefforttoboostuser-generatedlivevideocontentproduction,FacebookrananextensiveadcampaignintheUnitedStatesandtheUnitedKingdom.TVandFacebookvideoadsdepictedsnippetsofrealuser-generatedlivevideostoraiseawarenessforthenewfeature,andeducationalout-of-homeadsshowedusershowtouseLive(Nudd,2016).Thesocialnetworkalsoputconsiderableeffort into integratingsocial live-streaminginto its technical infrastructure and promoting it through a change of its ranking algorithm (Constine,2016a).Recognising theexistingdifficulty forpublishers tobuild sustainableeconomicmodels for live-streaming,Facebookdecidedtosubsidisetheproductionofcontent.AccordingtotheWallStreetJournal,Facebook investedUS$50min livepartnershipswith140mediacompanies(PerlbergandSeetharaman,2016;Figure3).WhileYouTubehasbeenworkingwithasharedadrevenueandsubscriptionmodelforyears,Facebookhasyettofindawayforpublisherstogeneraterevenuefromtheircontent.Facebookisthus using the partnership programme to keep publishers interested in the feature until it finds asustainable way to monetise their efforts. In addition, the partnerships allow Facebook to gather asignificantamountofdatatoimproveitsfeatureandoutperformrivals.Eventhoughtheexacttermsofthedealsaresecret,theWallStreetJournalclaimsthat‘contractvaluesarebasedonpublishers’popularityonFacebookandthenumberofbroadcaststheyarewillingtostream’(PerlbergandSeetharaman,2016).

Figure3.FacebookLivemediadeals(PerlbergandSeetharaman,2016).

MethodologyTodescribeFacebook’seffortstoinfluencethedevelopmentofsociallive-streaming,thisarticledrawsonaseriesofconversationswithcompaniesinvolvedintheproductionofvideoforFacebookLive.Acorpusofinterviews and declarations was extracted from publications specialised in technology, marketing andbusiness,thencomplementedby10semi-structuredinterviewsrealisedspecificallyforthisstudy.Fiveofthemwereconductedwithsenioremployeesoforganisationsthat

1. ArepaidbyFacebooktouseitsLivefeatureandconsideredfrontrunnersinthequalityandquantityofthepublishedstreams,

2. Vary,fromtraditionalnewsproducerstodigitalpureplayers,focusedontechandentertainment,and

3. DonotoperatetraditionalTVnetworks(astheirexperiences,resourcesandobjectivesdifferfromthoseofnewervideopublishers).

Topreparetheinvestigation,twopreliminaryinterviewswerecarriedoutwithrecognisedexpertsinthefield:ProfessorOskarJuhlinfromtheUniversityofStockholm,andKurtWagner,senioreditoratthetechnologymagazineRecode. Finally, to shed lighton trends in themarketandexposepotentialbias inpublishers’ responses, two interviews were conducted with service providers of Facebook’s ‘MediaSolutions’programme.Grabyoprovidestoolstodistribute,manageandmonetisevideoassets,facilitatingthe editing and simultaneous distribution of live streams to various social media platforms. Telescopedeveloped‘LiveStudio’–anaudienceengagementtoolforFacebookLivethatenablesthedisplayofviewercommentson-streamandallowspublisherstoconductpollsason-screengraphics.Allparticipantswereinterviewed via video chat and telephonewith interviews typically lasting between35 and60minutes(Table1).

Table1.Originalinterviewsrealisedforthisresearch.

Organisation Informant Position DateanddurationPre-interviews Recode KurtWagner Senioreditor 4April2016–21minutes

StockholmUniversity OskarJuhlin Researcher 8April2016–43minutesPublishers NowThis Intervieweeaskedtobeonly

partiallyidentifiedSeniorvideoproducer 8June2016–34minutes

TheNewYorkTimes AlanHaburchak Seniorvideojournalist 21June2016–60minutes

TheVerge HelenHavlak Engageeditor 24June2016–32minutesMashable EricKorsh Mashablestudio

director8July2016–27minutes

Mashable EricKorsh Mashablestudiodirector

25July2016–32minutes

TheWashingtonPost MicahGelman Editorialvideodirector 9August2016–35minutesLivemediapartnersGrabyo GarethCapon CEO 17June2016–54minutes

Telescope JasonGeorge CEO 18June2016–39minutes

Co-producingnewsstreamswithFacebookIn the contemporary media landscape, publishers have to cope with fast technological innovations,changingconsumptionhabitsandan increasingvarietyof competitors.Socialmedia, inparticular,haveassumedagrowing importanceas sources fornewsandentertainment, especially foryoungaudiences.Worldwide,more than 25% of consumers aged 18–24 years claim theirmain news sources are socialnetworks,withFacebookbeingthemostcitedplatform(Newman,2016b).Tosurviveinthecrowdeddigitalmarket,publishersneednewpartnerships,astheproductionofthenewdigitalofferingsrequiresskillsandresources that traditional organisations cannot easily supply (Lindskow, 2016). Suppliers in this co-productionprocessincludecompaniessuchasGoogleandFacebook,whichcanofferabundleofspecialisedproductsincluding‘editorialtools(e.g.socialwidgets),measurementtools(e.g.webanalyticaltools),andadvertisingservices’(Lindskow,2016).EmilyBell(2016),DirectorattheTowCentreforDigitalJournalismatColumbiaUniversity,describedthe

futureofdigitalnewsjournalismasfollows:

It seemsmost likely that the nextwave of newsmedia companieswill be fashioned around a studiomodel ofmanagingdifferentstories,talents,andproductsacrossavastrangeofdevicesandplatforms.Asthisshifthappens,posting journalismdirectly toFacebookorotherplatformswillbecometheruleratherthantheexception.Evenmaintainingawebsitecouldbeabandonedinfavourofhyper-distribution.Thedistinctionbetweenplatformsandpublisherswillmeltcompletely.

SomeofBell’spredictionshavealreadybeenobserved:thenewsmediastart-upNowThishasshutdownitswebsiteandnowpurelyoperatesonsocialmedia.Alessextremeexampleofsuch‘social-only’contentdisseminationstrategiesisBuzzfeed’sfoodchannel,Tasty,whichbuiltupafanbaseof54.6millionfollowersonFacebookalone(Griffith,2016b).The developments described above offer news publishers the chance to enter markets previously

dominated by traditional television.However, the power of the newmedia partnerships often laywithtelecommunications providers, who serve as the new intermediaries in digital publishing (Simon andBogdanowicz,2012).Publishersdependon their infrastructureandcanhardly influence the conditionsunderwhichtheyoperate.Onecommonproblemisthatwhileplatformswanttokeepuserswithintheir‘walledgardens’,publishersneedtodrivetraffictotheirwebsitestogenerateadrevenue.Inthecaseofnewsvideostreaming,suchasymmetryisparticularlymanifestedas‘thegrowtharoundonlinevideonewsseems to be largely driven by technology, platforms, and publishers rather than by strong consumerdemand’ (Kalogeropoulosetal.,2016).Whilemostpublishers increase thenumberofvideospostedonFacebook,theystruggletopersuadeuserstoconsumevideosontheirownplatforms.Publishersarethusforced to invest in technology and staff to remain relevant, but are uncertain about their return-on-investment,associalnetworksdictatehowvideocontentcanbemonetised.AsthepublishersinoursamplewerepaidmediapartnersforFacebookLive,itisnotsurprisingthat,

whilesomeofthemhadexperimentedwithlivevideoonotherplatforms,theyalldeclareditwasthelaunchofFacebookLivethatkick-startedamoreextensiveengagementwithsociallive-streaming.Eventhoughthe network’s financial incentives and enormous audience size played important roles too, severalpublishersadmittedthatthechoicetouseFacebook’sservicewasduetotheirdependenceontheplatformanditsaggressivestrategiestopushthenewfeature:

WhenFacebooktellsussomethingisgonnabethenewthingwelisten,becauseyouknowwewanttokeepthatgoodrelationshipandgenerallytheytendtodictatewhatbecomesthenewtrendontheirownplatform.So,itbecamecleartousthatweshouldstartbuildingateamandstarttryingitout.(NowThispersonalcorrespondent,2016,emphasisadded)

Informantsfearedthatbyfailingtoadapt,theirofferscouldbesanctionedbytheplatform’salgorithm,asinMashableandTheVerge’sstatements:

IftheyfavourtheiralgorithmtopromoteLive,youmoveinthatdirection[...]It’sveryeasyforthemtoconvinceyou,becausetheyjusttaketheirplatformandsay‘here’swhatwe’regonnafavourtogetintothefeed!’(Korsh,personalcorrespondence,2016,emphasisadded)FacebookhasalreadygivenLivemoreprominenceinthenewsfeed...We’regoingafterthataudiencewithwhatwethinkisrightforthatmediumandnativetothatmedium.(Havlak,2016,personalcorrespondence)

Asshown inTable2,FacebookLive isnot theonlysocial streamingserviceusedby the interviewedorganisations.Mostpublisherstendtorelyonavarietyofdifferentplatforms,bothasstrategytodecreasetheirdependencyonasingleproviderand inaccordancewithpreviouschoices(e.g.TheVergeadoptedYouTube’s live feature several years ago, as they have a large following on the platform; forMashable,Periscope was the natural choice because that organisation is among the top publishers on Twitter.).However, in contrastwithFacebookLive,publishersadoptedotherplatformsgradually,dedicating lessresourcetothemandproducingsmalleroutput.Facebook’spaidpartnershipsdictate,onthecontrary,thatpublishersmustproduceacertainamountoflivevideos.ForNowThis,thenumbervariesbetween90and100monthlystreams(Scott,2016),whereasTheNewYorkTimes(NYT)producesabout120livevideospermonth(Spayd,2016).SuchhighnumbersencouragepublisherstobuildspecialisedFacebookLiveteamsandjumpintoaformatforwhichtheyhavelittleexperience.Thiscreatedunderstandablevoicesofconcern,forexampleinMashable’sinterview:

Unlessyouhaveapieceofcontentthatyoufeelisreallybreakthrough,inawayyou’renotthatinterestedintoomanypeopleseeingit,becauseitcouldhavenegativeeffects.It’ssoexperimentalthatwe’renotpushingitoutinadramaticway.I’dliketogettothatplace...They’repayingmanypublishers,andsoeverybodyisdoingtheirexperimentingorpilotingforthemataprettylowcost.Andyouknow,usincluded,you’reseeingsomemediocreactivity.[...]Theproblemis,youhavetohitacertainvolumetogetthemoneyfromthem.[...]Soitputsyouonatreadmillthatmakesitreallyhardtomakesomethingmoreconceptual.Youreallyneed todevoteresources ifyou’regonna(sic)begoodat it. (Korsh,2016,personalcommunication)

TheseconcernsrevealtheunprecedentedinfluencereachedbyFacebookontheproductionofonlinenews.For the first time in itshistory, thesocialnetwork left its roleofamerecontent transporteranddecided to pay chosen news outlets to use its

Table2.Platformchoicesforlivevideostreaming.

FacebookLive Periscope YoutubeLive On-sitestreamingTheWashingtonPost X X X XTheNewYorkTimes X X XTheVerge X X Mashable X X X NowThis X

features.SuchastrategyincreasesthedependencyofpublishersonFacebookandaugmentsrivalryonbothproviders’andpublishers’ sides.As thepublishersareobliged toproducehigheramountsofvideos forFacebook, they dedicate less resource to other platforms, which renders their diversification strategyrelativelyineffective.Evenpublishersexcludedfromthese ‘specialdeals’arepressedtoadoptFacebookLivetokeepupwiththeirpaidcompetitors(whoaretheleadersoftheirrespectivenewssector).Inturn,this encouragesproviders such asPeriscope andYouTube to findnewways to increase their value forpublishers.InarecentinterviewwiththeGuardian,PeriscopefounderandCEOKayvonBeykpoursaid,

Ithinkthat[forFacebook],it’saneffectiveandaggressivewaytoplaycatch-up,forsure.[...]It’simportanttomakesurewe’reincentivisingcreators.AndyoualreadyseeTwitterexperimentingwiththis:wehaveawholedivisioncalledNichethatworkswithcreatorstohelppairthemwithbrandsthatwanttosponsorcontentandhelpthemmakealiving.(BeykpourinHern,2016)

Inadditiontostrengtheningitsrelationshipswithcontentproviderswhileeffectivelyforcingthemtofocus on competing services less, Facebook’s strategy serves another important purpose. Fundingpublishersandreleasinganopenapplicationprogramminginterface(API),whichallowsbothsoftwareandhardware developers to integrate existing technology and create new solutions for Facebook Live, alsoallowsFacebooktocollectvastamountsofdata–datathatcanbeusednotonlytoimproveitsservicebutalso to practicably crowd-source ideas for new business models around live video. One example is

Facebook’s competitor, Livestream. Despite the fact that they operate their own social live-streamingplatform, they integratedandadapted theirmulti-anglecameraMevo toFacebook’splatformafteruserfeedbacksuggestedthatpeoplewishedtostreamtothebroaderaudienceofthesocialmediagiant (Ha,2016).Facebooknowbenefitsfromtheproductitself,thebenefitsitprovidesforFacebookLiveusers,andfromthedataaroundtheuseofsaidproductbymonitoringhowpublishersutiliseit.Ultimately,thatmakesitveryeasyforthenetworktodevelopnew, improvedhardwaresimilartoMevo,without investingtoomanyresourcesinalongtrial-and-errordevelopmentphase.

AdaptingnewsstorytellingtoFacebookThedependencyonplatformssuchasFacebookisreinforcedbythefailureofearlierattemptstointegratelivevideointopublishers’strategies.Afewyearsago,bothTheNYTandThePostinvestedinTV-styleon-sitelive-streamingbuthadtochangetheirstrategieswhenviewernumbersfellshortoftheirexpectations.In2013,TheNYTabandoned itsTimesCast shows,which featuredbreakingnewsandglimpses into thenewsroom (Bunz, 2010). In 2015, The Post re-launched its unsuccessful PostTV under the monikerWashington Post Video, replacing the lengthy daily live shows with ‘shorter-form original videos’(Raudenbush,2015):

PostTVhadastrategyoftryingtobetheESPNofpolitics.Theywoulddoshowsalldaylong.[...]Ithinkthatwasafundamentalmisreadingoftheaudienceandhowpeoplewatchonline.(Gelman,2016,personalcommunication)

The failuresofPostTVandTimesCast arenoexception.TheWall Street Journal,FinancialTimes,TheHuffingtonPostandseveralothernewspublishersalltriedtoproduceon-siteliveprogrammingbutendedup scaling down their initiatives (Welsh, 2015). Most of these initiatives tried to establish theirindependencebyavoidingdrawingonanexternalproviderforlivevideos.Thedrawbackofthisstrategy,however, was that it prevented publishers from benefitting from the network effects of social mediaplatforms.Consequently,partnershipwithFacebookofferspublisherssuchasThePostandTheNYTanopportunitytore-enterthelivedomainwithanewstrategyandalargeraudience.Despitesaid,poorresultswithlivevideo,allpublishersprofited,havingalreadyexpandedtheirstrategicfocusonvideoproductsawhileback.EarlierexperiencesleftpublisherswithfullyequippedstudiosandskilledvideoteamstobereinvestedinthenewFacebookpartnership.ThePost,forexample,steadilyincreaseditsinvestmentsinvideo since 2013, when Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, bought the company (Ciobanu, 2015;Kennedy,2016).Embeddedintodifferentnewsroomdivisions,thePost’svideoteamcomprises40people,and the outlet operates three professional TV studios (Raudenbush, 2015). In an interview forDigitalContentNext,MicahGelman,ThePost’sDirectorofEditorialVideo,explainedasfollows:

Wewant to change the perception of TheWashington Post as a legacy newspaper with video, to a video-firstenterprise,essentiallyre-imaginingTheWashingtonPostasavideodestination,notonlyonFacebookLive,YouTubeandothersocialmediasites,butalsooverthetopviaAppleTV,Roku,andFireTV.(GelmaninOzer,2017)

Mashable, whose focus on video has always been strong, recently made an evenmore drastic shifttowardsmovingimages,dismissing30(mostlyeditorial)staffmembersandannouncingthatitwill‘pivotfromhard-newscoverage’and‘focusonproducinglotsmorevideoabout“digitalculture”’(Kulwin,2016).Inapublicmemo,GregGittrich,Mashable’snewChiefContentOfficer,explainedthedecisionasfollows:

We’reexpandingthereal-timeteamandaddingvideoandvisualstorytellingcapabilitiesacrossallcoreareasofcoverage.[...]Ouryoung,socialaudienceisincreasinglygettinginformationbywatchingvideo,whetherthat’sonoursiteoronplatformssuchasSnapchat,Facebook,YouTube,OTT,Instagramortelevision.(Gittrich,2016)

Other publishers in the sample reported similar strategic adjustments. All interviewees deemed thedisseminationofvideosacrossavarietyofplatformsanddevicesasvital, andall reported investmentsspecificallytargetedtoFacebookLive,forexample,acquiringproductssuchasMevo,the‘firstcameratostreamdirectlyonFacebookLive’(Haot,2016)andmulti-angleset-upsconnectedwithFacebook’sAPIforhigher-qualityvideos.Interestingly,publishers stated they installed teamsdedicatedspecifically to theproductionof social

streams,ratherthandelegatinglivevideototheirregularvideoteams.ThePost,forexample,builtateamofsix,‘includingtheeditor,producers,andhosts’(Ciobanu,2016).TheNYTrunsateamofequalsize,whilebothTheVergeandNowThiscurrentlyemployteamsofthree.Theserelativelysmallteamscanproducealargenumberofvideosbysourcingadditionaltalentfromtherestofthenewsroom.ThiswasspecificallyimportantforTheNYT,whichusesitsFacebookLiveinitiativeasatooltoadvanceitsongoingtransition

towardsdigital. In a recent interview for thepodcast series It’s All Journalism, Louise Story, theTimes’FacebookLiveteamleadexplainedasfollows:

Alotoftimeswhenyouseefancythingshappeninginthedigitalspace,they’rebeingdonebypeoplewhoknowhowtocode,orwithalotoffancyequipmentandalotofskill.That’sexcitingtoo,butthiscanbedonebyanyone.Youshoot this with your cell phone [...] I know a lot of reporterswant a way they can get involved in innovation,experimentation,reachingouttoouraudiencesmoreclosely.Thisallowsforthat.(StoryinO’Connell,2016)

Thoughthesizeoftheseteamsmayseemsmall,oneshouldtakeintoconsiderationthatmostpublishersrunteamsofequalorgreatersizeforeachspecificsocialmediaplatform(Kalogeropoulosetal.,2016).ThechoicetosetupaspecialisedteamdedicatedtoproducingcontentforFacebookLiveisthusexplainedbythe need to adapt content, not only to the format of video streaming but also to the peculiar style ofFacebook’splatformmechanismsanduserbehaviour.Asfortherequirementsrelatedtovideostreaming,mostpublishersaffirmedthat,tofosterengagement,

contentmustbevisuallyexcitingandsuitableforinteraction,inlinewithHamiltonetal.’s(2014)findingsaboutthe‘hot’and‘cool’componentsoflive-streaming.Contentsmustalsohavesome‘freshness’tojustifylive transmission. The Verge, for example, mentioned using video streaming to present technologicalgadgetsassoonastheyarereleased,whileTheNYTstated,

Themostviewedlivevideosthatwe’vedonehavebeenaroundtheOrlandoshootingandthereportingthatweweredoingthere.That’sbecauseultimatelywhileFacebookisapublishingplatform,itstillhasthatsocialelementtoit.Sothesuccessofeveryvideodependsonthesocialcurrencythatthatstoryhasinagivenmoment.[...]Wehadalivevideowithsomebodywhohadbeenshotinthatshooting[...]anditwasthefirsttimethatanybodyreallygottohearfromsomebodywho’dexperiencedthatbreakingnewsevent.(Haburchak,2016,personalcommunication)

Eventhoughtherewasmuchgeneralagreementonthesecriteria,somepublishersseemedtointerpretthemmorestrictlythanothers.ThePost,forexample,pointedoutthatmanylivestreamswere‘uninteresting’becausetheygavea‘senseofemergencytothingsthatdidn’tnecessarilyrequireit’(Gelman,2016,personalcorrespondence).Specifically,theinformantreferredtoso-called‘talking-heads’formats,inwhichreportersdiscuss news topics with the audience. By contrast, NowThis found this format particularly interestingbecauseitallowedaudiencestodirectlyengagewithreporters:

Wehadoneofourproducers theotherday justdoingaQ&Awith theaudienceaboutRamadan, justansweringgeneralaudiencequestions.Wegotsuchgoodengagement,somanypeoplewatching.(NowThis,2016,personalcommunication)

Publishershavealsoexperimentedwithairingpre-recordedfootage.WhileFacebookdoesnotadvocatethispractice,nothingpreventspublishersfromlive-streamingtheirregularwebshowstoincreasetheirreachandexploitthechangesinFacebook’salgorithmtofavourliveoveron-demandvideos(MarshallandPerlberg,2016).Producing successful streaming content is particularly challenging because of the specific nature of

storytellingonFacebook.EmbeddedinthenewsfeedofFacebookorTwitter,videoscompetewithothercontent.Userscheckingtheirsocialmediaaccountsdonotgenerallylookforspecificvideos,butdiscoverthemthroughtheplatform–oftenthankstoauto-playfeatures.Theconsumptionconditionsprivilegewithshortervideos,lastingusuallyaround90seconds,offeringclearrewardsforwatching(Newman,2016a).However,becauseofthewaycontentdiscoveryworksonFacebook,streamingvideocannotrelyonsuchshortformats.UnlikeTwitter,Facebookisnotconstructedforreal-timecontent,andprioritisesarticlesandstatus updates based on parameters such as popularity and individual users’ behaviour rather thandisplayingrecentcontentfirst(Constine,2016a).Thesocialnetworkhasmadethreechangestohelpthediscoveryoflivecontent:Ithastweakeditsalgorithm,enableduserstosubscribetolivenotificationsandlauncheda ‘livemap’ofon-airstreams.Still,mostuserswillusuallydiscoverlivevideosaftertheyhavestarted.Hence,Facebookrecommendsstreamingforatleast10minutes,togiveaudiencestimetobuildup(Facebook,2016).LivevideoonFacebookisthereforesubjecttocontradictoryconstraints,asGarethCaponfromGrabyoexplained:

Ifyou’resociallivestreamingyouneedtocapturetheaudienceattentionquickly,becausetheyneedtoknowwhatthecontentisandtheyneedtoknowwhytheyshouldbothertostopscrollingandwatch–youhavetobequitecreative. It’s likeaheartbeatof interestingmomentsspreadthroughtheliveevent[...]becauseviewerscouldbejumpingintothatstreamatanytime.Youwanttheseheartbeatsofinterestingmomentsgoingthroughyourcontentsoyoucandrivespikesinactivity.(Capon,2016,personalcommunication)

Incontrast to linear television,where theclimax isbuiltupslowly, livestreamsmustkeepa leveloftensionthroughouttheentirevideowithvariousclimaxes.Whilecapturingtheattentionofviewersarrivingonthestreamingatanytime,publishersmustyettrytonotgiveawaytoomuchoftheirstorybeforetheaudiencereachesitspeakafterabout10–15minutes.AfewparticipantsmentionedaBuzzfeedproductionas an example for a live video that found the perfect balance between surprise, tension and reward.Buzzfeedconductedanexperimentwheretheyputrubberbandsaroundawatermelontoseehowmanyitwouldtaketomakethefruitburst.Withmorethan10.9millionviews,thelivevideoisamongthemostwatchedonFacebook(Buzzfeed,2016).Viewersknewwhattheclimaxofthevideowasgoingtobebutcouldstillwatchinexcitedanticipation,makingbetsinthecommentsectionabouthowmanymorebandsitwouldtakeforthemelontoexplode.ThelengthinherenttoFacebookLivevideoposesanotherproblem.Streamsarenotremovedaftertheir

completion and, according to the social network, two-thirds of their consumption happens in this on-demandform.Thischangeofconsumptionsettingisproblematic,aswhatwasengaginginaliveformatcanbecomeboringforcompletedvideos.Toaddressthisissue,Facebookhaslaunchedaso-called‘engagementgraph’:usingitsnew‘livereactions’feature,whichenablesviewerstosendvariousemojithroughoutthebroadcast,theprovidercreated‘avisualizedtimelineofwhenaLivevideoreceivesthemostengagement’(Constine, 2016b). This timeline allows latter viewers to skip to the parts of the video that caused thestrongestreactions.Thewaypublishersre-purposelivecontentisalsointeresting.Foronething,itreflectstheincreasing

shiftofnewspublishers’strategiesfrom‘purpose-building’(thetailoringofcontenttospecificsocialmediaplatforms)to‘only-building’(thecreationofcontentthatonlyexistsonsocialmedia).WiththeexceptionoftheThePost(whichavoids‘orphanvideos’notconnectedtoothercontent),mostpublishersdonotre-distributetheirFacebookLivevideosontheirwebsitesorothersocialmedia.Unlikeon-demandvideos,livestreamsaregenerallynotre-distributedsimplybecausetheyachievethebesteffectsonsocialmedia.ForTheNYT,thepracticeof‘only-building’isfirst,asthepublisherpreviouslyrefrainedfromproducing‘social-only’contentnotconnectedtootherpiecesofreporting:

AnewmovefortheTimeshasbeenproducingsegmentsandstoriesonlyforFacebookLive.So,IactuallyjustgotbackfromameetingwithareporterdoinganinterviewforFacebookLivethatwasn’tgonnaexistinanyotherformat(sic).Therewasn’tastorybeingwrittenaboutit,therewasn’tgonnabeaproducedvideogoingonnytimes.com[...]We’vebeendoingmoreandmoreofthat.(Haburchak,2016,personalcommunication)

However,thereweretwocaseswherepublishersdidexperiment–byconnectingsocialstreamstootherformats–thatweremostremarkableinourcorpusofstudy.TheTimesstreameda3-hourlivevideofromitsnewsroom,followingEditorCarolynRyan’scoverageoftheNewYorkpresidentialprimary(InsiderStaff,2016).Thepieceisanexampleofhowvideostreamingmayincreasetransparencyonreportingprocesses,anditisinterestingbecauseafterthelivestreamwasover,alinktothefinishedarticleonnytimes.comwasaddedtotheoriginalFacebookpost.Thisillustratesawayinwhichsociallivevideocanbeusedtodirectpeople back to the main publisher’s website – a tactic that could potentially balance the increaseddependencyonproviderssuchasFacebook.ThePost’scoverageoftheeighthDemocraticPrimaryDebate(2016)providesanevenricherexampleofconnectinglivecontentacrossdifferentchannels.The publisher co-hosted the event with Univision News (the most watched Spanish-language US

televisionnetwork)aspartofanextensivepartnership‘toofferdeep,authoritativecoverageofHispanicvotersduring2016presidentialcampaign’(WashPostPRBlog,2015).InadditiontoUnivision,CNNandFusionairedlivebroadcastsofthedebateontelevision,whileThePoststreamedtheeventviaitswebsiteanditsAppleTVapp.ThepublishersimultaneouslyusedFacebookLivetoreachaudiencesinterestedinfurtherin-depthpoliticalanalysis.Inover10streams,ThePostdelivered‘livebehind-the-scenescoverage,analysisfromdebatemoderatorsinadvanceofanddirectlyaftertheevent,aswellasreal-timeobservationsfrom Post reporters through the broadcast’ (Patel, 2015). In an interviewwith Digiday,Micah Gelmanexplainedasfollows:

It’sagreatopportunitytoshowwhatgoesonbehindthescenes.Peopleareinterestedinthatpartofthepoliticalprocess, and Facebook Live allows us to really dive deep in a way that we couldn’t in a traditional streamingopportunity.(GelmaninPatel,2016)

ConclusionThe future andeven thepresentof social life-streamingare far fromwritten.At the timeof this study,providers regularly announced new features and proposed solutions to some of the common issuesencounteredbypublishers.Afteralldatawerecollected,Facebookannouncedtheirfirsttestsfor‘mid-roll’

ads inLivevideos(Sloane,2016).Moreover, thenetwork introduced ‘waitingroomsandpre-scheduledbroadcasts’,whichmightdecreasetheproblempublishersvoicedwithdeferredstorytelling.Publisherscannow‘pre-schedulethetimetheyaregoinglive,whichwillallowFacebooktosendusersanotificationbeforethestreamstartssotheycanbewaitingwhenyougolive’(Tepper,2016).Forthemoment,however,noneofthesechangescallthegeneralfindingsofourresearchintoquestion.

By shifting news consumption off-site, publishers become more and more dependent on social mediaplatforms,subjecttotheirinfluence.OurcasestudyillustrateshowFacebookcanshapeprofitabilityandstorytelling of social live-streaming, both indirectly (by tweaking its feed algorithm) and directly (bysponsoringspecificusesofitstools).Live-streamingmaywellbethecurrent‘nextbigthing’,butitdidnotevolve naturally from consumer demand or product developments. Instead, live-streaming has beencarefullynurturedandcultivatedbythedirectmanipulationoftechnologyproviders.ThisdoesnotmeanthatFacebookwillbetheonlyactorshapingtheevolutionoflive-streaming,tobe

sure.Whileweunderlinethepowerofthecorporateinfluence,weshouldalsobeattentivetonotreifying‘TheSocialNetwork’.AsinsightfullyobservedbyHenryJenkinsandMarkDeuzeintheirintroductiontoaspecialissueon‘ConvergenceCulture’,digitalmediaarenowthetheatreofcontradictorytrends:

Theseshiftsinthecommunicationinfrastructurebringaboutcontradictorypullsandtugswithinourculture.Ontheonehand,this‘democratisation’ofmediausesignalsabroadeningofopportunitiesforindividualsandgrassrootscommunitiestotellstoriesandaccessstoriesothersaretelling,topresentargumentsandlistentoargumentsmadeelsewhere,toshareinformationandlearnmoreabouttheworldfromamultitudeofotherperspectives.Ontheotherhand, themedia companies seek to extend their reach bymerging, co-opting, converging and synergizing theirbrandsandintellectualpropertiesacrossallofthesechannels.Insomeways,thishasconcentratedthepoweroftraditionalgatekeepersandagendasettersandinotherways,ithasdisintegratedtheirtightcontroloverourculture.(JenkinsandDeuze,2008:6)

Our study of Facebook’s campaign to steer the development of live video streaming, however, hasrevealedyetanotherwayinwhichdigitalgardenerscanaffectdigitalcommunication.Besideinfluencingend users through the artful setting of their algorithms and interfaces (Cardon, 2015), platforms canestablishdirectpartnershipswithleadingcontentproducers,withthehopethattheirexamplewillestablishamodel for other users to follow. The implications of such findings are both reassuring andworrying.Reassuringbecausetheysuggestthatforalltheirmight,digitalplatformscannotimposebythemselveshowcommunication technologieswill be used andworrying because they reveal the growing financial andtechnologicalleverageoftelecommunicationsproviders.In the case of live video streaming, Facebook’s influence is particularly manifested. Through its

partnershipprogrammes,thissocialnetworkhasmadeitdifficultfortraditionalpublisherstoimplementtheir own strategies for diversification and power-balancing. While Facebook’s partnerships givepublishersthefinancialfreedomtotryoutaninnovativeformat,theircontractualclausedictatingthehighquantitiesoflivemonthlyvideosmakethismarketexperimentriskyinitself.InaSundaycolumnforTheNYTentitled ‘TooMuch,Too Soon’, Editor Liz Spayd reviewed theoutlet’s owneffortswith social live-streamingandconcludedasfollows:

Thesevideosrepresentapotentiallytransformationalformofjournalismbecausetheyletstoriesunfoldorganically,live,andwiththeaudienceabletochangetheexperience...Buthere’stheproblem.Afterwatchingcountlesshoursof livevideo in thepast fewweeks, Ihavehituponmanythatareeitherplaguedby technicalmalfunctions, feelcontrived,droneontoolong,ignoreaudiencequestionsoraresimplyboring,byIimaginemostanyone’sstandards...Ifyou’renotexperimentinginthedigitalage,youwon’tsurvive.ButthisexperimentveerssignificantlyfromTheTimes’pastapproachtonewjournalismforms.Thenewsroomhasshownthatinnovationdoesn’thavetoequatewithpoorquality...Thistime,that’snotthecase.It’sasifwepassedoverbetaandwentstraighttobulk.(Spayd,2016)

Funding

Theauthor(s)receivednofinancialsupportfortheresearch,authorship,and/orpublicationofthisarticle.

ORCIDiD

TommasoVenturini http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0004-5308

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