If I’m not Streaming, I’m not Earning: Audience Relations and Platform Time on Douyin

Abstract

Abstract Purpose This article explores how platforms reorganize our sense of everyday life. The platformization of everyday life means a changing relation to what we do in our daily lives, not only in China, but in every country in which digital platforms are becoming more relevant by the day. Using TikTok in China as our point of departure, we discuss the role of platform time and the abstracted audience. Design/methodology/approach This study is a collaboration between Douyin of ByteDance, whose headquarters are in Beijing, and a team of researchers. Users with more than 10,000 followers were identified so as to select users who had sufficient activities and strong motivation to operate their short video channel. A survey questionnaire was sent to these users during one week in July 2019, and 2375 users responded to the survey. For this paper, after briefly reading the survey results, we selected 50 users for in-depth interviews. The users gave their consent to disclose their identity. In the process, ByteDance helped contact these users. Findings Based on the data, we discuss two concepts, abstract audiences and platform time, which helped us to understand platform–labor relations. We argue that while there is the illusion that audiences are closer than ever to the content creator in terms of engagement, at the same time, they are abstracted through platform analytics, meaning that they are reduced to statistics provided to content creators. Originality/value Rather than being liberated, creators are restricted by a new form of time that offers the possibilities of freedom within the confines of the platform. Rather than having fixed working hours, creators are self-regulating as streaming hours and upload times demand certain patterns to increase one’s following and make a living, while as creators, they must also try to understand their audience and the platform algorithm.