Investigating social presence in “In Real Life” streaming for community building

Abstract

Watching other people share their lives in real time via streaming platforms, also known as In Real Life (IRL) streams, has gained popularity as a form of entertainment and a meaningful way for people to experience social presence and community with others. Our study focuses on IRL streams to investigate how the multiple dimensions of social presence (cognitive copresence, psychological involvement, and behavioral interdependence) with the streamers and other viewers are associated with community identification. Through an online survey of 423 IRL stream viewers, our study found that community identification is associated with different dimensions of social presence derived from the streamers and other viewers. Specifically, cognitive copresence was not sufficient to evoke a sense of community. Psychological involvement with the streamers and behavioral interdependence with other viewers were significantly associated with the participants’ community identification. The findings provide support for examining social presence as a multidimensional construct in studying online interactions on platform with asymmetrical affordances in which different groups of users have varying communication affordances.