"I Am Concerned, But...": Streamers' Privacy Concerns and Strategies In Live Streaming Information Disclosure

Abstract

Live streaming is a popular synchronous social media platform that allows users to disclose information to vast audience in real time. It has been increasingly studied in recent years for its unique functions of disseminating user-generated content, enriching streamers' self-presentation, curating online social interactions and fostering online communities. However, little research has been done to explore the privacy issues in live streaming. In the present paper, we aim to understand streamers' privacy concerns and strategies in their information disclosure on live streaming. From an interview study with 20 streamers, we found that they expressed concerns and carefully managed their information disclosure based on whether the disclosure would enhance or weaken their attractiveness to the audience and whether it would disturb their interpersonal boundary with the audience. They adopted various technical and behavioral privacy management strategies to cope with their concerns, but encountered a series of usability and cognitive burdens. Based on the findings, we present design implications to improve the privacy management on live streaming.