Lonely anchor... Why did Li Jiaqi capsize? A lively live broadcast | E-commerce | Li Jiaqi
In the past week, the comments made by e-commerce anchor Li Jiaqi in the live broadcast room have sparked controversy, and related discussions have continued to dominate the charts, attracting widespread attention.
According to the 51st Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet Network released by China Internet Network Information Center, as of December 2022, the number of online live broadcast users in China has reached 751 million, including 515 million e-commerce live broadcast users, an increase of 51.05 million over December 2021, accounting for 48.2% of the total Internet users.
The huge user base, the stuttering top anchors, and the combination of factors have led to events fermenting faster and having a wider impact than many people expected. At present, there is no need to elaborate on the event itself. After emotional release, we enter the stage of rational thinking. What we are concerned about is what this "live streaming crash" actually means? What kind of warning and inspiration can anchors, platforms, and merchants gain from the incident? Can the bustling live streaming industry calm down and promote the construction of a healthy and complete live streaming ecosystem?
Two communication scholars shared their views.
On October 18, 2020, Li Jiaqi made an appearance at the headquarters of Li Jiaqi's live streaming, MeiONE Company of Shanghai Shangsheng · Xinsuo. Visual China Image Supply
Q: What issues have been exposed in the debate between Li Jiaqi and consumers about whether an eyebrow pencil is 79 yuan expensive or not?
Yan Feng: There is a professional concept in marketing called "fair price", which refers to the price formed by various buyers and sellers through communication and coordination, and mutually agreed upon by each other. In the incident, Li Jiaqi and the complaining consumer had different views on fair price. But this is not a cognitive difference, but a matter of individual actual income and consumption ability.
The specific income level of an individual is directly related to their ability, but it is not entirely a matter of personal ability, involving multiple social distributions and social equity. Li Jiaqi's erroneous use of confrontational interpretation not only fails to understand the emotions and complaints of consumers, but also harms the majority's perception of social fairness. This is his mistake.
Dong Chenyu: It was not easy for Li Jiaqi to reach his current position, but he may have had an illusion that his success was only achieved through personal effort. Whether in the live streaming industry or other industries, there are actually many people who work as hard as or even harder than him, but not everyone has received rewards.
According to the Statistics Report on the Development of China's Internet Network released in recent years, the scale and influence of e-commerce live broadcasting business are improving as a whole. Li Jiaqi, as the anchor, caught up with the rapid development of China's infrastructure construction and the dividend period of the national policy to vigorously support the Internet economy. In the era when video replaced graphics and text, and online social networking became more attractive, she came into the spotlight. He does have outstanding business skills personally, and his personal experience has been extensively reported by the media in the past. However, it is inappropriate to ignore the overall environment and only emphasize personal efforts.
He should understand that he is the one chosen by fate. Personal effort is a necessary factor for success, but not a sufficient factor.
On July 21, 2023, e-commerce talents returned to their hometowns to start businesses and add vitality. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Yu
Q: In recent years, there have been many cases of e-commerce anchors making mistakes, and it seems that we cannot simply understand them as "momentary carelessness"?
Yan Feng: The electronic communication context is quite complex. The cyberspace has disrupted the order of reality, with various people and voices, each with their own opinions. Foreign scholar Merowitz has long pointed out this point. Microsoft's female scientist Boyd even used "situational collapse" to describe the complexity of electronic communication. Therefore, adversarial interpretation of others is not acceptable.
Secondly, the information gap and knowledge gap between enterprises and consumers have actually become almost non-existent, resulting in today's almost transparent visibility of enterprises to the public. The enterprise, people, and character behind the brand and product have no mystery. The market is essentially not the relationship between people and machines in factories, but rather the relationship between people. If one does not understand others, they are not truly sincere market people.
Dong Chenyu: Live streaming is real-time. On average, e-commerce anchors need to output about 20000 words per hour. Continuous broadcasting for 6 hours means they need to speak more than 100000 words. If this happens every day, how many words do they need to say in a few years? It is impossible for ordinary people to maintain high emotions all the time, so it is also possible for the brain to crash when the mind is tense. But Li Jiaqi's slip of tongue this time is actually related to his predicament.
When the live streaming industry emerged, internet celebrity anchors had traffic, platforms controlled channels, and brand owners exchanged exposure through small profits and high sales. However, gradually, brand owners began to build their own live streaming rooms, and the bargaining space of top anchors was compressed. The previous "123 buy it" sales model was challenged. If it weren't for the "lowest price on the internet", how long would the anchor still be popular? The new game rules are being formed, and the IP of top anchors like Li Jiaqi will inevitably be affected. This backlash about "expensive or not expensive" may also be a breakthrough for him under long-term pressure.
On November 12, 2022, in Hengyang, Hunan, logistics and express delivery reached their peak after the Double 11 holiday. Shen Jizhong
Question: People come to live streaming rooms with different purposes. Some are driven by affordability, while others prefer the style of the host and enjoy the companionship across the screen. But for e-commerce anchors, the ability to promote products and commercial value are the manifestations of their industry status. In this sense, is a broadcaster a lonely profession? What kind of dilemma are they facing?
Dong Chenyu: Different anchors face different levels of loneliness. The live streaming industry currently follows the "19 rules", with 90% of broadcasters having few people in their live rooms. The loneliness of broadcasters stems from them almost speaking to the air. The remaining 10% of the anchors have popularity in the live broadcast room, but their emotions at work are largely performative and realistic. They are essentially "social network celebrities" who need to establish a "shallow intimate relationship" with the audience. When the anchor affectionately calls out to the audience as "pig girl," he is not talking to any specific person, nor does he know anyone offline. Furthermore, the encounter between the host and the audience in the live broadcast room is not natural, but data-driven. When you go to the live broadcast room, you will find that there are real-time data boards in front of them. Once the traffic drops, you will send a lucky bag to your family and grab it. How much of this companionship is spoken from the heart, and how much is emotional communication, everyone can also judge.
Q: The popularity of live streaming e-commerce has attracted people to compete for entry, and some voices believe that the threshold for anchors is too low.
Dong Chenyu: When the anchor comes to the live broadcast base, they will definitely be given a thick operation manual, which is a series of SOP scripts and procedures formulated to standardize the operation process and ensure work efficiency. How to preheat, create a scene, introduce products, interact with the audience, promote transactions, and what to say under certain circumstances are all predetermined. So ordinary e-commerce anchors are not communicating with the audience, they are more like "human language translation machines.".
I have interviewed some entertainment anchors, and among them, there are those who have transformed into e-commerce sales anchors. Although they also have the ability to grasp the audience's psychology, it is difficult to truly grow. Some people say that at the end of the day, they dream of Taiben, which is like repetitive work on an assembly line, and they are very tired. Hangzhou's live streaming base is well-developed, and many daily anchor groups have emerged. Whenever there is a shortage of people, they will be solicited in the groups. How much do you pay for a few hours of broadcasting per day? Please sign up. These anchors, to some extent, are "daily workers".
In a live broadcast room of a company located in Hangzhou, the host is promoting snack products. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Han
Q: What should a competitive anchor be like?
Yan Feng: Economist Xu Xiaonian pointed out that the most fundamental aspect of online e-commerce is not products, logistics, payments, etc., but trust issues in the virtual e-commerce environment. The implementation of consumption and other behaviors in reality is subject to various specific constraints, but e-commerce is not. It relies on the improvement of technology and regulations, but also on the growth of consumer experience and the understanding and grasp of the uniqueness of the network and social media space.
What is the core competitiveness of e-commerce anchors? We must return to the fundamental issue of establishing virtual trust in e-commerce. Establishing virtual trust with consumers is the core competitiveness of e-commerce anchors. How to establish this ability? The first is to enhance professional skills, the second is to establish a consistently good reputation, and the third is to establish an emotional understanding and control ability that is understanding and sympathetic rather than confrontational or authoritarian. Because trust starts with emotional and emotional understanding or empathy.
Dong Chenyu: A broadcaster with industry competitiveness and influence must not be replaceable at will, not a "word reading machine", but should deeply participate in the operation process, understand how to select products, how to negotiate with brand owners, and be familiar with the product itself. This requires anchors to have knowledge in economics and new media communication in order to master market and communication logic, summarize experience, and rely solely on mechanical texts and so-called intuition and talent is not enough.
Q: What is the warning of this incident for industry development and ecological construction?
Yan Feng: Creating a broadcaster persona with the highest common divisor is a shortcut to establishing virtual trust. But this persona cannot be an empty shell, it must have a full personality of ability, reputation, and emotional power. The reason why many anchors become popular for a while but quickly decline is because the MCN institutions behind them overly focus on the tool value and marketing tool value of anchors, but forget to cultivate their full personality. Internet celebrity institutions and e-commerce platforms should take this as a warning.
Dong Chenyu: With the development of the industry, I believe that the entry threshold for anchors will gradually increase, and the requirements for the abilities and qualities of top anchors will also become higher and higher. Building a healthy and sustainable industry ecosystem requires a process of "purification", gradually moving from "rivers and lakes" to "temples". How to change social cognition, so that people do not associate high exposure and high income with just mentioning anchors, but believe that anchors are a legitimate and dignified profession, which is very important.
