Department of Business Administration International Business Program Degree Project, 30 Credits, Spring 2020 Supervisor: Galina Biedenbach

(1)

Department of Business Administration International Business Program

(2)

2.11 Conceptual Model ... 22 3. Scientific Methodology ... 24 3.1 Ontology ... 24 3.2 Epistemology ... 24 3.3 Research Approach ... 25 3.4 Research Design ... 26 3.5 Pre-understandings ... 27 3.6 Literature search ... 28 3.7 Choice of Theories ... 28 4. Practical Method ... 31 4.1 Data Collection ... 31 4.2 Sampling ... 33 4.3 Transcribing ... 35 4.4 Thematic Analysis ... 35 5. Empirical Findings ... 37 5.1 Profiles of Interviewees ... 37 5.2 Personal Branding ... 38

5.3 Virtual Third Places ... 40

(3)

5.5 Customer Delight and Customer Satisfaction ... 44

5.6 Loyalty ... 45

5.7 Diffusion of Information ... 46

5.8 Motivations to Watch / Stream ... 47

5.9 Personality ... 48

6. Analysis and Model Discussion ... 50

6.1 Thematic Network Analysis ... 50

6.2 Personal Branding ... 52

6.3 Virtual Third Places ... 53

6.4 Customer Satisfaction and Delight ... 54

6.5 Brand Loyalty ... 55

6.6 Model Discussion ... Error! Bookmark not defined. 7. Conclusion ... 57

7.1 General conclusions ... 57

7.2 Theoretical contribution ... 58

7.3 Implications for Streamers ... 58

7.4 Societal Implications ... 59

7.6 Truth Criteria ... 59

7.7 Limitations and Future Research ... 61

Reference List ... 62

(4)

(5)

ABSTRACT

Personal branding has been central to the marketing field of study for the past few decades, as its flexibility has found a place in professional, academic, and social contexts. The relationship between loyalty and customer satisfaction has been explored throughout existing literature, where the concept of customer delight, or the act of exceeding customer expectations, has recently been the subject of many conversations regarding its effects on loyalty.

The main purpose of this thesis is to develop a deeper understanding of the role that personal branding plays in relation to brand loyalty in the context of a virtual third place. We aimed to explore the outcomes of customer satisfaction and customer delight as the viewer’s emotional ties to the streamer’s brand, and their sense of belonging to the virtual third place assist in meeting and exceeding their expectations, and how these ultimately impact their desire to support the streamer. Personal branding, its effect on customer satisfaction and delight, and the outcome of loyalty can be of interest to streamers, and the attributes fostered in virtual third places can be important for society in general.

We identified a research gap in terms of live streaming in connection to personal branding, as well as the concept of virtual third places being rather unexplored. There is a need to research the outcomes of personal branding in the form of loyalty and customer satisfaction and delight, as the digital context we live in has opened the possibility to pursue a variety of careers, one being live streaming, shaped by one’s personal brand.

We have conducted a qualitative study in order to achieve the purpose of this thesis. We conducted a total of eleven semi-structured interviews with both streamers and viewers on the live streaming platform Twitch.tv. Through these interviews we gain deeper understanding on the central role that personality plays in a streamer’s personal brand, and how it is the leading driver for community interaction and engagement, as well as entertainment of viewers. The themes identified in our thematic network analysis were personal branding, virtual third places, customer satisfaction and delight, and brand loyalty. Our findings were summarized in a table that showcases the role of personality, as well as on a conceptual model that describes the interactions between each of the aforementioned themes.

(6)

1. Introduction

In this chapter we begin our thesis by explaining the way in which we selected the topic for our degree project. We then present the problems we have encountered and provide a brief background for the theories we have chosen as the groundwork for our thesis. We will conclude this chapter by stating our research question and the purpose that guides us throughout the thesis.

1.1 Choice of Subject

We are two students of the Umeå School of Business, Statistics and Economics, in the fourth and final year of the International Business Program. Marco Guzman has experience in both the food industry as well as in the service and retail industry and an academic background in business development and entrepreneurship, whereas Marcus Widell has had work experience in the pharmaceutical industry in a marketing context. In addition to this, Marcus Widell has written a bachelor’s thesis on the effects of sponsorship in esports.

To find a research topic, we decided to frame a shared hobby in a business administration context. From this, we decided to look at live-stream broadcasters to investigate the ways personal branding enables customer loyalty, satisfaction, and delight to come together in the online communities that we both know and frequent. We believe this topic to be important since the amount of research in this specific area is very limited, even though live streaming has seen immense growth in recent years. In addition, significant amounts of value have begun moving from corporate sponsors and viewers to broadcasters which has prompted us to investigate the subject of live streaming. With this research, we hope to identify the aspects of personal branding that influences loyalty, satisfaction, and delight for broadcasters to cultivate within the virtual third places they manage in order to enable their success. From this, we hope to contribute to the gap in knowledge, as well as generating theoretical and practical implications for Twitch.tv broadcasters.

To investigate our research topic, we will utilize branding theories, focusing on personal branding, and explore customer loyalty through satisfaction and delight, as well as ground these in the context of the sociological concept of “third places”. These theories should allow us to investigate the online communities with a business perspective and thus make contributions to the realm of knowledge for live streaming.

1.2 Problem Background

Live streaming is a unique form of social media characterized by its communication dynamics that combine highly precise video and graphics with text-based communication channels (Hamilton et al., 2014, p. 1315), with a majority of live streams being based around the playing of video games. At the time of writing, the biggest live streaming platform in the western market is Twitch.tv (also known solely as “Twitch), which has seen strong and steady growth since 2015 (TwitchTracker a, 2020) and thus was chosen to provide the empirical context for our study.

(7)

are free to stream almost whatever they like, whether it is a hot new game, a workout session, or even them walking around in real life. Streamers can categorise their stream which allows potential viewers to sort through the sites and pick what they would like to view.

In a research paper by Sjöblom and Hamari (2016) the authors conducted an online survey and managed to obtain 1097 responses. From these responses, the authors were able to visualize the demographic makeup of live streaming viewers. Unsurprisingly, 92.3% of the respondents were male, with the average age being 22 years old. A majority of these respondents were students (57.1%), followed by full-time workers (22.4%), the unemployed (10.3%), and lastly part-time workers (8.5%) (Sjöblom and Hamari, 2016 p. 989). Knowing the demographic makeup of the average Twitch viewer allows streamers to cater their content to these average viewers, as well as helping us as researchers understand who we will be studying.

On these streaming platforms there exist many different types of streamers. One type of streamer is someone who streams one specific game that they are known for. For example, a professional League of Legends (one of the most popular video games on Twitch.tv at the moment) player would solely stream League of Legends to viewers who either enjoy watching the streamer specifically or watch for information on how to play the game better. Another type of streamer is known as a ‘variety streamer’, someone who streams a variety of games or content (Marsden, 2019). These types of streamers usually attract viewers with their personality as viewers come to watch and interact with them instead of watching for the specific game they are playing. This wide array of profiles that streamers can slot into emphasizes the importance that personal branding has in the industry, as their need to position themselves in a way that clearly communicates and showcase who they are (Philbrick and Cleveland, 2015 p. 183) to the potential viewers that frequent the platform is paramount to their success.

(8)

in terms of viewership and subscribers. This rise-to-fame can be attributed to Ninja streaming Fortnite, which gained mainstream recognition in late 2017. From there, Ninja managed to amass 188,000 subscribers (with each subscriber paying at least $4.99 each month) in 2018 (Leslie and Byers, 2020), with his average viewership peaking in April 2018 at 110,091 concurrent average viewers (TwitchTracker c, 2020). One of the reasons Ninja became so famous was because of his personality on stream and his immense level of talent in Fortnite. In addition to this, Ninja’s stream was very child friendly which attracted both a teenage and young adult viewership and a multitude of sponsors. With this ‘brand’, Ninja managed to secure sponsorship deals with Adidas, Microsoft, Hershey’s, Uber, and Red Bull (SponsorPitch - Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, 2020), as well as an exclusivity deal with Twitch.tv’s rival Mixer which is rumoured to be valued around $20 - $30 million over three years (Shaw and Kharif, 2019). Digital transformation is a branch of digitalization that emphasizes not just the adoption of digital alternatives to simplify work, but the reframing of core business operations through digital means that ultimately affect the products, processes, and even structure of an organization (Matt et al., 2015). According to International Data Group (IDG), as of 2018 89% of organizations have or are aiming to adopt a digital-first strategy. When surveyed, the respondents made clear that digitalizing their organization was a complex process, but that it ultimately aimed to affect many areas of business from meeting customer expectations to enabling productivity and management (IDC, 2018, p. 2-3).

A core aspect of Twitch.tv and other streaming platforms is the chat feature, which allows viewers to interact with both the streamer and other viewers. This helps create a type of online community where people come to socialize with other like-minded individuals, and for many people it is the main reason they enjoy watching and participating in live streams. Gros et al., (2017) outlines the main reasons as to why people watch live-streamed content. Their research concluded the three main motivations are entertainment, information, and socialization. This helps prove that the viewers of live-streamed content see the live streaming platforms as both a place to view media but also as a space to socialize and seek genuine human interaction. Dux (2018) introduces the idea that viewers believe Twitch.tv is a virtual adaptation of a third place, a space that harbors sociability, non-discursive communication, and social leveling (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982), where viewers pursue gratification not only through specific streams but also the atmosphere of the stream and the chat created by the streamer.

We believe that due to the amount of people that use Twitch.tv, there is a need for more research so that consumers, content producers (streamers), and Twitch.tv itself can understand the industry to a better degree. To help prove this point, Shapiro and Aneja (2018) conducted a study on American Twitch streamers and their earnings. The results show that the streamers earned approximately $67 million in 2016 and approximately $87 million in 2017, a 30% increase (Shapiro and Aneja 2018). This shows the sheer amount of money that moves through Twitch.tv to American Twitch streamers alone, not mentioning the earnings for the non-American streamers on the platform.

1.3 Twitch.tv

(9)

Twitch.tv was founded in 2011 as a spin-off of Justin.tv, as the gaming audience within it grew to the extent where it was taking over the general interest streaming platform (Truong, 2014). Justin.tv, the parent company, shut down in 2014 and Twitch.tv was acquired by Amazon soon after for $970 Million (Kim, 2014). We have chosen TwitchTracker as our source of statistics since it is the most reliable statistical tool for Twitch.tv, as it obtains live data directly from Twitch’s network (through API access). Twitch.tv has dominated the western live streaming market ever since its acquisition, exhibiting tremendous growth over the latter half of the past decade, reaching an average of 1.26 Million concurrent viewers by the end of 2019 (TwitchTracker a, 2020). Twitch.tv has roughly 50 thousand unique live channels at any given time, and over 3.5 Million active monthly broadcasters (TwitchTracker a, 2020). Last year alone Twitch.tv totalled 660 billion minutes watched, which represents an 18% increase from 2018 (TwitchTracker a, 2020). This growth is rather impressive due to the massive increase between years 2017 and 2018, where Twitch.tv’s audience skyrocketed by 58% mostly due to the burst in popularity of Fortnite, a videogame that became extremely popular among young teenagers in the beginning of 2018 (Fortnite player Count, 2020). As recently as January 2020, Twitch.tv peaked in monthly viewers at 1.36 Million, and broke the 1 billion hours watched in a single month milestone (TwitchTracker a, 2020). All of this indicates that the industry, or Twitch.tv at the very least, is still experiencing rapid growth.

To explain the industry’s financial relevance, we looked at a study by Shapiro and Aneja (2018) where they estimate the earnings of U.S. content creators on several platforms, one of which is Twitch, over 2016 and 2017. While there are no direct financial statements available for Twitch.tv as they are a private company and within Amazon’s portfolio of companies, we believe that showcasing the amount of revenue generated through Twitch.tv as a platform brings some insight to the overall value that it generates. This study also only considered U.S. content creators, and while Twitch.tv is a very popular platform throughout the Western world, the U.S. is certainly where most of their audience resides. According to SimilarWeb, a popular online tool that measures a wide selection of attributes of the digital world, at least 36% of traffic comes from the U.S. (measured at 11:08 CET) and reach as high as 53% during peak hours (measured at 22:12 CET) (Similarweb.com, 2020). During 2016 content creators on Twitch.tv earned an estimate of $67 Million, which grew by roughly 30% the next year, nearing $87 Million (Shapiro and Aneja, 2018). This study encompasses data from 2016 and 2017, which, as mentioned above, is one year before the huge growth Twitch.tv experienced due to the upsurge in popularity of Fortnite, which certainly propelled many content creators into stardom, and therefore the revenue generated by them through Twitch.tv is definitely much higher.

(10)

screen mode (Appendix 2). There is also a live chat to the right of the stream where viewers can interact with other viewers and the streamer (Appendix 2).

1.4 Research Problem and Gaps

The live streaming platform (LSP) industry is in its infancy, and so the existing body of knowledge is rather scarce. Past papers and studies have attempted to evaluate the relevance of the industry whether it is by observing competition develop (Recktenwald and Yiwei, 2016) or through the relationship between broadcasted events, such as tournaments and game releases, and viewership and interest spikes (Kaytoue et al., 2012). Twitch.tv has also been studied through a use gratification lens (Gros et al., 2017; Dux, 2018) to explain viewer behavior in small, medium, and large sized streams. Online communities have been observed for well over a decade (Soukup, 2006; Duchenaut et al., 2007; Halvorson, 2010), which has led to sound arguments to explain the shared qualities between them and third places, resulting in literature that expands on the idea of virtual third places and the positive effects often attributed to traditional ones (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982).

Based on the proven relevance and expected growth of the live streaming industry, we attempt to bridge the theoretical gap between the focal point of a stream, in other words the streamer, and the community that surrounds them. We expect to achieve this by introducing traditional business concepts such as branding (Kotler, 1991; Keller, 1993; Schwarzkopf, 2008), specifically personal branding (Vitberg, 2010; O’Brien, 2011; Philbrick and Cleveland, 2015), to explain how they influence customer loyalty (Jacoby and Kyner, 1973; Fournier and Yao, 1997; ), satisfaction ( Oliver et al., 1981, 1997; Fornell et al., 1983, 1994), and delight (Barnes et al., 2016), within the context of virtual third places (Soukup, 2006; Duchenaut et al., 2007; Halvorson, 2010). The central role of personal branding when it comes to differentiation and applying branding tools to one’s own persona (Peters, 1997) in a platform with thousands of streamers, combined with the communicative and highly interactive nature of live streaming can help build genuine ties between the streamer’s brand and the customer (Gounaris and Stathakopoulos, 2004, p. 300) and lead to loyalty through both meeting and exceeding the viewers expectations, which refers to customer satisfaction (Oliver et al., 1997) and delight (Barnes et al., 2016). In doing so we will provide an analysis that evaluates the intricate interactions between the main actors in the industry in an attempt to further the knowledge on how virtual third places are perceived by both viewers and streamers and where the value lies for either party. We will also address the current gap in literature regarding streamers as media personalities and the qualities that make a successful streaming career.

(11)

difference between the ‘traditional’ social media influencer personas and the persona that live stream broadcasters portray in an attempt to build a viewer base.

The existing literature on personal branding pertains mostly to personal branding in the context of a professional personal brand for oneself with the intention of selling oneself and their skills to corporations. The research paper by Philbrick & Cleveland (2015) discusses the way one should brand themselves and even lays out a 6-step process in which personal branding should be accomplished. The authors summarize their research by concluding the effects of personal branding. They posit that a strong personal brand should help communicate the things that make an individual special and valuable to a firm and will help them stand out against the competition. Vitberg (2010) also discusses personal branding in the professional context where he outlines three distinct steps for developing a successful personal brand; “(1) develop individualized and customized personal branding plans, (2) commit, measure, and adjust, (3) transferring goodwill” (Vitberg, 2010, p. 42). Vitberg’s (2010) conclusion is similar that of Philbrick & Clevenland (2015) where a properly managed personal brand will help communicate the person’s skills, characteristics and values, and experience in a way that catches the eyes of potential employers.

Another paper by Labrecque et al., (2015) investigates the ways in which people manage their online personal brand with a social media specific context. The conclusions of their paper are that, firstly, personal branding is unavoidable in an online environment due to the nature of both social media and branding (in the sense that whatever information, whether it is a text post, video, or photo, is posted by a user is then viewed by other users which informs their perception about that user). The authors also state that users face a never-ending battle between putting out information to other users and limiting the divulgence of sensitive information. The concepts of insufficient branding and misdirected branding are also introduced, where one's professional and/or social status could be damaged through the information they share online. Lastly, the authors found that for most people, managing both a social brand and professional brand has become increasingly difficult without the proper tools at their disposal.

Finally, we have a study by Chih-Ping Chen (2013) that investigates personal branding in the context of YouTube content creators. This study stands out as most studies discuss personal branding in a professional setting, whereas the author of this study investigates personal branding from a ‘personal’ perspective. The findings of the study state that individuals engage in personal branding activities, both explicitly and implicitly, through the content they create and upload to YouTube. The creation of the content-creator’s personal brand evolves from “strategic self-presentation to project a desired self-impression” (Chih-Ping Chen, 2013 p. 345). From these ‘brands’ that the content creators have established, they attract consumers and thus build their community with those who consume their content, which forms a symbiotic relationship between the content creator and the audience.

(12)

Third places refer to a space “where people gather primarily to enjoy each other’s company” (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982, p. 269). These places are meant to provide stimuli that an individual lacks in their first and second places, homes, and workplaces respectively. It is a sociological concept coined in the early 1980s by Oldenburg, and has been further developed, explained, and analyzed ever since, and it has become a cornerstone to many community-centered studies. There are several qualities attributed to a third place, namely a leveled social ground that guarantees genuine interactions between its members, non-discursive, spontaneous, and unpredictable dialogue that provides novelty and diversity, and a playful atmosphere that endorses sociability (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982). Criticism of their work does exist, as social leveling is extremely difficult to achieve, and an environment that welcomes and endorses anyone is too optimistic. The idea behind third places remains strong and is very much relevant to this day, but the elitist nature of Oldenburg’s original concept has faded significantly.

Third place literature has set the ground for more modern academics to explore online communities through its lense. Soukup (2006) aims to break down the arguments against online communities being referred to as virtual third places. The physical locality that exists in traditional third places, as well as the non-discursive nature of conversation are the two main obstacles that online communities have to overcome in order to be accepted as third places. Firstly, Soukup (2006) argues that the locality of a virtual third places lies in both the platform they are built within, as well as the general interest that ties the community together as the community can agree for them to take the symbolic role of “location”, instead of a physical location like with traditional third places (Soukup, 2006) . Secondly, he rebuttals the notion that if a third place was to have an interest as its “location”, it will inherently exclude anyone who does not partake in it. However, the same phenomenon takes place physically in traditional third places, where small town taverns often are not endorsing, and even exclude, travelers from a metropolis (Soukup, 2006). By arguing for the qualities that online communities have and drawing similarities to the earliest, most elitist form of third places, we highlight the ability of social leveling that comes with anonymity on the Internet, and the accessibility to them in today’s age, two qualities that are considered central to traditional third places. As a result, this helps us to transition from traditional to virtual third places.

Virtual third places are often born in gaming settings. Many players in online games come together within its virtual world and create virtual third places. Previous studies have connected these virtual third places to Oldenburg’s work by addressing the similarities between the two (Duchenaut et al., 2007; Halvorson, 2010). The main difference that is brought by viewing virtual third places in an online video game context is the extensive virtual world these games provide, as well as the characters or avatars controlled by the players (Duchenaut et al., 2007). Players in the video game are meant to cooperate with each other in order to tackle content together and progress in the game. While these objective-focused interactions differ from the staple non discursive language of a tradition third place, the focus is rather on the sociable platform as a whole, and the sociable interactions that take place as players seek a break from the “grind” of progressing in the game, making this virtual world one big hang-out spot (Duchenaut et al., 2007).

(13)

offer sociability options closer to traditional third places than those argued for in the aforementioned papers. We believe that live streams are one of these platforms, offering a level of collective interaction nearing that of traditional third places. These virtual third places moderated by a streamer therefore provide vital context to the satisfying the needs of the viewers as we mentioned before, leading to their loyalty and desire to support.

Brand loyalty is an encompassing concept, as it is often considered the product of customer satisfaction and, by extension, customer delight (Oliver et al., 1997). The complexity of this concept led to a handful of scholars attempting to coin the term during the 1960s and 70s. One definition from the time that is often referred to as “[Brand loyalty] is a biased choice behavior with respect to branded merchandise” (Tucker, 1964, p. 32). This definition helped scholars re-frame the idea of brand loyalty and bring clarity to the concept in order to explain it in a way that harbors its complexity. Jacoby and Kyner (1973) develop a model that uses six conditions that need to be present for brand loyalty to exist, defining it as “[...] the biased (1), behavioral response (2) expressed over time (3), by some decision-making unit (4), with respect to one or more alternative brands out of a set of such brands (5), and is a function of psychological processes (6).” (Jacoby and Kyner, 1973, p. 2).

A more recent approach to brand loyalty was developed by Gounaris and Stathakopoulos (2004) as they introduce the consumer’s perspective to brand loyalty by highlighting different kinds of loyalty based on customer-brand relationships and attempts to explain loyalty through a customer’s commitment level to the brand. The four categories they present are no loyalty, which exhibits a customer with that does not purchase the product and has no customer-brand ties; inertia loyalty that describes a customer that purchases the product without showcasing strong customer-brand ties; covetous loyalty where a customer has developed a strong bond with a brand but does not purchase the product; and premium loyalty that takes place when a customer actively purchases the product and showcases strong emotional ties with the brand. (Gounaris and Stathakopoulos, 2004). When it comes to buying into a streamer’s personal brand, covetous loyalty and premium loyalty represent the two kinds of viewers that have strong emotional ties to the stream, where the first one does not directly support the streamer while the second one does.

(14)

These constructs are what we believe to be the outcomes of effective personal branding by the streamer combined with the met sociability needs through the virtual third place that the channel provides. These outcomes develop from the medium that is the virtual third place for strong emotional ties to grow between the streamer’s personal brand and the viewer. We will attempt to explore these differences in loyalty and how the attributes of, and commitment to, the third place can affect the viewer’s desire to support the streamer.

1.5 Research Question

How does personal branding influence brand loyalty, customer satisfaction and delight within the context of a virtual third place?

1.6 Purpose

(15)

2. Theoretical Framework

This chapter is an overview of previous literature that we will utilize in order to establish a framework according to which the research will be structured and subsequently guide the creation of the semi-structured interviews.

2.1 Brands and Branding

A brand is defined as “a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them which is intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors” (Kotler, 1981). A brand can be made up of many different things like the brand’s identity, the corporate logo, the design of the product, the packaging, and the marketing strategies created for the specific company or product (Ghodeswar, 2008). The first examples of branding can be found as far back as 3,300 BCE in the Harappan civilization in the form of cylinder seals. These seals were used to denote ownership, type of good, and quality (Starcevic, 2015). Maker’s marks were also common on pottery and other such consumer goods in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome (Starcevic, 2015). During the European middle ages, the use of markings on products increased with the rise of popularity of merchant’s guilds (McQuarrie and Phillips, 2016). It was not until the invention of packaged goods in the 19th century that branding became what we know it as today. Branding became vital for success in this period as the production of goods moved from localized to specialized manufacturing plants. Thus, when companies would ship their goods from the factory, they would brand their trademark on the goods to differentiate their products from its competitors and the local product offerings (Schwarzkopf, 2008).

Branding continued to evolve further in the early 20th century, as companies came to realise the ways in which consumers were being affected by the branding efforts, as local goods were having troubles competing with products with branding and non-generic packaging (Arnould and Thompson, 2005). From this, motivational research and consumer research rose to the mainstream as companies rushed to take advantage of these tactics (Schwarzkopf, 2008). Companies began using slogans, jingles, mascots, and anthropomorphic characteristics for their products because of the research conducted in this period.

With the intensifying importance of branding in today's world, the effects of branding efforts and brands has become a very researched topic. It is the general consensus that branding in its many forms allows consumers to store information about the product or service, a type of memory heuristic where characteristics and product specifications are attached to the specific logo or design of the product or service. A strong brand allows companies to create a sort of ‘identity’ for the product or service, which is then judged by customers. If customers believe that a brand possesses similar identity traits (attributes, benefits, values, personality) as themselves, they are more likely to purchase it (Kotler, 2009). With a strong brand, comes strong brand awareness. The stronger a brand is, the easier it is for customers to recall and recognize logos, brands, jingles, commercials, and other such branding efforts, which then has a positive effect on customers when it comes to purchasing goods in that product category (Keller, 1993).

(16)

companies to manage their brands online and to communicate with potential and current customers. Social media has also paved the way for online influencers, providing them with a platform to grow a following, build their brand, and engage with their audience. Subsequently, the idea of “Personal Branding” has evolved from a purely professional perspective to both a professional and personal perspective where people are building and maintaining their own social media profiles just as businesses would manage their own product brands.

2.2 Personal Branding

The concept of personal branding was first established by Tom Peters in 1997. In his research he states “we are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketers for the brand called You” (Peters, 1997). The idea behind this is that in a professional setting, one should be applying branding techniques to oneself as a way of communicating who you are and your potential value. Personal branding was then further defined by Philbrick and Cleveland (2015) as something that “identifies, clarifies, and communicates who you are to the world around you, whether it is a business environment, an academic field, or an entrepreneurial setting” (Philbrick and Cleveland, 2015, p. 183). As the popularity of social media increases, the idea and application of personal branding has increased with it. At first believed to be a tool solely for celebrities and public figures, it has morphed into a concept that is synonymous with social media etiquette. This is backed up by O’Brien (2011) and Vitberg (2010) as they posit that social media has created the concept of “consumer-to-consumer driven information” which is the basis of one's personal brand, and allows for the establishment of relationships with consumers and viewers alike (Fournier 1998). Lampel and Bhalla (2007) use Goffman’s (1959) definition of self-presentation; “a way for an individual to convey information” (Goffman, 1959, Cited in Lampel and Bhalla, 2007, p. 440), to base the process in which personal branding functions. This process is then facilitated to a greater degree on social media and other online communities as communication between users is simplified due to the elimination of real world characteristics like gender, age, race, and social status which can have an effect on how people view each other (Vitberg, 2010).

Vitberg (2010) states that with the widespread use of social media, the traditional idea of “pushing” information to customers has evolved into “dialogue”. This “dialogue” is made up of an information flow both to and from the brand in question which allows users to “create personal awareness, establish credibility, and drive differentiation at the personal level” (Vitberg, 2010, p. 43). Live streaming is the perfect example of this as information-share between the broadcaster and the viewers is almost instantaneous allowing for a greater amount of interaction which then fosters relationship building to a greater degree.

2.3 Personal Branding in the Perspective of a Twitch.tv Broadcaster

(17)

Personal branding for a Twitch.tv broadcaster can take form in many ways. For example, the way in which the broadcaster engages with their audience, the games they play on stream, the way they interact with those they are playing with, the type of scene and aesthetic they portray on stream, broadcaster sponsors, the way they utilize other social medias, and a multitude of other things that has the ability to affect the way in which the audience thinks about the broadcaster (Chih-Ping Chen, 2013). An important factor that must be considered by the broadcaster is that of individuality and genuinely. According to Vitberg (2010), broadcasters that have a strong sense of individuality and streamers with genuine intentions are able to differentiate themselves from other streamers that do not have these qualities, and are more likely to attract viewers to their broadcast and their community.

As Twitch.tv broadcasters are trying to “sell” the service of their live stream, personal branding should be a main concern for these broadcasters for many reasons. First of all, if a broadcaster is aiming to grow and build their community, it is important that potential viewers are able to quickly judge the characteristics and values of the broadcaster. This process of judgment allows the viewer to determine whether they would feel “at home” in the community, whether they like the broadcaster and the activities they are performing on stream and other factors they perceive to be important when evaluating a live stream. Second, by creating a brand for themself and their stream, broadcasters can leverage their viewership numbers to companies in the hopes of attracting corporate sponsors. By having a set of values associated with their brand, streamers should be able to attract corporate sponsors that share that same set of values. For example, if a streamer is considered by their community to be the best player at a specific game, computer-peripheral manufacturers (keyboards, mice, headsets etc.) might be interested in sponsoring such a streamer as the image of the streamer will transfer to the products they are using which can convince some viewers to purchase the products being used on stream. According to Chernatony et al., (2011) most people start to develop a “consumer-personal brand relationship” with brands they interact with. From this logic we can say that Twitch viewers will form a brand relationship with a broadcaster, which creates the feeling of community in both the viewer and the broadcaster. This insight follows that of the work conducted by Gros et al., (2017) where they found that “members of a community share an abandonment and pursue similar objectives like the need for affiliation, integration of new members, sharing of emotions and socialization” (Gros et al., 2017, p. 46). This does not just apply for consumers to broadcasters, as one of the main reason’s broadcasters’ stream on Twitch.tv is to interact with the members of the community they have built (Hamilton, Garretson and Kerne, 2014). This shows the importance of personal branding as the broadcaster attracts people to their community through the way they present themselves online and are thus responsible for those who join their community. If a broadcaster is a kind and genuine person on stream, they will most likely attract other kind and genuine people to their stream and community. If a broadcaster does not like the type of people within their own community, they may have a personal brand miscommunication where they are portraying the wrong values, or simply because the way they act on stream attracts undesirable people.

2.4 Third places

(18)

general feeling of discomfort and unease that shrouded the social commentary about American people at the time, Oldenburg embarks on a search of where this malaise stems from and the importance of social relationships outside of an individual’s workplace and home in combating said social illness. The term he came up with to describe these communities that offer opportunities for social interactions is “third place”, in reference to an individual’s “first place” being their home, and “second place” being their workplace. Third places have nonetheless existed far before the term was coined, as taking part in social settings has often been central to humans even though its value has often been belittled or taken for granted (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982, p. 267).

A third place is further defined by being a place where “people gather primarily to enjoy each other’s company”, and therefore many public spaces in today’s society do not necessarily become third places, as social interactions outside of work and home tend to revolve around achieving formal goals (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982, p. 269). This means that a third place is not something that sparks the interest of outsiders nor the people who take part in it, be it a park, a local coffee shop, or a pub; it is simply a place that was appropriated by a community’s members and integrated to a their everyday life and is there to provide opportunities for social interactions that would otherwise not be possible (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982).

Sociability is one of the core characteristics of third places. Oldenburg and Brissett refer to it as the “delight” of the association in question, the added worth it has to its members beyond the purpose it is there to fulfil (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982, p. 271). In the case of a local coffee shop that fulfils the role of a third place for a community, its value for them lies far beyond their ability to purchase and consume a warm drink or food. The authors refer to a study by Simmel (1949), where he explains the term as “the sheer pleasure of the company of others” (Simmel, 1949, Cited in Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982, p. 270), to express the idea of “pure” sociability, which is a form of sociability that detaches the individuals from their outward status as they enter the third places, and thus results in a state of complete individuality and equality and unqualified acceptance (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982, p. 271). This state enables an atmosphere where everyone is encouraged to speak, no one remains silent, yet no one dominates the conversation which is how a “perfect” third place strives to be.

(19)

needs, they are ironically similar to the individual’s workplace as “they both offer a small and highly predictable world” (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982, p. 274). Third places offer an inherently changing environment, as the composition of the community can differ at any given time, and the course of the social interactions are unpredictable and abstain from social status. This provides the individual with something novel and exciting which connects back to the search of delight to replace the boredom embedded in their newfound availability. The point of a third place is to provide “an experience of mutual concern and appreciation for people who are ostensibly different from oneself” (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982, p. 276) as well as “spontaneous and free-wheeling social experiences” (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982, p. 277). Another daily life pressure-point that relates to diversity and novelty that third places aim to loosen is the firm and often narrow range of emotional expression allowed in an individual’s workplace and, to a lesser degree, their home (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982). A third place on the other hand thrives on emotional expressiveness mainly due to the intricate and ever-changing composition of its members. The participants in a third place are very often different, which allows emotions to take over entire aspects of the conversation from subject and tone, to word choice and intensity.

A final primary benefit that Olden and Brissett address before concluding their article, is a third place’s contribution to an individual’s mental balance (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982). Because of the constant diversity in backgrounds and experiences of the participants at any given time, everyone will often face perspectives that differ from the ones ingrained in them. The detachment of social status and equality while being individually different that characterize the composition of third places plays a key role in endorsing and attempting to understand opinions that differ from one another. These clashing opinions do not result in heated conflict, and while it might not always result in mutual understanding either, but because emotions and confusion are communicated in a “responsive arena” a different outlook on life, to some degree, does result from third places (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982).

2.5 Virtual third places

Over the last few decades, the world has experienced mass digitalization in a wide range of everyday aspects from businesses and services to entertainment. Communication is on the forefront of digitalization as it strives to become better, faster, and more seamless as time goes on. Famous platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok provide services that aim to connect and entertain individuals in the digital space.

(20)

It can be argued that virtual communities possess these qualities as a stable connection to cyberspace is often the only requirement to access these communities, the internet thrives when it comes to anonymity which guarantees a neutral and levelled ground, and even though it depends on the virtual community in question, playful and non-discursive conversations with individuals that found a “home” on the platform are certainly central. These links between third places and virtual communities are rather optimistic however, as Soukup (2006) admits to identifying a few dissimilarities between them. Oldenburg’s (1999) stance on technology and digitalization is rather strict, as he believes that the only social consequence of technological advancement, he can envision is that humans will grow further apart from each other (Oldenburg, 1999).

In this vein Soukup argues that traditional third places emphasize localized community, they succeed at social levelling, and are accessible (Soukup, 2006). The accessibility concern can mainly be justified by the datedness of Soukup’s work. Technology and connectedness through digital means has greatly developed in the 14 years since his work was published. Social digital platforms can be accessed remotely through different devices, and latency has dropped massively when it comes to social interactions, which both contribute positively to accessibility.

Social levelling is not necessarily as straight forward virtually as it is physically. While traditional third places draw people together through geographic proximity, online communities remove geographic restrictions and instead draw people together through common interests (Bruckman and Resnick, 1995). If a community is drawn together through a shared interest, there is bound to be a difference in status between a newcomer or a beginner, and a regular or an expert. It is also not completely realistic to expect a traditional third place to successfully delete all signs of social status an individual has as they enter. The anonymous and non-hierarchical nature of the internet functions as a filter that is able to, in most cases, remove any trace of social status the individual has in real life, and allows for a levelled ground in everything except the interest that brought them there in the first place.

From another perspective, a third place cannot exist independently as it relies on its locality in terms of neighbourhood and local life. One can argue that a virtual third place’s “locality” is not physically bounded, but rather bounded on the interests of its members. Soukup (2006) agrees with this stretch of “virtual localization” as he states that while a traditional third places require a physical location within a neighbourhood, participants of a virtual third place can mutually agree to a symbolic construct that takes the role of “location” (Soukup, 2006, p. 433). To exemplify this, a group of online members can come together in a chat room or forum and centre their interactions around a topic such as basketball. Participants will then exchange opinions, photos, and converse about basketball. This space will inherently exclude people who are not interested in the topic, but that can also take place in traditional third places where a small town tavern also excludes a traveller from a metropolis (Soukup, 2006).

2.6 Virtual third places in a gaming setting

(21)

Duchenaut et al. (2007) expanded on virtual third places by introducing them to a Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMO) context. They define MMOs as “extensive and persistent online 3D environments that are populated by hundreds if thousands of players at any given moment” (Duchenaut et al., 2007, p. 129). MMOs offer a cooperative experience in real time, something single player games fail to do. Unlike the virtual spaces evaluated previously by Soukup (2006) such as chat rooms and multi-user dimension, the MMOs evaluated by Duchenaut et al. (2007) add a completely new dimension though virtual reality and a world designed to be explored collectively. This new medium is vital to “create and maintain a sense of community among their players” (Duchenaut et al., 2007, p. 131). Most virtual worlds feature cities that behave like hubs for players to gather in with large public spaces like markets, and buildings with distinct functions like banks and taverns. Due to the necessity to collaborate with others to tackle content and progress in the game, sociability is an inherent aspect of this gaming genre. Players make friends, build ties, and create parties together, which often leads to idling about and playfully talking to other players just to pass the time - a central characteristic of third places. Duchenaut et al. (2007) concludes by highlighting the importance of a game designer’s ability to produce proper “social architecture” to go with the public places they implement into the game. At the end of the day a virtual world in a video game is still very much within a video game, which means that playing the game is often tied to the player seeking character progression and therefore sociability can be hindered if managed incorrectly. While Duchenaut et al. (2007) use Star Wars Galaxies (SWG) as the central game evaluated in their paper, which is past its prime today, the arguments as to effectively make a virtual space socially rewarding are sound. Creating a space that is welcoming, that deviates from the “grind” of progressing in the game, but simultaneously offers a clear in-game function that endorses sociability is what they concluded is a good starting point for socially rewarding online video games.

Halvorson (2010) analysed virtual worlds, namely Second Life (SL), to search for key success factors to virtual third places with a commercial context. Second Life is not as much a game as it is a commercial community, it offers the users a virtual world in which they can pursue a variety of activities with a very social focus. Player interaction is the essence of SL and user created and mediated content is most of what it has to offer. During its infancy many corporations such as Coca-Cola, BMW, and Adidas, showed interest in expanding into the virtual space offered by SL, but shut down their activities due to their operations not delivering on expectations (Halvorson, 2010, p. 4). Halvorson measures “stickiness”, a term coined by Bush (1999) to describe the ability of a website to attract and retain users. The most successful user created spaces in SL revolve around music, and when interviewing the founder of “Rock Club”, the most frequented space in SL, he described that once he reached a high number of users, keeping the crowd happy and quickly integrating and welcoming newcomers is key in retaining them (Halvorson, 2010). This is also representative of traditional third places we previously discussed, where they are a home to “regulars” but also attempt to level the ground for any newcomer to feel comfortable and welcomed. In conclusion when it comes to virtual third places entertainment is vital. Providing “interesting audio and visual activities provide a fertile base to grow an informal third place” (Halvorson, 2010, p. 18) fosters stickiness, and stickiness is a core attribute to grow and maintain a virtual third place.

2.7 Twitch.tv as a Virtual Third Place

(22)

even though simple chatting and real-life activity broadcasts also exist. While Twitch.tv streamers are shrouded and surrounded by branding concepts, their viewer-base and followers find the virtual community they have built to be a third place. When a streamer goes live, their followers are notified and many of them tune in to the broadcast as, for them, it is a social platform that provides entertainment and sociability. To evaluate and argue for Twitch.tv channels as virtual third places, we will highlight the core qualities of a third place, a virtual third place, and the concepts attributed to them within the gaming context.

Assisted by the evaluation of virtual third places conducted by Soukup (2006) we built a connection that explains the similarities of traditional third places and virtual communities resulting in virtual third places. These virtual third places share the characteristics of accessibility, neutral and levelled ground, playful conversations, and locality with the traditional third places presented by Oldenburg (1982). From the viewer's perspective, Twitch.tv channels and its broadcasters offer a virtual third place of sorts, as the service platform is free, highly, and easily accessible through any device with internet connection. Communication takes place through a two-way system, where the streamer often uses their voice to talk and interact with their viewers, and the viewers communicate with each other and the streamer through a chat box. While conversation from the streamer’s part occasionally becomes commercial due to advertisements, sponsors, or their personal brand, from the viewer’s side it remains highly non discursive throughout as they react and discuss events organically surrounding the broadcast’s direct content or the community they belong to. Non discursive symbolism is described as central to traditional third places, and while it was hard to argue for certain virtual communities that revolve solely on a specific topic, Twitch.tv channels are virtual environments where conversation is irrational and spontaneous because the events that take place during broadcasts are rather unpredictable.

(23)

game while encouraging sociability as it represents the pivoting point of a third place. Twitch.tv is a platform that focuses on live gaming broadcasts, which has expanded the horizons of video games as third places. Streaming a video game is not delimited to online multiplayer games like in Duchenaut et al. 's (2007) study because the user, in this case the viewer, does not need to be a player in the game. This detachment from the game itself by becoming a viewer of someone else’s playthrough can be seen as taking a break from the “grind” that Duchenaut et al. (2007) describe players sometimes seek. Streamers offer a sociable “meeting point” for people who enjoy a specific game, are interested in it, and/or are taking a break from it, to meet and interact with a community that finds itself in the same position. The concept of “stickiness” was brought up by Halvorson (2010) to explain the ability to attract and retain users in a digital setting. A part of the broadcaster’s job is to make their stream attractive for regulars and endorsing and welcoming for newcomers to grow and maintain a healthy viewer base. Therefore the attractiveness of a stream is a defining factor on whether or not a successful virtual third place is sustained, which to a degree differs from the description Oldenburg (1982) gives of third places: “[...] not a place outsiders find necessarily interesting or notable” and “Not even to its inhabitants is the third place a particularly intriguing or exciting locale” (Oldenburg and Brissett, 1982, p. 270). This is explained by the physical boundedness traditional third places require, but when it comes to virtual third places attractiveness is necessary to complement the central interest of the community to grab people’s attention and draw them in.

2.8 Outcomes of Personal Branding and Virtual Third places

We intend to bring together personal branding and virtual third places in the context of live streaming through the concepts of brand loyalty, customer satisfaction, and customer delight. We believe these will aid us as they describe the outcomes that come to be through the streamer’s combined efforts to clearly communicate their positioning and brand to the audience through the third place that they have created and continue to manage. These efforts that we believe result in loyalty, satisfaction, and delight then lead to the streamer’s sustainability through the viewers’ desire to support them, allowing us to explain the applications and commercial aspects of live streaming.

2.8.1 Brand Loyalty

(24)

explain it more precisely than Tucker (1964) while addressing the criticism he gave by clarifying and defining the areas that bring volatility to brand loyalty and make it difficult to use practically. These were some of the early steps towards defining customer loyalty within the idea that not all repurchase behaviour can be attributed to loyalty, and that not all repurchase behaviour guarantees future purchases.

While this definition of brand loyalty was, and continues to be, fairly accepted amongst scholars, concerns developed to include not just what brand loyalty is and how it can be measured, but how it can be managed and used effectively. In today’s present business culture the sentiment that “a brand is more than a brand” is frequently shared and widely accepted, which Fournier and Yao (1997) recognized over two decades ago and attempted to refresh the concept of brand loyalty by aligning it with consumer-brand relationships. They thoroughly criticize the rigidness existing in the current body of knowledge, emphasizing that previous studies have given loyalty an “either or” quality where an individual is either loyal or disloyal, and that fidelity and exclusivity are somehow tied to loyalty when in reality consumer behaviour is much more complex and traits of loyalty that can be developed upon through customer relations have been ignored (Fournier and Yao, 1997, p. 454). By interviewing several coffee-drinkers that exhibit powerful connections to a specific brand of coffee, Fournier and Yao reveal and discuss the importance of brand-self connections and how their relations to the consumer’s life themes can lead to deep and significant levels of loyalty (Fournier and Yao, 1997, p. 461). Gounaris and Stathakopoulos (2004) build on these advancements to theorize four different types of loyalty based on consumer-brand relations and the idea that loyalty is not a “black or white” concept: no loyalty, covetous loyalty, inertia loyalty, and premium loyalty. While the first one is self-explanatory, covetous loyalty refers to a consumer that does not purchase the product, but in fact does have strong emotional ties to a brand created by the social environment that surrounds it. Inertia loyalty refers to a customer’s systematic preference of one brand over others but does not rely on emotional ties but rather habit or convenience. Premium loyalty is a combination of both, where emotional ties are strongly built through consumer-brand relationships and the purchase level of the customer is high (Gounaris and Stathakopoulos, 2004, p. 300-301).

(25)

gather information from viewers specifically about streamer brand perception and brand loyalty in order to determine what influences their willingness to become part of a virtual third place in the given context, as well as to determine if loyalty contributes to the viewer’s willingness to support the streamer.

2.8.2 Customer Satisfaction and Delight

The concept of consumer satisfaction dates to the 50s and 60s, where research on the topic was generally conducted in the context of psychology. Oliver (1981) explains the term in a retail setting as “the outcome of a consumer’s subjective comparison of expected and received product attribute levels” (Oliver, 1981, p. 28). Consumer satisfaction has been proven to have a positive effect in loyalty (Newman and Werbel, 1973; LaBarbera and Mazursky, 1983; Singh and Sirdeshmukh, 2000), which in turn affects an organization’s ability to retain customers - as a satisfied customer is more likely to purchase a product or consume a service, and the longer they are likely to keep doing so instead of seeking for an alternative. Attracting new customers is also easier for firms that foster high levels of customer satisfaction because the social environment surrounding the firm, as media coverage and word of mouth will have a positive connotation (Anderson, Fornell, Lehmann, 1994).

Anderson (1973) explored the effects of customer dissatisfaction and concluded that failing to meet the customer’s expectations causes customer dissatisfaction and leads to a decrease in engagement and consumption. The extent of this rejection however, varies depending on the complexity of the product in question as simple and easy to understand products had higher rejection levels than the more ambiguous ones as it adds a layer of uncertainty that shrouds judgement (Anderson, 1973).

Recent scholars have broadened the concept of customer satisfaction, claiming that it might not necessarily lead to customer retention. A new construct, customer delight, is gaining traction as it attempts to better describe the factors that lead to customer retention and loyalty. Grounded on Oliver et al. 's (1997) delight model, where they explore the positive emotional response that lies within satisfaction. Consumer delight is defined as a “profoundly positive state generally resulting from having one’s expectations exceeded to a surprising degree” (Oliver et al., 1997, p. 239) The present the importance of “surprise” in a sequence where it leads to arousal, which leads to pleasure, which leads to delight. This suggests that delight and satisfaction are separate concepts that show correlation (Oliver et al., 1997), where delight requires to exceed, rather than meet, the customer’s expectations. A recent study by Barnes et al. (2016) explores the consumer’s positive affect more in depth by measuring the efforts of an organization to create customer joy and surprise, and their effects on customer delight. They provide empirical evidence that joy and surprise in fact have a strong positive relationship to customer delight (Barnes et al., 2016). Their study brings forward interesting points about where delight stems from and what active efforts an organization should focus on in order to spark joy and surprise in their customers, namely the employee’s attention, friendliness, and care towards the customer, the employee’s expertise and skills, and tangible variables like the environment and atmosphere perceived by the customer, the employee’s appearance, etc (Barnes et al., 2016, p. 280).

(26)

order to keep their community satisfied, Barnes et al. (2016) provide a different perspective that explains why streamers might struggle to maintain their viewership numbers high even if, in theory, they are doing enough to satisfy them. Third places are characterized by their playful atmosphere and spontaneous and unpredictable dialogue, which are somewhat synonymous to the concepts of joy and surprise present in Barnes et al.’s (2016) work. By pursuing efforts that target the viewer’s positive affect, a streamer can attempt to exceed their expectations and spark delight in order to develop stronger emotional ties and, by definition, increase customer loyalty. Graph 1 (Appendix 1: Graph 1) exemplifies this phenomenon by comparing the overall viewership numbers of Michael “Imaqtpie” Santana and Mohammad “Yassuo” Abdalrhman over the last 12 months (February 2019 to February 2020). 12 months ago, both streamers fluctuated at a similar view count of roughly 6-8 thousand at any given time. Imaqtpie has dropped to an average 4 000 viewers while Yassuo has steadily surpassed the 10 000 mark (TwitchTracker.com b, 2020). Imaqtpie has stayed complacent and avoided any kind of innovation and spontaneity during his broadcasts, while Yassuo has implemented many community activities and events such as “1 vs 1” games against viewers, free subscription challenges, and several 24hr+ streams for causes ranging from charity, illness awareness, and simple and joyous fun. We believe that keeping one’s community engaged and entertained is vital for healthy growth and customer retention, as well as being a facilitator for loyalty that can inspire the viewer to support the streamer financially through donations and a subscription.

2.9 Conceptual Model

Based on the theories discussed above we have created a conceptual model that encompasses our theoretical framework. Our conceptual model, Figure 1, showcases the main actors, being streamers and viewers, that will be central to our data collection and the theories that affect each of them respectively. These theories showcase the key areas for each actor that will be addressed in this study.

Figure 1: Conceptual Model

Our conceptual model encompasses one concept that does not have its own section in the theoretical framework: Online Communities. The reason why we chose to explicitly mention it in our model is because virtual third place researchers, namely Soukup (2006) and Duchenaut et al. (2007), refer to online communities in the context of virtual social spaces that possess the potential of becoming a virtual third place. We believe that the same can apply to streamer channels on Twitch.tv on a case to case basis, where some adhere to the criteria required for third places while others do not.

(27)

strong emotional ties can be born between what the streamer represents and the individual viewer, leading to the existence of brand loyalty.

Personal branding is central for a streamer in order to create a “product” out of themselves. As explained by the previous research we introduced previously, incorporating elements of branding and marketing into yourself as an individual in order to showcase what you have to offer as a person has been highly looked at in a corporate, academic, and entrepreneurial setting (Philbrick and Cleveland, 2015). With the surge of social media influencing as a modern career choice, the importance of personal branding is highlighted and is, in our opinion, of vital concern for the success of an influencer. As we believe streamers to be a hyper-communicative form of social media influencer, personal branding is a key area that we will centre our study around.

Twitch.tv was chosen as the setting for our study due to it being the leading live streaming platform in the western world. The platform itself harbours a wide variety of streamers, and with them their respective online communities. Our theoretical framework presents Oldenburg’s concept of third places and transitions it, through existing research, to the virtual context in which Twitch.tv operates. We believe it to be important to clarify the similarities between traditional third places and the online communities that exist in Twitch.tv in order to argue for their position as potential virtual third places. Therefore, we explain how the positive social effects that third places have in both an individual and at a community-wide level can be attributed to a streamer’s community.

(28)

3. Scientific Methodology

In this chapter we will discuss and argue for the philosophical stance we will be taking in respect to ontology, epistemology, and other various aspects of our thesis such as design and research approach.

3.1 Ontology

Ontology aims to define the nature of reality, centred around the debate of whether reality is objective, impartial, and independent of the actors within it, or whether social entities are subjective to the observer and moulded by their actions and interactions (Bryman and Bell, 2011, p. 20; Saunders et al. 2012, p. 130). The two schools of thought within social sciences are objectivism and subjectivism. An objectivist researcher believes that either social reality is objective and external thus there is only one reality that everyone partakes in regardless of the social actors that interact within it (Collis and Hussey, 2014, p. 47). A subjectivist researcher on the other hand believes that the social reality is constructed by the social actors and is dependent on each individual’s sense of reality and therefore there are as many realities as there are points of view (Collis and Hussey, 2014, p. 47).

In order to determine the ontological stand for our research, we need to answer whether or not the social phenomenon we are trying to explore and explain is the same for everyone who observes it. We will be conducting a qualitative study where we aim to interview actors central to the phenomenon in order to gather an array of opinions and perspectives from which we will attempt to develop a better understanding of it. Since we as researchers adhere to a subjectivist philosophy, it is important that our research follows a subjectivist standpoint. In order to synthesize knowledge from our interactions with the social actors involved in this phenomenon we acknowledge that both them and us will have different perspectives on the reality we discern, and our social reality in the context of what is being studied will likely be re-shaped through our interactions. We also believe that the constraints imposed by an objectivist point of view of reality would hinder our ability to draw relevant findings, as its focus on validation through empirical means could mislead us into ignoring elements of our data that could otherwise be interpreted. While live streams as third places are very much a reality, from our experience it is evident that it is perceived very differently between individuals regarding the values and attributes people associate to it. The same could be said about the personalities they revolve around and the perceived value that independently lies within any given viewer and varies from them to the next.

3.2 Epistemology

Epistemology is concerned with the nature of knowledge, namely where it comes from and what can be considered valid knowledge and concerns the researcher and the object that is being researched (Collis and Hussey, 2014). An issue that is contested is whether social reality can be studied through the same methods used to study natural sciences (Collis and Hussey, 2014, p. 44).