Singapore – Bigo Technology, a global social livestreaming platform, has announced the launch of ‘Community,’ a new interactive feature that allows users to create and manage online communities, as well as post and share original content with other platform users who share similar interests.
The launch of ‘Community’ marks the first feature of its kind in the livestreaming industry and is part of Bigo Live’s ongoing efforts to promote virtual self-expression, to enable users to form deeper connections with the platform’s global network of over 400 million users.
As Bigo Live celebrates in sixth anniversary this year, ‘Community’ comes at the back of the launch of ‘Virtual Live’, the platform’s latest feature that allows users to create personalised virtual 3D avatars to represent themselves and communicate with others.
Mike Ong, VP of Bigo Technology, shared that as they enter a new era of social media with the rise of livestreaming, they want to elevate Bigo Live into a catalyst for an organic development of a creator economy-centric ecosystem while still retaining their core mission of being a user-first platform.
“We hope to achieve this with the launch of ‘Community’ by providing our users with not only an immersive and holistic livestreaming experience, but also experience synchronous social interaction that is an extension of the physical world,” Ong said.
All Bigo Live users have access to ‘Community’, allowing them to customise and organise their communities by topic and interest, and to respond to posts by sharing, liking, commenting or tipping through Bigo Live’s virtual gifts customised.
In addition to being able to manage three communities at once, users will be able to join as many communities as they choose. Bigo Live broadcasters can now use ‘Community’ as a channel to present content that can’t be easily shown during a livestreaming session, allowing them to expand their audience and build a following.
The feature’s ‘Live tab’ will also contain livestreaming sessions hosted by members of the community, which users can join and participate in. Several Bigo Live communities have sprung up to reflect the diverse cultural origins and interests of Bigo Live members since the service’s inception. Fitness, Latinx, K-Pop dancing, and Mukbang are just a few of the various subcultures represented here.
To ensure that Bigo Live’s strict content policies are adhered to, the platform has also introduced a series of new tools and policies to ensure that Bigo Live remains a safe, healthy, and positive environment for all. In addition to current measures, ‘Community’ will see the implementation of admins who will be tasked to pin and unpin posts, as well as delete posts or remove users that violate Bigo Live’s guidelines. Admins who have been exemplary in managing their communities and supporting good content production will stand a chance to be award with Bigo Live’s first-ever ‘BIGO Community Award’.
Ong adds, “The livestreaming industry has grown exponentially over the past few years, and as an ever-evolving industry with an increasingly tech-savvy population, the opportunities for growth are limitless. Our mission here at Bigo Live is to provide the best experience for our broadcasters and users. We do this by innovating features and exploring new ways for our users to engage with one another and form meaningful social relationships.”