APP SHARE

Bigo Live–Live Video Streaming is an innovative mobile application developed by Bigo Technology Pte. Ltd., a leading technology company specializing in live streaming and social media platforms. Released on March 10, 2016, Bigo Live has revolutionized the way people connect and share their lives in real-time.

Bigo Live offers users a dynamic platform to broadcast and watch live videos, enabling individuals from around the world to showcase their talents, share their experiences, and engage with a global audience. With its user-friendly interface and advanced features, the app allows users to stream a wide range of content, including gaming, music, dancing, cooking, and more.

In addition to live streaming, Bigo Live fosters a vibrant community by facilitating real-time interactions through chat, virtual gifts, and social networking. Users can follow their favorite broadcasters, engage in live discussions, send virtual gifts to show support, and participate in various in-app activities.

Bigo Live has gained immense popularity, amassing a diverse and active user base. Its seamless integration of entertainment, social interaction, and content creation has made it a go-to platform for individuals seeking real-time connections and a platform to showcase their talents globally.

In total, 5,494,806 reviews are found in Google play store with 4.4 stars rating. There has been 500,000,000+ installs. While in Apple app store Bigo Live is ranked No. 22 in social networking category with 4.3 stars rating by 113.6k users. The app is rated "Teen" on the Google Play store, however Apple App store is stricter and rates it as 17+ due to its mature content, and users' comments are often predatory and explicit.

In the latest update version, the development team behind Bigo Live - Live Video Streaming added a mechanism to support users and multiple live bloggers to compete with other bloggers to get rich in-app rewards, making the viewing or live streaming experience more exciting and fascinating for the majority of users.

Social media apps have grown at an unprecedent speed in recent years, they become an obsession for the young generation, BIGO LIVE is one of them. This free live streaming app lets users produce video blogs or livestream their activities in order to monetize based on content created. Live streamers receive live commentary from other online users, and the app also allows you to search for nearby app users. One-to-one or group video call (up to nine users) are made possible via group chats. User may also check out new and trending content nearby or post it by themselves.

Bigo Live’s video call feature has similar filters as Instagram Stories or Snapchat, which enable user to change their appearance and even voice when talking to strangers in Chat room. Live Stream hosts can set rewards criteria, user/follower will win the award automatically when they complete a specific task. 

There has been news report voiced out their concerns, that the app may be “heaven for grooming” where minors are told to 'take off their clothes' and subjected to vile child porn threats due to lack of age verification mechanism, although personal information, like age, name and gender are required during signing up. It is certainly not an app for younger teens or children to use. As a matter of fact, the streamer’s social influence is ranked based on monetary tips or gifts received from fan group. In the long term, this will have a detrimental effect on their mental health as it can negatively affect self-esteem.

Pros

- Promote and showcase individual creativity

- Easy and intuitive to use

- Large pool of active user online to connect to

Cons

- Content is almost mature, inappropriate, vulgar, and violent

- Poor customer service and slow response in handling user complaints 

- Live commentary on the streaming videos can often prompt bullying behavior

- Connecting with strangers is a major red flag that this app is not safe for kids