If I’m not Streaming, I’m not Earning: Audience Relations and Platform Time on Douyin

Abstract

This article explores how platforms reorganize our sense of everyday life. The platformization of everyday life means a changing relation to what we do in our daily lives, not only in China, but in every country in which digital platforms are becoming more relevant by the day. Using TikTok in China as our point of departure, we discuss the role of platform time and the abstracted audience.

Keywords

• tiktok
• douyin
• platformization
• china
• algorithm
• platforms
• digital labor
• influencers