LiveMe: Stream as Yourself and Discover Streams You’ll Love

The Short Version: Picking the best of today’s many livestreaming platforms can be tough. If you want a platform that puts community connections and easy-to-use features first, LiveMe is the one to try. A livestreaming veteran, LiveMe got its start in 2016, when a Musical.ly co-founder launched it. It has since grown into a place that fosters bonds between creators and users via gamified livestream interactions and a fair system for recommending streams. The platform backs diverse communities and creators worldwide and holds in-person events every year.

When Americans first got their look at television, crowds gathered outside storefronts and squeezed into neighborhood bars for a peek at this thrilling, astonishing feat of modern technology. Back then, TV sets cost too much for the typical American household. Close to a century on, 92% of Americans own a smartphone.

In other words, most Americans can now do something that used to belong solely to the biggest TV networks: broadcast themselves live. Livestreaming has anchored the internet for years and has held its ground in a quickly shifting digital world. As with so many modern tech advances, plenty of Americans remember a time when livestreaming, which now feels so simple, would have seemed impossible.

LiveMe is an app that improves livestreaming. With a loyal user base and thousands of diverse creators, LiveMe links people around the world through live broadcasts. Founded in 2016, it has become a fixture of the livestreaming scene.

Storytellers, DJs, actors, singers, and musicians all create on LiveMe, and going live takes just one tap. LiveMe backs its creators with livestreaming features that let viewers interact and send gifts.

Conan Zhang, who works on LiveMe’s marketing team, walked us through the app, explaining how it differs from rival livestreaming platforms and the wide mix of creators and users it attracts. “We want to give every talent a stage to show their passion,” he said. “Whether it’s singing, dancing, or just doing a talk show, LiveMe is the platform for anyone livestreaming.”

Where Social App Meets Livestreaming

Today’s glut of livestreaming apps and platforms can make it hard for users to figure out which one fits them best. According to Conan, several things set LiveMe apart, but the most important is its long history in livestreaming.

“Our founder and CEO, Yuki He, was previously a board member at Musical.ly,” Conan said. “After Musical.ly was sold and eventually became TikTok, she wanted to make a platform that was just for livestreaming. LiveMe is the so-called OG in the livestreaming industry.”

Early on, Conan said, LiveMe put a heavy focus on the social side of livestreaming. Some other platforms may cater to particular kinds of content, such as gaming or comedy, but LiveMe was built for everybody. “Initially, people came to LiveMe to show their talents, be themselves, and meet new people,” Conan said. “As competitors began to integrate ways for creators to make incomes from livestreaming, we decided to adapt.”

LiveMe has been part of the livestreaming world since 2016.

Livestreaming has evolved in many ways since it first appeared, and among the biggest shifts was the arrival of gamified exchanges between creators and users. “From that moment, we began shifting our focus,” Conan said. “We developed our pay matrix, where everyone has the ability to earn money on LiveMe.”

Through LiveMe’s gifting features, users earn badges and collect rewards as they hit different levels in the app. Viewers can send gifts to their favorite streamers mid-stream, and it’s common for LiveMe creators to run livestreams in which they ‘battle’ for users’ gifts and likes.

Unlike other big livestreaming services, LiveMe lets everyday users build communities through livestreaming. Other platforms rely on algorithms that push whatever content is most popular, so users without internet fame get left out in the cold.

“Unlike other social platforms LiveMe is a place where anyone can go live at any level and be successful doing it,” Conan said. “Our platform isn’t an algorithmically focused app but we have a search bar based on different content categories so the content that is popular is specific to the talent, giving Creators the opportunity to find their crowd.”

A Diverse User Base Forms Genuine Connections

Strengthening communities, both on the app and off it, has been central to LiveMe since day one. Conan put it this way: “Our users are from all over the world, many in large cosmopolitan cities – but others are from smaller towns and more rural areas where LiveMe offers them connections and community that they might not otherwise find in their physical location.” What sets the app apart from other platforms is its distinctive, diverse user base.

“The demographic of our community is pretty diverse,” Conan said. “We have people who identify as Asian, Hispanic, Black, people all over the world. People support each other. We love that different kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds get together and form communities. It’s not like any other mainstream platform.”

LiveMe works whether you’d rather create content or watch livestreams.

Signing up for LiveMe is free, and users can start exploring the app’s many features right away. They can look up livestreams by location or head to the Hot section, which constantly refreshes with new streams from around the world.

LiveMe creators stream almost every kind of content imaginable, from energetic video game play-throughs to laid-back get-ready-with-me streams.

LiveMe users have no shortage of talent, but Conan said the platform is really about building personal connections. “A lot of other platforms have these content-focusing algorithms, but we’re focused on people’s connections. We focus on people, not content. So LiveMe users follow and support people, rather than content, that they love.”

Putting users ahead of content, Conan said, is what makes LiveMe different from competing livestreaming platforms. LiveMe carries that focus into offline events that are open to every LiveMe user, not only the most famous ones.

“Livestreaming flourished during COVID, and once it had ended everyone wanted to meet up in person,” he said. “So, every month we invite our existing VIP members and local creators to an event in Chiacgo, and we also do annual, larger events.” 

LiveMe Puts Platform Safety First

LiveMe treats user safety as a serious matter, with a 24-hour moderation team keeping the platform safe. “We have a 200-person team that works around the clock watching content,” Conan explained. “If users see something inappropriate that violates community guidelines, they can click and report it to our team, and they’ll deal with it instantly.”

Along with its dedicated moderators, LiveMe has policies that are spelled out clearly and that everyone, user or creator, agrees to on signing up. “We also have a very clear policy that everyone can see on our homepage. Like any other platform, we’re strict about our rules and what kind of content will be banned. We’re 100% non-tolerant of policy violations,” Conan said.

LiveMe was built for people who want community and friendship.

According to Conan, LiveMe is always working to improve its features and broaden their range. At the moment, the app’s focus is interactive content. In-stream features, including interactive games, give users fresh, exciting ways to engage with each other and with the LiveMe platform.

LiveMe is also working on AI features that could change livestreaming as we know it.

In the coming year, LiveMe plans to explore how AI could build an avatar that copies a creator’s look and voice. Streamers could use that technology to keep a stream going even while they’re away from the camera. The LiveMe team is also building an AI-powered super assistance tool that would help users and creators collect more gifts and keep up with stream chats with less effort.

“Our slogan is my stage, my crowd,” Conan said. “It’s not like other platforms, where people purely want to take off and get famous and gain a huge following. LiveMe is for anyone who wants to meet people and make communities. People come here to have fun, and it’s a welcoming platform for every kind of person.”