Digital Rituals: Communication Practices and Cultural Meaning in Live Streaming Communities

Abstract

This study examines how communication practices in live streaming communities function as digital rituals and generate shared cultural meaning. The research aims to analyze recurring interaction patterns, interpret their symbolic significance, and explain how they shape identity, belonging, and emotional cohesion within platform-based communities. A qualitative approach was employed using a digital ethnography design, as this method is well suited to exploring communicative behavior, symbolic interaction, and community meaning in naturally occurring online settings. The study was conducted on TikTok Live as the research site because the platform provides intensive real-time interaction, visible audience participation, and stable ritualized features such as greetings, gifting, emojis, and moderator interventions. The study involved twelve informants consisting of four streamers, four moderators, and four active viewers, selected purposively due to their sustained engagement and direct experience with live streaming practices. The findings show that repeated greetings, symbolic gifting, synchronized audience responses, moderator mediation, and insider language operate as digital rituals that sustain collective identity and cultural continuity. The study recommends further comparative research across platforms and cultural contexts to deepen understanding of ritual communication in evolving digital communities.