“What do you do for a living?”

　　你的工作是什么?

　　“I’m a full-time live streamer in China.”

　　我在中国做全职主播。

　　Probably not the answer you would expect from a blonde-haired blue-eyed American woman like me.

　　这可能不是一个金发碧眼的美国女孩预期给出的答案，但是这是我。

　　But that's right, for a yearlong period from spring 2016 to spring 2017 I was a professional live streamer streaming on several Chinese apps including Momo, Yizhibo, Meipai, and Huajiao. I had a total following of over 400,000.

　　2016年春到2017年春，我在陌陌、一直播、美拍和花椒等几个中国软件中做专业直播，粉丝40万。

　　I first began live streaming on the popular video sharing app Meipai with the intention purely of growing an audience. Then an agency that worked with Momo, a dating app that has now become famous for its live streaming, recruited me to stream on Momo.

　　最开始我在广受欢迎的共享软件美拍上做直播，就想涨涨粉。后来约会软件陌陌的工作人员邀我加入陌陌直播，陌陌现在也是直播界炽手可热的产品。

　　With the help of the agency, my following grew rapidly and within a couple of months, I had nearly 300,000 fans on the Momo platform. I was making a full-time income from my live streaming, usually 20,000-30,000 RMB ($3,200-4,800) per month, the majority of which came from virtual gifts from my followers. This didn't happen by chance; I took live streaming seriously and treated it like a job, streaming at consistent times, one to two times a day, for a minimum of 2-4 hours a day.

　　有了工作人员的帮助，我的粉丝涨得飞快，没几个月就在陌陌上有了30万粉。直播收入是我的全部生活来源，每个月能赚两万到三万，大部分来自粉丝送的虚拟礼物。成果都不是靠幸运得来的，我把直播当做工作，非常认真，每天两场，两到四小时，从未中断。

　　Yet, despite my success, I quickly realized Momo wasn't a good choice for me long term. Like many of the live streaming apps in China, the only way for streamers to earn money is through gifting.

　　虽然已经小有成就，但是我很快意识到陌陌不适合长期发展。在中国的直播软件中，主播只能通过礼物获得报酬。

　　The longer I streamed, the more I disliked the gifting model and felt it would not be a sustainable source of income. I decided to transition to a new platform and focus more on becoming an influencer that live streams as opposed to a pure live streamer, which, by the way, are two very different things.

　　直播的时间一长，我也越来越不喜欢收礼模式，收入并不稳定。所以我跳到了新的平台，成为一个有影响力的主播，而不只是单纯地直播。这可是完全不同的两件事。

　　In general, we can break it down into three types: entertainment, educational and e-commerce.

　　总得来说，直播分为三类：娱乐类、教学类和电子商务类。

　　1. Entertainment

　　娱乐类

　　Entertainment live streaming is the most common type where viewers are watching purely to be entertained. It consists of gaming live streams (an industry unto itself), dancing, singing, chatting, comedy, etc. For these streamers, their main source of income is gifts from fans, and they rarely do brand collaborations.

　　娱乐类直播最为常见，观看者为了娱乐观看视频，包括游戏直播、跳舞、唱歌、聊天、喜剧等等。这些主播的主要收入来源就是粉丝给的礼物，和广告商之间不存在合作。

　　2. Educational

　　教学类

　　The second type of streaming is educational, essentially meaning a live stream where people are coming to learn something. While this could be an actual live streamed class, it could also be a beauty influencer giving a make-up tutorial, a fitness guru showing people how to lose weight, or a food blogger teaching people a new dish. While these streamers will receive gifts from viewers, the majority of their income is likely to come from brand collaborations, or they might be using live streaming as a way to grow their following.

　　第二类教学类直播是指教授课程的直播。可以是线上课堂，也可以是美妆课堂、减肥教程、或者吃播为大家尝新菜。此类主播除了接收观看者的礼物，大部分收入来源于广告合作，或者为了涨粉。

　　3. E-commerce

　　电子商务类

　　The last type of streaming is e-commerce live streaming, which has become very popular in China over the past year. This type of live streaming is very similar to QVC or the Home Shopping Network. Viewers tune into this type of live streaming because they want to buy things and learn about new products. In China, where e-commerce is rampant with fake items, live streaming provides transparency and trust. The most common platforms for this type of live streaming are Taobao Live, JD Live and also Yizhibo, which can host links to Taobao and Tmall.

　　最后一种是电子商务直播，去年在中国非常盛行。这类直播很像美国电视购物公司，或者说家庭购物网络。观看者想买东西或者了解某样产品时就打开这类直播。中国的电子商务充斥着假货，直播加大了透明度和信任感。最常见的电子商务直播平台是淘宝直播和京东直播，还有一直播，它们都会提供打开淘宝和天猫的链接。