YouTube is giving livestream communities more ways to play, pay, and participate

Livestream viewers have never been content to just sit back and watch.

They chat.

They donate.

They subscribe.

They clip.

They make memes .

They tell the streamer what to do next.

Sometimes, they even feed cats thousands of miles away .

Barbara Macdonald remembers that last one particularly well.

Macdonald, YouTube 's product manager for Live, has worked on the platform's livestreaming products for more than a decade.

Years ago, after YouTube opened an AP I that let creators connect Super Chats and channel memberships to real-world effects, someone hooked a livestream to a cat-feeding station in Russia.

A viewer could send money from their own home and watch as food was dispensed for the cats on screen.

"I would say Live has always been really focused on how audiences are able to participate and control the action," Macdonald told Mashable.

"That's what makes live stand out from asynchronous video." Now, YouTube wants to give creators and their communities a lot more ways to do exactly that.