Just as China sets the world pace in e-commerce, it's doing the same for live streaming. More than 100 million viewers watch a live online video event every month. The live streaming format typically involves a famous person showing a product and answering questions from a digital audience. It takes place in real-time and usually on a smartphone, accounting for some 95% of e-commerce activity in China.

China is filled with live streaming webcasts, much of it non-commercial, such as young people discussing their lives, showing dance moves, etc. But live streaming has also become one of the most cost-effective tools for e-commerce in China.

Why are consumers and brands both welcoming this medium?

First, there's a functional advantage to live streaming. It allows experts to show the product being used, to show various techniques, and to point out the results. The audience can ask questions in anonymity (匿名），but the experience is interactive and immersive (沉浸式的）.

Consumers feel that they are actually handling the product themselves. Instead of picking a product off a shelf, they are now part of the process, shaping the outcome from the convenience of the living room sofa. The best live streaming allows room for a joke, or even a small mistake. After all, this is how friends talk with one another. As consumers grow in experience and taste, they would rather participate in a chat. Live streaming invites the brand into the home in much the same way you would invite a friend.

Consumers often feel a sense of empowerment (授权）. The brand must be responsive to viewers in real time because consumers have the power to hold them responsible for their products through questions.

Live streaming can also be particularly useful for new-to-market brands who do not have the ability to create a buzz. Live streaming provides assurance the product is used, accepted and sometimes loved.

Wall Street bankers, investors and economists have for months argued over whether a US recession (衰退) is coming. But for some Americans, the unforgiving economic pain typical during recession has already set in.

Al Brown and his wife faced a tough call in May when reviewing their weekly budget: what’s a higher priority, more food or dish soap? Based in Concord, North Carolina, Brown was the main breadwinner for his wife and their two children. Then in April, he was let go from his job as a global director of business development at software company Cascade. He’s since quit his gym membership and sold various items around his home, including a computer and yard furniture. His 13-year-old son quit the basketball team.

Brown, 37, now spends his days searching the internet for jobs or reaching out to potential connections. After filing over 600 applications, only a handful have produced interviews. That’s a far cry from the labor-market strength described in government figures.

Investors and economists have been expecting a recession since last year as the Fed raised interest rates to control inflation (通货膨胀). That caused companies to focus on profitability over growth, which meant cutting spending and reducing their workforces.

“I think it’s unlikely that I will get another good paying job with great benefits like the one I had,” McCollum, who lives in Cleveland, Ohio, said. More Americans are likely to encounter similar cases, some experts predict.

“As we go through this year, and into next year, there is still going to be this focus on trying to reduce costs, and it is going to result in more unemployment,” said Thomas Simons, a senior economist at Jefferies. “The impact of layoffs, currently concentrated among white-collar workers, will last throughout the economy through a ‘big pullback in overall spending’,” Simons said. “Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of economic output, so if more Americans are forced to cut back because they were laid off, that might throw the US economy into a recession.”

Changes have been taking place in Philadelphia since 1984. One by one, graffiti-covered walls have been changed into outdoor art. So far, more than 1,800 murals (壁画) have been painted. Philadelphia now has more murals than any other American city.

The walls that were once ugly with graffiti are now covered with beautiful pictures of historical heroes and modern art, thanks to the Mural Arts Programme (MAP). Its work makes schools and public places attractive. The programme began as part of Philadelphia’s Anti-Graffiti Network. Jane Golden is the MAP’s artistic director. “When people ask me what our programme is about,’’ she says, ”I answer them with one word: hope.“ Each year, the MAP offers the youth art programmes and workshops. Some one-time graffiti writers even help paint MAP murals.

Golden says that the MAP’s work is all about developing a sense of community. When a neighbourhood requests a mural, the MAP works with the people there to develop a message. Some messages, have been ”Safe Streets,“ ”Love And Carr,’’ and “Peace Walk.”

The MAP receives up to 50 requests for murals each week. Last year, the workers painted 140 murals.

“The making of a mural enters people’s collective memory as an extraordinary, pleasant moment in neighbourhood history,” says Golden, who began as a muralist in Los Angeles.