Winter 2024 — COGS 123 — Team #1
Figure 1. MunchMate frames, specifically the home page (left) and successful group matching (right)
Video chat platforms have had a huge rise in popularity in the recent decade, partially due to the pandemic that caused everyone to stay inside in 2020. Notable platforms include Zoom, Omegle, and Discord allow people to connect with each other despite being physically isolated.
Our app, MunchMate, is a video chat platform that takes a different approach to connecting others for a social computing experience. The popularity of people watching others eat — a video format called Mukbang — is gaining momentum. As we researched Mukbangs, we realized their potential in connecting people over food; eating is an activity that everyone engages in and most enjoy. Many like to do activities while eating, whether it’s watching Mukbangs, YouTube, or just chatting with other diners.
We wanted to connect people who want to enjoy the dining experience socially, through a virtual and far-reaching channel.
Figure 2. Video call feature within MunchMate
Figure 3. Examples of popular Mukbang video thumbnails
Mukbangs are online videos, either pre-recorded or streamed live, in which influencers consume large quantities of food for viewership. This content type became popular in South Korea, and then quickly reached a global audience. This form of entertainment has grown increasingly popular and has even led to watchers forming parasocial relationships with influencers.
We focused on the social reasons viewers have for watching Mukbangs, and learned more about people’s eating habits and motivations through literature research, a survey, and competitive analysis.