Abstract
This chapter evaluates effectiveness of We-media on immigration issues in China. Guided by Cultural Communication Theory as theoretical framework and Cultural Discourse Analysis as analytic procedure, we delve into identity construction of foreign users and study the relationship implied with meanings of identities. Results show that foreign users are identified with nationalities on cultural level, as immigrant on social level, and as Internet celebrity on personal level. Cultural and social level identity emphasis the differences between foreigners and Chinese, therefore exclude immigrants as Cultural Others from Chinese society; personal level identity helps generating share meanings and discourses of popular culture with Chinese users, and situate foreign users as one of Cultural Us in We-media community. However, it is a conditional inclusion outside mainstream culture in Chinese society. In a nutshell, we propose that intercultural communication on We-media can help immigrants well blend into certain online community, but it might not contribute as much on immigration integration.
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Notes
- 1.
Bilibili.com, http://www.bilibili.com/, also known as “Site B,” was opened on June 26th, 2009. It became Chinese youngsters’ favorite site because of the featured “bullet comment” function. “Bullet comment” (“Dan Mu” in Chinese), a new form of online user comment which allow users to send in the middle of watching an online video. Bullet comments will fly across the video and then be saved on Web site’s server. Other users can see those bullet comments left by previous audiences.
- 2.
Weibo, http://weibo.com/, was founded in 2010 by Chinese online media company sina.com.
- 3.
In December 2014, Weibo had 175.7 million MAUs and 80.6 million average DAUs. Its user covers a wide arrange of people, including government officials, celebrities, organizations, and ordinary people. See: Business Overview, http://ir.weibo.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=253076&p=irol-homeProfile&t=&id=&, retrieved September 29, 2016. It is also reported that, Bilibili.com had financing over 1.7 billion and got the investment from Tencent company, one of the most successful Internet enterprises in China. Bilibili.com has become the “largest online popular culture and entertainment community for young people in China.” See: Shou Xi Guan Cha Tuan, Tencent Took Shares in Site B, will Face another Duel with Alibaba on “Nijigen”, Hu Xiu Wang, http://www.huxiu.com/article/130666.html, November 9, 2015. About Us, Bilibili.com: http://www.bilibili.com/html/aboutUs.html, retrieved September 29, 2016.
- 4.
All statistics of followers and subscribers are collected May 14, 2017.
- 5.
“Long-term international immigrant (or resident)” refers to people with citizenship outside China and stay in China for more than six months, see: www.npc.gov.cn.
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Sun, Y., Jiang, F. (2017). A Study on the Effectiveness of We-Media as a Platform for Intercultural Communication. In: Xue, K., Yu, M. (eds) New Media and Chinese Society. Communication, Culture and Change in Asia, vol 5. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6710-5_16
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