WeChat and the Sharing of News in Networked China

Dados Bibliográficos

ID22010967
AutoresVivien Weiwei Xu (IP Australia, autor correspondente)
Ano2022
Volume10
Fascículo9
Páginas1441-1463
Data de publicação2022-10-21
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoDigital Journalism (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2167-0811 • E-ISSN: 2167-082X
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21670811.2022.2053335
OpenAlexW4220772406
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências citadas60

This article takes a close look at news sharing on the immensely popular Chinese instant messaging app WeChat. The study is an example of how an affordances perspective can be useful for understanding a key concept of digital journalism, namely news sharing. Most research on news sharing focuses on its antecedents or consequences; in contrast, this study demonstrates how a focus on the affordances of WeChat can illuminate ways in which news sharing on social media in China works. It also explores how the interplay of the platform’s owner, Tencent’s commercial logics and the technology company’s relations with the state may have shaped WeChat’s news sharing through the lens of the political economy of communication. By analysing the platform’s nuanced interface design and its possible implications, the study finds that the affordances of WeChat can both enable and constrain users’ participation in news distribution

Affordance · China · Human–computer interaction · Instant messaging · Internet privacy · Journalism · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Social media · Sociology · Through-the-lens metering · World Wide Web · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Computer Science · Media Studies and Communication · Social Media and Politics