Modeling of Causes of Sina Weibo Continuance Intention with Mediation of Gender Effects

Sina Weibo is a Twitter-like social networking site and one of the most popular microblogging services in China. This study aims to examine the factors that influence the intentions of users to continue using this site. This paper synthesizes the expectation confirmation model (ECM), constructs of habit and perceived critical mass, and the gender effect to construct a theoretical model to explain and predict these user intentions. The model is then tested via an online survey of 498 Sina Weibo users and partial least squares (PLS) modeling. The results indicate that the continuance intention of users is directly predicted by their perceived usefulness of the service (β=0.299), their satisfaction (β=0.208), and their habits (β=0.389), which jointly explain 65.9% of the variance in intention. In addition to the effects of these predictors on the continuance intentions of Sina Weibo users, an assessment of the moderating effect of gender suggests that habit plays a more important role for females than for males in continuance intention, but perceived usefulness seems to be more important for males than for females. The implications of these findings are then discussed

Self-presentation and gender of chinese overseas students on social media : a case study of Sina Weibo

Chinese micro-blogging sites have been developing dramatically in the past 5 years. Therefore, China is an interesting context in which to study Chinese young adults’ self-presentation and gender identity on the most popular social media, Sina Weibo. This is a master thesis about self-presentation and gender on Sina Weibo. Six Chinese overseas students and their Weibo accounts were under investigation in this research and four participants were also interviewed. Three of the participants are female users and the rest are male users, including two homosexual participants. The data was collected in November-December 2013 which consists of 6 Weibo accounts and 4 interviews. Content analysis was applied as the main methods in this research. An affordance perspective of social media was utilized as theoretical framework and three affordances were focused on in particular: visibility, interactivity and individuality. The results from the analysis of three affordances of Weibo reveal that Sina Weibo serves as an open and dynamic platform for Chinese youngsters by encouraging social connection and enabling them to multimedia self-expression. However, social connection on Weibo was found not tight between participants and their audiences. The gender differences in use patterns and preferences were also found on Weibo. However, there is a big gap of social media skill among users, only quite a few users can drive this vehicle well and become opinion leaders. Additionally, Weibo serves as an open virtual community for non-heterosexual group, but it cannot replace the reality from where non-heterosexual group still suffer

Adopting microblogging solutions for interaction with government

Authorities in the People’s Republic of China communicate with citizens using an estimated 600,000 Sina Weibo microblogs. This study reports on a study of Chinese citizens’ adoption of microblogs to interact with the government. Adoption results from trust and peer pressure in smaller-network ties (densely knit, pervasive social networks surrounding individual citizens). Larger-network ties (trust in institutions at large, such as the Chinese Communist Party, executive organizations, the judicial system, the media, etc.) are not associated with the adoption of microblogging. Furthermore, higher levels of anxiety are correlated with lower levels of use intention, and this finding underlines the impact of the Chinese authority’s surveillance and control activities on the lives of individual Chinese citizens. Based on these findings, we outline a theory of why citizens use microblogs to interact with the government and suggest avenues for further research into microblogs, state–citizen communication patterns and technology adoption

Men, Women, Microblogging: Where Do We Stand?

With millions of users worldwide, microblogging has developed into a powerful tool for interaction and information dissemination. While both men and women readily use this technology, there are significant differences in how they embrace it. Understanding these differences is important to ensure gender parity, provide advertisers with actionable insights on the marketing potential of both groups, and to inform current theories on how microblogging affordances shape gender roles. So far, existing research has not provided a unified framework for such analysis, with gender insights scattered across multiple studies. To fill this gap, our study conducts a comprehensive meta-review of existing research. We find that current discourse offers a solid body of knowledge on gender differences in adoption, shared content, stylistic presentation, and a rather convoluted picture of female and male interaction. Together, our structured findings offer a deeper insight into the underlying dynamics of gender differences in microblogging

Why are some websites researched more than others? A review of research into the global top twenty

The web is central to the work and social lives of a substantial fraction of the world’s population, but the role of popular websites may not always be subject to academic scrutiny. This is a concern if social scientists are unable to understand an aspect of users’ daily lives because one or more major websites have been ignored. To test whether popular websites may be ignored in academia, this article assesses the volume and citation impact of research mentioning any of twenty major websites. The results are consistent with the user geographic base affecting research interest and citation impact. In addition, site affordances that are useful for research also influence academic interest. Because of the latter factor, however, it is not possible to estimate the extent of academic knowledge about a site from the number of publications that mention it. Nevertheless, the virtual absence of international research about some globally important Chinese and Russian websites is a serious limitation for those seeking to understand reasons for their web success, the markets they serve or the users that spend time on them. The sites investigated were Google, YouTube, Facebook, Baidu, Wikipedia, QQ, Tmall, Taobao, Yahoo, Amazon, Twitter, Sohu, Live, VK, JD, Instagram, Sina, Weibo, Yandex, and 360

Microbloggers’ motivations in participatory journalism: A cross-cultural study of America and China

This phenomenological study focuses on the motivations of participatory journalists contributing on microblogs such as Twitter and Weibo. Although online user behavior and motivations have been studied before, few studies have examined motivations of participatory journalists from their own perspective. Moreover, this study is one of the few to explore participatory journalists across different cultures (U.S. and China). The author conducted a total of 13 in-depth interviews with participatory journalists on microblogs from both countries and used a qualitative analysis method to identify the themes and patterns that emerged. Motivations such as earning respect, technology early adoption, self-expression, relationship building, self-enhancement, branding and image building, and financial gain were discussed. De-motivational factors such as time constraints and self-censorship were presented. Motivational differences between the two groups of participants, including what the microblog account represents and the role of participatory journalists, were explained by cultural differences collectivism versus individualism and power distance. Limitations and future research were also discussed

Intercultural Communication on China’s We Media–WeChat Public Platform as an Example.

To explore the deep associations between diversified culture communication modes and the new tendencies of China’s social media, this thesis focuses on the development patterns of intercultural communication on China’s we media. Symbolized by WeChat Public Platform, China’s we media has achieved a tremendous development in recent years. In Chapter 1, the background introduction of we media highlights the essential connotation and the basic methodology of this thesis. And by interpreting the rise of China’s we media in Chapter 2, the unique evolution process of social media in China is revealed logically. Besides, as specific case studies, the two cultural WeChat official accounts: EatPrayLove and Shameless in Chapter 3 comprehensively present a macroscopic cognition as well as the detailed descriptions of intercultural communication on China’s we media. In addition, based on a series of analyses and demonstrations on the developments and prospects of China’s we media in Chapter 4, the further exploration and interpretation on how to promote intercultural communication is concluded concisely and precisely in Chapter 5

Mistress or Hero? Corruption Reports on Sina Weibo and the Construction of Chinese Femininity

This qualitative textual analysis study focuses on two Chinese women who were previously sexually involved with the corrupted officers and later reported these officers to authorities. As a Chinese version of Twitter, Sina Weibo is a powerful social networking and communication tool for their reports. The study analyzes the posts and comments available on Sina Weibo about the identity of these women and how hegemonic Chinese femininity is performed, maintained, and challenged. These discussions may reflect the potential cultural, ideological, and socioeconomic factors that can influence the construction of contemporary Chinese femininity, providing the picture of how social media and mainstream journalists may influence the construction of the femininity and female empowerment. The results of the study suggest that the journalists and the mainstream public tend to marginalize and blame the woman in the sex-video case more than the woman in self-report case. In these discourses, the woman is given more agency in the self-report case partially because of her high socioeconomic status. The influence of traditional Chinese culture as well as the Western sex objectification of women is still obvious. The hegemonic femininity has been maintained by the mainstream groups on Weibo; however, social media do provide opportunities for the women to inspire social engagement and speak up for individual construction of diverse femininity, challenging social hegemony and empowering the women being studied

Social Media Use, Media Credibility and Online Engagement Among Young Adults in China

Drawing on data collected online in China, this dissertation consists of four studies that deal – from different angles – with relationships between media use and repertoires, traditional and social media credibility, and online engagement in politics, culture, and health among young adults. In a nutshell, I investigated how much young adults trust the various media outlets at their disposal and how this affects behaviors and forms of engagement vis-à-vis topical issues in the fields of politics, culture and health in the country’s contemporary media environ

Economics of ‘Tipping’ Button in Social Media: An Empirical Analysis of Content Monetization

As the success of social media platforms heavily depends on the amount and the nature of user-generated content, content monetization has been introduced as a mechanism to incentivize users to generate content. In particular, content contributors can be paid (i.e. tipped) by readers who like the story. We adopted difference-in-differences approach with robustness matching estimator to examine the impact of content monetization. Our results confirm that the content monetization effectively motivate content demand and supply and also improves content quality. Furthermore, such economic incentives have a spillover effect on ordinary weibo users before they are eligible to adopt “tipping” function. However, the verified users who have already been the experts or celebrities in teh society may be depressed after open application of the program. This result suggests that start-ups are able to survive and earn profit even in markets that are dominated by famous celebrities because of the monetization mechanism