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Yujiaxuan Wang

Social networking sites and patterns of usage in Mainland China: A comparative analysis of older adults and young people

Supervisors: Professor Simeon Yates and Dr Elena Musi 

Contacts: Yujiaxuan.Wang@liverpool.ac.uk & yu.wang0702@gmail.com 

Chinese social media tools and market is vastly different from its counterpart in the West. Google and social media such as Facebook were banned in 2009 following the protests that took place in Xinjiang, a western Chinese province. The ban was adjudged by the Chinese government as a matter of protecting the national interest and an insistence that foreign Internet companies abide by China’s laws and regulations which aim to protect the Chinese consumers and government. Ever since, China has developed its own social media landscape by launching its own blogging and social networking sites and platforms, the dominant of which are Weibo and WeChat.  

Most research evidence has shown that most digital technologies are designed mostly with young people. Only very few studies have focused on adults – the so-called digital immigrants or even considered differences in age from the Chinese perspective in particular and the Asian context in general, although there are many studies on older media users from a western perspective. Digital media use, as part of mediated communication, has been widely researched, but this is particularly in relation to children and youth; the research terrain remains underdeveloped when it comes to older people.  

This study hopes to contribute to the body of work in this area, attempt a comparative analysis of the young and the old demographics’ use of social networking sites namely Weibo and WeChat, the two most popular in China. Investigate the significant differences and similarities in the ways in which the old and young people in China use digital media technologies, which will also potentially fill a gap in literature in relation to how different demographics use the social media in mainland China and the barriers they experience as well, especially the older adults whom research evidence has shown have been under-represented in research.  

Research areas 

digital behavior, Generation difference, digital media technologies, Social networking, 

Academic acheivements 

  • ECREA (European Communication Research and Education Association) European Media and Communication Doctral Summer School 2021 
  • Castle Conference 2021