THE ROLE OF WECHAT APPLICATION IN CHINESE FAMILY COMMUNICATION: A CASE STUDY OF CHENGDU CITY, SICHUAN, CHINA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/acsr.2024.11Keywords:
Chinese Family Communication, China, Chengdu Province, Communication, Supportive Communication, WeChat ApplicationAbstract
In this research, the objectives aimed to find out the factors influence Chinese family using WeChat to communicate. Participants were Chinese people who live in the Chengdu City of Sichuan Province, and use WeChat groups to communicate with their family members. With the qualitative and quantitative combined for this research, 20 interviewees have been interviewed, and 417 respondents have completed the questionnaires by using purposive and snowball sampling methods to collect the data. The findings reveal that individual factors such as personal preferences and technological ease play a significant role in the adoption and sustained use of WeChat for family interactions. Additionally, the study highlights the influence of WeChat's unique features, like instant messaging and social media integration, which facilitate frequent and flexible communication among family members, thus supporting the maintenance of familial bonds across geographical distances.
References
Bochner, A. (1975). Family Communication Research: A Critical Review of Approaches, Methodologies and Substantive Findings. A paper presented at the Annual Meeting, Speech Communication Association, Chicago, USA.
Burch, A. (2014). Pursuing Information: A Conversation Analytic Perspective on Communication Strategies. Language Learning, 64(3), 651-684.
Burleson, B. (2003). Emotional support skills. In J. Greene, & B. Burleson. (eds.). Handbook of communication and social interaction skills (pp. 551-594). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Chen, Z., & Cheung, M. (2018). Privacy perception and protection on Chinese social media: A case study of WeChat. Ethics and Information Technology, 20, 279-289.
Dafoe, A. (2015). On Technological Determinism: A Typology, Scope Conditions, and a Mechanism. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 40(6), 1047-1076.
Fang, S., & Gong, H. (2020). What happens after young adults’ “friending” of parents? A qualitative study about mediated family communication and privacy management in China. Mobile Media & Communication, 8(3), 299-317.
Galvin, K., Braithwaite, D., & Bylund, C. (2015). Family Communication: Cohesion and Change. New York: Routledge.
Gottman, J., & Silver, N. (2012). What Makes Love Last?. New York: Simon & Schuster.
He, Q. (2023). Investigating the Effects of Promoting the Development of the Digital Economy in the Chengdu-Chongqing Region Using the Example of Building Digital Infrastructure. A paper presented at the 2023 Smart City Challenges & Outcomes for Urban Transformation, Singapore, Singapore.
Jago, R., Page, A., Froberg, K., Sardinha, L., Klasson-Heggebø, L., & Andersen, L. (2008). Screen-viewing and the home TV environment: The European Youth Heart Study. Preventive Medicine, 47(5), 525-529.
Kim, H., Mattson, L., Zhang, D., & Cho, H. (2022). The role of organizational and supervisor support in young adult workers’ resilience, efficacy and burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 50(6), 691-710.
Lasswell, H. (1948). The Structure and Function of Communication in Society. In L. Bryson. (ed.). The Communication of Ideas (pp. 37-51). New York: Harper and Row.
Leydesdorff, L. (2009). The non-linear dynamics of meaning processing in social systems. Social Science Information, 48(1), 5-33.
Manap, J., Hoesni, S., & Hamzah, M. (2018). Family Communication Amongst Conventional Malay Man. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 34(1), 238-252.
McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York: McGraw Hill.
Nindum, K. (2021). Innovative Storytelling to Add Value to Homestay Tourism. PSAKU International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 10(1), 12-21.
Nishikitani, M., Ariyoshi, M., Nohara, Y., & Umihara, J. (2022). Communications Through Contemporary Tools of Information and Communication Technology: Cross-sectional Study Evaluating Health Among Separated Family Members. JMIR Formative Research, 6(8), e34949.
Rautakoski, P. (2011). Partners' self-perceptions of the use of different communication strategies during total communication intervention. Aphasiology, 25(12), 1523-1542.
Tencent. (2023). Tencent interim report, 2023. Retrieved from https://static.www.tencent.com/uploads/2024/04/08/4e1745d32fbe5e8145a82bc4c26bc8aa.pdf.
Tian, Y., Tong, C., Lee, L., Mogavi, R., Liao, Y., & Zhou, P. (2023). Last week with ChatGPT: A Weibo study on social perspective regarding ChatGPT for education and beyond. Retrieved from arXiv:2306.04325.
Tu, F. (2016). WeChat and civil society in China. Communication and the Public, 1(3), 343-350.
Wang, G., Zhao, J., & Shadbolt, N. (2019). What concerns do Chinese parents have about their children's digital adoption and how to better support them? (Working Paper KOALA Project Report 3.5). Oxford: University of Oxford.
Yamane, T. (1973). Statistics: An Introductory Analysis. 3rd ed. New York: Harper and Row.
Zhou, B., & Gui, S. (2017). WeChat and Distant Family Intergenerational Communication in China: A Study of Online Content Sharing on WeChat. In K. Xue, & M. Yu. (eds). New Media and Chinese Society. New Media and Chinese Society (pp. 185-206). Singapore: Springer.
Zhu, X., Song, B., Ni, Y., Ren, Y., & Li, R. (2016). Mobile Internet—From PC-Based Internet to PC-Based Internet and Mobile Internet. In Business Trends in the Digital Era (pp. 63-82). Singapore: Springer.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
.png)
