The internet and new social formation in China: fandom publics in the making

Chu, Yingchi

doi:10.1080/10357823.2017.1317615

Cited by 5 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…A related and more fundamental question is as follows: Will collective online data-making facilitate civic engagement? Some scholars (Huang, 2014;W. Zhang, 2016) believe fans' participation in star-making resembles civic participation in societies with a strict civic environment, but this study implied the possibility that the civic engagement intention might be dissolved by fans' collective data-making behaviors.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…This study examines the sociopsychological mechanism of the online data-making practices of celebrity fans in China from the collective action perspective. Using quantitative analysis, the study brought fan studies and collective action theories into a dialog, echoed scholars' increasing interest in the potential dynamics between fandom and political/civic life (Jenkins & Shresthova, 2012;W. Zhang, 2016), and contributed to "larger considerations of the relationship between participatory culture and civic engagement" (Jenkins & Shresthova, 2012, para.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent years, fan activities have been more evidently stirred by economic and political issues such as resistance to capital, the appropriate use of civil rights (S. Zhao & Ni, 2020), and the transmission and expression of nationalist sentiments (X. . As social media increasingly facilitates fan activities (L. Bennett, 2014;W. Zhang, 2016), fans are likely to apply datafication logic to turn their civic engagement intention into online data-making behavior.…”

Section: Premise: Celebrity Worship and Civic Engagement Intention Am...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So, why do fans willingly conduct collective online data-making? W. Zhang (2016) coined the term "fandom publics" to argue that fans in China are experiencing civic progress while undertaking free immaterial labor. Fandom, empowered by communication networks, has shown increasingly stronger potential and willingness to participate in political/ civic issues (W. Zhang, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…W. Zhang (2016) coined the term "fandom publics" to argue that fans in China are experiencing civic progress while undertaking free immaterial labor. Fandom, empowered by communication networks, has shown increasingly stronger potential and willingness to participate in political/ civic issues (W. Zhang, 2016). From this viewpoint, this study aims to investigate the socio psychological mechanism underlying the (ir)rationality of the Chinese fans' data-making practices from the perspective of collective action.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Civic Engagement Intention and the Data-Driven Fan Community: Investigating the Motivation Behind Chinese Fans’ Online Data-Making Behavior From a Collective Action Perspective

2023

Social Media + Society

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Enabled by social media, the data frenzy in the data-driven fandom culture in China has attracted widespread attention. Unlike most forms of data labor and fan activities, Chinese fans’ online data-making behavior ( zuoshuju) appears tedious, time- and money-consuming, and overwhelmingly irrational. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the sociopsychological motivation of fans’ online data-making behavior from a collective action perspective. Based on survey data from 588 respondents with fandom experiences online in China, this study (1) distinguished two types of online data-making (operational and monetary); (2) suggested that celebrity worship and civic engagement intention were antecedents of online data-making; and (3) found that fan communities facilitated by social media bridged the effects of sociopsychological factors and data-making behavior. This research introduced the collective action perspective and constructed a quantitative path model to test the underlying mechanism and impetus of fans’ data-making practices in China, adding quantitative support to the knowledge of the hybrid pattern of collective actions embedded in the datafication world. It contributes to the understanding of Chinese youth culture and civic engagement through social media.

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Section: Limitations and Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Premise: Celebrity Worship and Civic Engagement Intention Am...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Civic Engagement Intention and the Data-Driven Fan Community: Investigating the Motivation Behind Chinese Fans’ Online Data-Making Behavior From a Collective Action Perspective

2023

Social Media + Society

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The Expression of Cultural Identities in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement: A Semantic Network Analysis of Tweets

Chen

Zhang

2021

Social Science Computer Review

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Building upon the theories of nested identity and optimal distinctiveness, this study examines the identity structure of Hong Kong Twitter users as reflected in their tweets and how their structure changed over time during the Anti-Extradition Movement. By employing semantic network analysis and discursive historical analysis, we found that the identity structure expressed by Hong Kong Twitter users manifested a composite mesh of a sense of victimization, democratic values, sense of autonomy, and sense of helplessness. Moreover, the way Hong Kong Twitter users distinguished themselves from others was hybrid and miscible, justified by an affirmation for morality. The identity expression changed its emphasis regarding different identity concepts as the movement evolved. Implications on how social movement impacts identity politics, and vice versa, are also discussed.

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“Let’s Go, Baby Forklift!”: Fandom Governance and the Political Power of Cuteness in China

Wong

Lee

Long

et al. 2021

Social Media + Society

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This article describes how the Chinese state borrows from the culture of celebrity fandom to implement a novel strategy of governing that we term “fandom governance.” We illustrate how state-run social media employed fandom governance early in the COVID-19 pandemic when the country was convulsed with anxiety. As the state faced a crisis of confidence, state social media responded with a propagandistic display of state efficacy, broadcasting a round-the-clock livestream of a massive emergency hospital construction project. Chinese internet users playfully embellished imagery from the livestream. They unexpectedly transformed the construction vehicles into cute personified memes, with Baby Forklift and Baby Mud Barfer (a cement mixer) among the most popular. In turn, state social media strategically channeled this playful engagement in politically productive directions by resignifying the personified vehicles as celebrity idols. Combining social media studies with cultural and linguistic anthropology, we offer a processual account of the semiotic mediations involved in turning vehicles into memes, memes into idols, and citizens into fans. We show how, by embedding cute memes within modules of fandom management such as celebrity ranking lists, state social media rendered them artificially vulnerable to a fall in status. Fans, in turn, rallied around to “protect” these cute idols with small but significant acts of digital devotion and care, organizing themselves into fan circles and exhorting each other to vote. In elevating the memes to the status of celebrity idols, state social media thereby created a disposable pantheon of virtual avatars for the state, and consolidated state power by exploiting citizens’ voluntary response to vulnerability. We analyze fandom governance as a new development in the Chinese state’s long history of governing citizens through the management of emotion.

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The internet and new social formation in China: fandom publics in the making

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Civic Engagement Intention and the Data-Driven Fan Community: Investigating the Motivation Behind Chinese Fans’ Online Data-Making Behavior From a Collective Action Perspective

Civic Engagement Intention and the Data-Driven Fan Community: Investigating the Motivation Behind Chinese Fans’ Online Data-Making Behavior From a Collective Action Perspective

The Expression of Cultural Identities in Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement: A Semantic Network Analysis of Tweets

“Let’s Go, Baby Forklift!”: Fandom Governance and the Political Power of Cuteness in China

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