The Lived Meanings of Chinese Social Network Sites (SNSs) among Urban White-Collar Professionals

ABSTRACT

A phenomenological study reveals the lived meanings of Chinese social network sites (SNSs) among urban, white-collar professional users through an investigation of a newly launched SNS, Happy Network. Their shared meanings of the Happy Network were interdependent with participants’ interpretations of time, fun, need to belong, and social interactions, shaped by and reflective of their social role as white-collar professionals and the cultural characteristics of contemporary Chinese society. Specifically, participants’ understandings of the Happy Network entailed five dialectic relations: in control/controlled by, dependent/independent, public/private, intimate/distant, and personal/social.

Keywords:

• social networking
• advertising
• computer-mediated relationships
• communications
• Happy Network
• China

Additional information

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Huan Chen received an MA from University of Florida and is pursuing a doctoral degree from the School of Advertising & Public Relations in the College of Communication and Information at University of Tennessee. E-mail: [email protected]

Eric Haley (Ph.D., University of Georgia) is Professor of Advertising in the School of Advertising & Public Relations, College of Communication and Information, at University of Tennessee. E-mail: [email protected]