Digital Literacy in Chinese Young People’s Engagement on Weibo

Abstract

Abstract This study identifies the digital literacies generated from Chinese young people’s engagement with Weibo (one of the major Chinese social media platforms). These literacies, manifest as widely accepted community practices on Weibo, extend the prevalent understanding of digital literacy as a set of functional skills or competencies. This extended understanding of digital literacies underlines the importance of their social and cultural dimensions, showing how young people experience them as meaningful and relevant to their digital life. By drawing attention to the constitutive nature of young people’s everyday online practices, and their role in defining digital literacies, this study also highlights the significance of digital literacies for the formation of their identity as a member of digital communities, and for their practice of citizenship in digital spaces.