Exploring the Interaction between Intercultural Communication and Social Media of International Students in China: Take WeChat as an Example

Abstract

Little empirical literatures focus on the relationship of social media and interpersonal communication of international students under the cross-cultural environment. This study investigated international students’ behaviors, feelings, and cognitions during interacting with other people by WeChat in China. To supplement the quantitative data, the material materials such as composition and life diary related to WeChat has been collected. The finding reveals that the purpose and function of WeChat of international students are relatively single, and the boundary between information acquisition and interpersonal communication is clear, and there is a significant correlation between some factors and the four dimensions of intercultural interpersonal communication, such as intercultural communication willingness, skills, behaviors, and effects. The results also show that there is a two-way interaction between social media represented by WeChat and intercultural interpersonal communication of international students, and both tendencies of "positive cultural integration" and "negative cultural barriers". The selection and use of social media by intercultural groups and their intercultural interpersonal communication are a dynamic mutual construction relationship.