Abstract
ABSTRACT Across the world, young people are increasingly using locative social media applications to socialize with strangers for dating opportunities. This phenomenon is also found in Chinese society, where such applications are very popular with young Chinese urbanites. This article presents a case study of how young Chinese urbanites navigate social interactions with strangers on WeChat People Nearby, based on the findings of interviews with 19 Chinese university students aged between 18 and 23. By drawing on the notion of interface, we uncover how gender dynamics are established in young Chinese urbanites’ People Nearby use and how the gender dynamics are engineered by the privacy paradox of interfaced social interactions between strangers in the locality. The outcomes of the present research help us to understand the gender-related opportunity-risk axis established in young Chinese urbanites’ everyday use of locative social media applications.
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