Mobilized, negotiated and balanced: Chinese school vloggers’ platform engagements and layered identity construction on Bilibili

Abstract

ABSTRACT Entangled with wanghong (literally: popular people on the internet) and the platform economy in China, it has become trendy for Chinese youth to present themselves as they pursue visibility and monetization as vloggers on social media platforms. In this research, we do not focus on celebrities or influencers but on the regular Chinese school vloggers who present and share their everyday lives in and around the school on Bilibili, a youth-oriented video-sharing platform in China. We explore their layered identity construction that develops, influenced by the forces of cultural motivation and financial goals. Drawing from a digital ethnography, conducted between September 2019 and March 2020, and including observations of school vlogs on Bilibili and in-depth interviews with 16 Chinese school vloggers, we theorize three kinds of engagements actively practiced on Bilibili by young school vloggers. These engagements are self-presentation bricolage, self-identified branding, and community participation. By exploring the layered identity construction of these youths, this article sheds light on youth’s interaction and engagements with the platform economy in contemporary China.