Mobile Social Media Platforms Research Articles

Deciphering dynamic interactions among multidimensional psychological motivations, academic performance, and sociocultural adjustment: The critical influence of excessive WeChat use

As the preeminent mobile social media platform in Mainland China, WeChat's meteoric expansion has revolutionized the dynamics of interpersonal communication and the modalities of mutual interaction among individuals. Despite the escalating significance of mobile social media in the cross-cultural adaptation of international students, existing scholarly works have largely neglected the underlying relationship between psychological motivations, excessive WeChat use, academic performance, and sociocultural adaptation of these students. Anchored in uses and gratifications theory and cross-cultural adaptation paradigm, the primary objectives of this study are to devise a theoretical model and to scrutinize differential psychological motivations propelling international students' WeChat usage, its association with excessive WeChat use, and impacts on academic performance and sociocultural adjustment. The proposed model undergoes meticulous evaluation through data amassed online from 598 Chinese international students studying in Germany. Sequential analytical techniques, especially Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling, were employed to elucidate the dynamic interplay among key variables. The final results validate the path effect suggesting that both hedonic and social motivations are positive predictors of excessive WeChat use. Moreover, excessive WeChat use is negatively correlated with academic performance and sociocultural adjustment. However, utilitarian motivation is not significantly related to excessive WeChat use. By demystifying the driving factors and consequences of excessive WeChat use, these findings not only accentuate the pivotal role of mobile social media in the cross-cultural adaptation of international students but also enrich the theoretical landscape and enhance the strategic approaches for educators and academic institutions.

Determining influence of service quality on user identification, belongingness, and satisfaction on mobile social media: Insight from emotional attachment perspective

WeChat has burgeoned into a predominant mobile communication platform that facilitates instantaneous text and voice-mediated dialogues. Currently, it stands out as a quintessential mobile social media platform in mainland China. The primary objective of this study is to meticulously dissect the ramifications of entire service quality on user assessments of WeChat, encompassing facets such as user satisfaction, identification, belongingness, and perceived benefit, whilst unraveling the correlation between user assessments and their proclivity towards emotional and service attachment. This scholarly endeavor is amongst the scant researches that empirically scrutinize the intricate interplay between entire service quality, user evaluations, emotional attachment specific to WeChat, and overarching service attachment within the mobile social media milieu. The research paradigm was rigorously evaluated through the harnessing of data collected from the Sojump database, which contains 598 valid observational data points. Employing the robust methodology of structural equation modeling, the research model was subsequently corroborated and authenticated. Obtained results validate the path effects, demonstrating that entire service quality exerts a positive influence on WeChat users’ identification, belongingness, satisfaction and benefit. Furthermore, emotional attachment significantly contributes to service attachment. Based on attachment theory, the revelations from this study shed light on the profound mechanisms through which entire service quality in mobile social media can invigorate and solidify user evaluations, fortifying their predisposition towards sustained product and service affiliations.

Mobile social media as a vehicle of health communication: a multimodal discourse analysis of WeChat official account posts during the COVID-19 crisis

The utilization of mobile communication can significantly enhance the availability and accessibility of public health information. To this end, various mobile social media platforms are recognized as multimodal discourses that can serve as powerful instruments in disseminating health-related information to a wider audience, thereby allowing for greater reach and improved health outcomes. This study retrospectively examined Malaysia’s third wave of COVID-19 to decipher the visual representation of this epidemiological crisis on mobile social media. A qualitative research approach was utilized, underpinned by the visual framing concept of Coleman (2010) and the visual actor-network of van Leeuwen (2008), to analyze 280 images from a popular and Chinese WeChat official account called Weimalaysia. The analysis revealed that visuals on this WeChat official account highlight specific contents and features of COVID-19 in Malaysia during the third wave. However, no visual misinformation regarding intolerance elements was identified. The initial findings of this study demonstrate the importance of visuals as a crucial resource in public health communication. Additionally, the results underscore the significance of WeChat official accounts as a novel mobile social media platform for conveying health-related information during the public health crisis.

High response rate and low cost of WeChat-based data collection of infant and young child feeding data in rural Qinghai Province, China.

BackgroundMeasuring the infant and young child feeding (IYCF) indicators is key to effectively tracking the progress of child health programs and making evidence-based decisions. WeChat is the most popular mobile social media platform in China and has become a promising tool for collecting health data. This study aims to explore the response rate and costs of a WeChat-based questionnaire on IYCF information in rural China.MethodsWe conducted two cross-sectional surveys with caregivers of children aged 6-23 months in two rural counties in Qinghai Province (Menyuan and Datong County), China, from January to March 2022. Both surveys used the same WeChat IYCF questionnaire to collect household information, infant feeding practices, and caregivers’ feeding knowledge. Village doctors sent a quick response (QR) code to caregivers that was linked to the WeChat IYCF questionnaire. Participating caregivers scanned the QR code using their own WeChat account on their smartphone and filled in the questionnaire online. If they could not use WeChat themselves, village doctors administered the questionnaire. Once caregivers finished the questionnaires, they received a personalized report with infant feeding recommendations.ResultsWe recruited 1274 caregivers of children aged 6-23 months in Menyuan County and 1748 caregivers in Datong County. The total response rate in the two counties was 98.2%; 77.6% of questionnaires were self-administered by caregivers and 20.6% were interviewer-administered by village doctors. The questionnaires were filled in twice by 209 (6.9%) caregivers. The cost of these two WeChat IYCF surveys was much lower than the cost of a previously conducted face-to-face survey: 11.8 yuan (US$1.85) in Menyuan County and 7.5 yuan (US$1.18) in Datong County for the WeChat survey vs 112.7 yuan (US$17.70) for the face-to-face survey in Huzhu County.ConclusionsThis study showed that using WeChat for IYCF surveys can achieve a very high response rate at a low cost in rural China. Village doctors played a very important role in achieving this high response rate. Providing feedback to caregivers may improve their feeding practices and this intervention could be incorporated into the data collection process.

Comparison of the agreement between WeChat-based self-administered and interviewer-administered data on infant and young child feeding in China: A test-retest study.

BackgroundMeasuring infant and young child feeding (IYCF) indicators is important in evaluating child health programs and making evidence-based decisions. With Internet and new media rapidly developing, communication apps such as WeChat (the most popular mobile social media platform in China) are widely used and can potentially be used as an alternative way to collect infant and young child feeding information. This study compares data agreement between a WeChat-based self-administered and an interviewer-administered survey on infant and young child feeding information.MethodsWe recruited 297 mothers of children aged 6-23 months in Fenxi County, Shanxi Province, China. Using the Test-Retest method, we first collected data through a self-administered survey using a WeChat-based electronic questionnaire and asked 36 questions on breastfeeding and complementary feeding knowledge, practices, and information sources. We then conducted an interviewer-administered survey using the same questionnaire and compared the data agreement between the two survey methods during the same day. Cohen's kappa score (κ) and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were used for data agreement analysis for all 36 questions and six key IYCF indicators. The McNemar test was used to identify differences between the two survey methods for the six key indicators.ResultsThere was substantial or almost perfect agreement for 33 questions (κ/ICC>0.60), and slight or fair agreement for the other 3 questions (κ/ICC<0.40). Agreement of all six key IYCF indicators was substantial or almost perfect (κ = 0.78-0.94), while two indicators showed statistical differences between the two survey methods (P = 0.03 for “Minimum meal frequency” and P = 0.001 for “Minimum accepted diet”). Analysis of reasons for inconsistencies showed that 43.6% of all the inconsistencies were not caused by the self-administered survey method. The cost of the interviewer-administered survey was much higher than that of the self-administered survey: ¥45.9 (US$6.8) vs ¥19.7 (US$2.9) per questionnaire.ConclusionsThe WeChat-based self-administered method can be used for future data collection of infant and young child feeding information in China. Most of the questions and key indicators showed very good agreement without statistical differences between the two methods.

Understanding the antecedents of mobile social media acceptance during the public health crisis maintenance stage

Mobile social media experienced explosive growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. To understand the underlying causes of users' acceptance towards mobile social media, this study draws upon the uses and gratifications theory, media dependency theory, and related literature of individuals' perceived appraisal (perceived trust, perceived benefits, and perceived risk) to explore the determinants that influenced mobile social media acceptance during the public health crisis maintenance stage. Data were obtained from 724 mobile social media users in China through an online paid questionnaire survey platform. The results revealed that perceived trust and perceived benefits positively affected information seeking and information sharing, which jointly influenced an individual's intention to use mobile social media during the public health crisis maintenance stage. Social media dependency also positively affected mobile social media users' usage intentions. However, perceived risk negatively influenced information seeking and information sharing. The results of this study offer valuable theoretical and practical implications for crisis communication researchers, emergency management practitioners, and mobile social media platforms.

ROCKETING SHEEP: AFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE IN ANONYMOUS MOBILE SOCIAL MEDIA JODEL DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The Covid-19 pandemic has sparked online discussion in unprecedented volumes, as citizens use social media to share their opinions and concerns regarding the prevention measures, for instance. Much of such activity takes place under real names on popular platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. However, parallel to these platforms more anonymous spaces remain and flourish, including completely anonymous services such as Secret.ly and Ask.fm, or pseudonymized services such as Reddit. This study focuses on Covid-19 related discussion on mobile social media platform Jodel, an anonymous-by-design social media application that allows messaging users who are geographically close. In this paper, we explore discussions about the Covid-19 pandemic on Jodel in Helsinki, Finland, through the theoretical notion of affective discipline. Our data is collected during a virtual, mobile ethnography that followed the discussions on the #corona channel in Jodel in Helsinki during 2020-21. We argue that the anonymity of Jodel provided its users a space to discuss the restrictive measures in a more relaxed manner than real-name-based social media. This also endows the conversations with deeper and different affective attunement than what public discussion would. While the discussions contain moral judgments, they were also rife with humor, irony and distanced spectatorship of the ongoing pandemic, resonating with the carnivalistic discussion cultures of other anonymous and pseudonymous platforms. We argue that anonymous and ephemeral platforms like Jodel, where identities and histories are nonexistent, bring out the affective dynamics of online discussions, and the related forces that assemble and disassemble communities.

Friction-free authenticity: mobile social networks and transactional affordances

This paper contextualizes and critically examines the incorporation of transactional features into two popular mobile social media apps: Instagram and Snapchat. It examines how mobile social media acts as an interface between culture and commerce. We situate this interface within a larger political economic context in which tech companies are embracing ‘fintech’ to drive growth. We argue that mobile social media platforms play a unique role in monetising personal data and context awareness through their development of ‘transactional affordance’ – a term we develop to understand new features allowing users to connect content to forms of payment. We argue that the success of these affordances is tied to labour associated with the ‘performative authenticity’ of social-media influencers. Our first case study examines the recent development of ‘shopping’ and ‘checkout’ features on Instagram, and the significance of this feature for the economic growth of parent company Facebook. We then look at how the specific development of augmented reality features on Snapchat serve as the basis for new transactional affordances in everyday contexts. We conclude the paper by arguing that the contextual commerce these phenomena entail signals a shift to a transactional culture in which everyday interactions become opportunities for consumption.

Placemaking through mobile social media platform Snapchat

In this article, we examine the particular ways that place is configured in and through mobile social media platform Snapchat, and how Snapchat is designed and conceptualized in such a way as to encourage digital placemaking. The position we take in this article is that place is not a thing that is merely recorded through this platform. Rather, place is something that is continually enacted, negotiated and renegotiated across multiple levels of media engagement. In developing this position, we first review the previous research on Snapchat that relates to placemaking. Then, we examine placemaking through two primary lens: Snapchat’s design and Snapchat’s business model. Our argument is that close examination of the place-based materiality and meaning of the Snapchat service for itself and for its clients reveals the interconnected construction and commodification of place through this service.

CrowdEIM: Crowdsourcing emergency information management tasks to mobile social media users

Crowdsourcing certain emergency information management (EIM) tasks to the general public has been proven to be effective during emergencies. To accelerate the diffusion of EIM crowdsourcing tools and quickly attract more participants, this work proposes a solution that takes full advantage of mobile social media platforms and their users. Specifically, a mobile crowdsourcing tool called CrowdEIM was designed and implemented based on the WeChat Official Accounts Platform. Formative studies were conducted to help design and evaluate a graphical mock-up, and summative evaluations were applied to investigate the effectiveness and usability of the runnable prototype. The findings indicate that EIM crowdsourcing tools based on mobile social media platforms are more likely to be disseminated and can provide more accurate and understandable emergency information, and that only those tools with simple operations can be widely accepted in emergency situations. Although limited to the WeChat platform, the CrowdEIM solution is expected to offer some valuable suggestions for the emergency management practitioners, and help explore more possibilities for the use of mobile social media during emergencies.

High Schoolers’ Usage Intensity of Mobile Social Media and Nomophobia: Investigating the Mediating Role of Flow Experience

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between high schoolers’ usage intensity of mobile social media and nomophobia through the mediation of flow experience. By adopting flow as a multidimensional construct; skill, machine interaction, and social interaction were included in the analysis as the conditions while concentration, enjoyment, and playfulness were included as the dimensions. A total of 584 adolescent mobile social media users participated in the study. The proposed model was tested through ordinary least-squares regression analysis and bootstrap methods. The findings showed that the usage intensity of the favorite mobile social media significantly predicts both conditions and dimensions of flow experience and nomophobia. In addition, the dimensions of flow experience together with skill significantly mediate the relationship between the usage intensity and nomophobia while the other conditions do not. These findings imply that as students spend more time on their favorite mobile social media, their nomophobic behaviors increase with the mediation of the dimensions and skill; but not the other conditions. The current study contributes to the relevant literature by associating nomophobia with flow experience on multiple mobile social media platforms. It also has implications for parents, school counselors, and educators of high school students.

Research on the Relationship Between Perceived Social Support and Exercise Behavior of User in Social Network

A growing number of information technology systems and services have occurred to change users' attitudes or behaviors or both in the rapid development of mobile social media platforms. It is a new topic in the field of health communication whether the digitization and socialization of individual exercise behavior can stimulate health behavior. WeRun is a typical platform for the digitization and socialization of individual exercise. Based on 689 WeRun users' questionnaires, this study first repairs the missing and abnormal data by BP neural network. Then, the decision tree is used to evaluate the relationship between the perceived social support and exercise behavior under different intervention conditions, and detects the heterogeneous intervention effects for different pre-intervention profiles. In addition, this study further discusses the performances of social support features of persuasion technology in the WeRun. The data-driven method used in this study is beneficial to reducing self-selection bias and evaluate the intervention effect. The decision tree does not require decision-makers to have much expertise or to make parameter hypotheses while evaluating the intervention effect, and the results are more direct and intelligible. The results show that the decision tree can detect the heterogeneous intervention effect. In some cases, there is not a perfectly positive correlation between the degree of perceived social support and the number of average daily steps, and the relationship with friends has a great impact on the user's perceived social support. In addition, it also reveals the relationship between social comparison and perceived social support, and their interaction on exercise behavior. Finally, this study provides practical suggestions for the design and operation of e-health social network platform. The platforms are supposed to take corresponding persuasive strategies according to the various characteristics of users, so as to improve the continuous attention and participation of users.

Motivations and habits of micro-news consumption on mobile social media

Micro-news are abbreviated summaries or teasers of news content that are often accompanied with links to longer articles. We investigated motivations and habits of micro-news consumption through mobile social media platforms and how these variables relate to continuation intention. We surveyed 250 U.S. adults and identified six motivations using a uses and gratifications approach: social utility, pass time, entertainment, local information-seeking, salient information-seeking, and financial information-seeking. We found that habits add significant explanatory power on top of motivation in explaining users’ continuance intention. Context stability of time and situation, but not location, was correlated with habit.

Tourist behavior analysis in gaming destinations based on venue check-in data

ABSTRACTThis research introduces the use of venue check-ins, which are available on mobile social media platforms, as an additional data source to study tourist behaviors in gaming destinations. The practical value of venue check-ins is demonstrated through a case study of Macau, a popular gaming and cultural destination. The analyses provide an overview of the travel patterns of tourists to gambling and non-gambling venues and highlight the differences between gambling and non-gambling tourists. The introduced approach is beneficial to tourism managers in understanding tourist behaviors and interests and, thus, improves the management and development of gaming destinations.

Digital Genealogies: Understanding Social Mobile Media LINE in the Role of Japanese Families

This article explores the emergence of the dominant mobile social media platform in Japan, LINE. In particular, the article focuses upon its usage to maintain familial ties, especially between matriarchal connections. Drawing upon ethnographic work with 12 families over 3 years, this article seeks to provide a detailed and nuanced sense of how social mobile media is deployed intergenerationally.

Healthcare support for underserved communities using a mobile social media platform

Emerging digital technologies for healthcare information support have already contributed to reducing the digital divide among rural communities. Although mobile health (m-health) applications facilitate provision of support for treatment consultation in real-time, their substantial potential has not yet been operationalised for decision support to meet citizen demand in developing nations. Modern healthcare information access, especially in rural areas of developing countries, is critical to effective healthcare, since both information and expert opinions are limited. Mobile phone and social media penetration, however, is often extensive. In this paper, we design and evaluate an innovative mobile decision support system (MDSS) solution for rural citizens healthcare decision support and information dissemination.Developed using a design science approach, the instantiated artifact connects underserved rural patients in Bangladesh to general practitioners (GPs) – allowing GPs, based on queries and information support provided, to evaluate patient conditions virtually and provide answers for further diagnosis or treatment. A cloud platform using social media embodies health record information and is used with a rating technique that matches queries to profiled remote experts, participating asynchronously. A comprehensive evaluation of the MDSS artifact ensures its utility, efficacy, and reliability.

Providing Library Information Services through WeChat: A Study of Project 985 University Libraries in China

The application of the popular mobile social media platform WeChat in library and information services in China was examined. Thirty-two out of a total of thirty-nine university libraries of Project 985 had established official WeChat accounts by the end of 2015. The study explores the use of WeChat from six aspects, including basic profile information of an account and interactivity of WeChat public account. Through analysis of the data and comparison with the results of previous research, the study indicates that the library WeChat platforms have improved in many respects, including official account authentication and self-service through WeChat, since the beginning of WeChat application at university libraries in November 2012. Although the library WeChat accounts have become a more effective tool in general, improvements are still needed to provide maximum benefit to library users in an effort to empower users, especially younger ones.

Deploying governance networks for societal challenges

Governments are increasingly engaging private sector organizations, civil society and citizens to tackle complex policy challenges through some forms of networked governance arrangements. These governance networks which in general facilitate flexibility, speed and innovation in government, when compared with traditional governance forms, are necessary to meaningfully govern smart societies characterised by many programs spanning policy domains and levels of governments. This article presents a conceptual framework for governance networks and applies the framework to describe and analyse six case studies presented as part of the Track on “Governing through Networks” of the International Conference on the Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV2013) Conference. Insights from the analysis of these cases somewhat suggest that: 1) governance networks are still largely steered by government; 2) efficacy of governance networks is contingent on citizen’s inclusion in the governance networks; and 3) mobile social media platforms could constitute a key infrastructure for enabling citizen participation in these governance networks. Important policy and research challenges in this domain include how to effectively motivate citizen participation in these networks and align the divergent views of the different actors collaborating in the network.

Exploring the Roles of Social Participation in Mobile Social Media Learning: A Social Network Analysis

&lt;p class="BODYTEXT"&gt;Social media is increasingly becoming an essential platform for social connectivity in our daily lives. The availability of mobile technology has further fueled its importance – making it a ubiquitous tool for social interaction. An emerging mode of learning is the mobile social media learning where social media is used in the mobile learning mode. However, limited studies have been conducted to investigate roles of social participation in this field. Thus, the study investigates roles of social participation in mobile social media learning using the “ladder of participation and mastering”. Participants were students taking an educational technology course in a local university. The study was conducted in a four-month period. Data was collected from discussions while learning among the students using one of the mobile social media platforms, Facebook groups. The data was analyzed using a social network analysis tool, NodeXL. Data was analyzed based on egocentric networks, betweeness centrality, and closeness centrality. The findings revealed that there are four roles of social participation in mobile social media, which are: (i) lurkers; (ii) gradually mastering members/passive members; (iii) recognized members; and (iv) coaches. The findings also indicated that over the course of four months, learners can inter-change roles of social participation – becoming more central or less central in learning discussions. As a result, a &lt;em&gt;roles of social participation&lt;/em&gt; scale for mobile social media learning is proposed. Future research could be conducted in other fields to investigate whether mobile social media could be used to promote learning. &lt;/p&gt;

Brands and Instagram: Point, tap, swipe, glance

Brands are a critical part of the ongoing experimentation that underpins the development of mobile social media platforms like Instagram. Instagram had no dedicated advertising or analytics tools until 2014 so, in the absence of such devices, brands have developed uses of the platform that engage with the productive ability of cultural intermediaries and consumers to create and circulate images of their bodies, everyday lives, and cultural practices. This article examines the Instagram activities of the global vodka brand Smirnoff and the fashion retailer General Pants. Each brand engages with cultural intermediaries and builds themed activations at cultural events to orchestrate the production of images. Following Wissinger’s (2007a) study of fashion models, we conceptualize Instagram as an image machine that captures and calibrates attention. Instagram expands the terrain upon which brands operate by dispersing the work of creating and engaging with images into consumers’ everyday lives. The efforts made by brands to experiment with mobile media demonstrate the need to critically examine how participatory, discursive, and algorithmic modes of control are interrelated.