Home and away: A case study of students and social media in Shanghai

Abstract

In 2009, for the first time, Internet penetration rates in China have surpassed the global average level, with over 298 million users. In this burgeoning of use, QQ, one of the largest and oldest social networking systems (SNS) in China, has become part of the daily diet of many Chinese, particularly in cities and big towns. While many studies of the Internet in China have focused upon blogging as a vehicle for the expression of public opinion, there has been less research conducted on social media such as QQ, despite its importance in everyday life. In this chapter, we explore the role of QQ-and SNS more generally-through a case study of university students studying in Shanghai. As we posit..