The vast majority of research on online trolling focused on Western cultures. Given the role context plays in shaping online interactions, it is important to take into account its socio‐cultural context and investigate the role of national culture, by conducting research into trolling in Eastern cultures. In this paper, we attempt to begin addressing this gap by focusing on Chinese collective trolling, looking at Sina Weibo's PG One case. Specifically, we aim to identify who are the major players, what are the metaphors they use, and what are the major trolling tactics employed in Chinese collective trolling event. Using a mixed‐method approach, we analyzed 2,004 posts and 9,967 comments on Sina Weibo's PG One case, of which 480 were sampled for thematic content analysis. Major contributions of this study include an account of collective trolling in Chinese cultural context that is characterized by role switching between trolls, bystanders, and victims during the various stages of the event. We conclude with suggestion for future research directions.
In recent years, China has attached great importance to the construction of rural public culture, however, the user loss of rural public digital cultural services (RPDCS) is serious. To reveal users' perception of RPDCS, we employed a mixed‐method to investigate users' perception of RPDCS and explore the relationship between users' perception of RPDCS and user churn of RPDCS. The preliminary findings show that most users believed that RPDCS were not highly related to themselves, and RPDCS had few values but cannot bear to give up. Furthermore, we find that increasing use‐perceived involvement and usefulness will alleviate users' churn of RPDCS.
PurposeThe user churn (UC) of rural public digital cultural services (RPDCS) indicates that rural users no longer use RPDCS or have switched to other services. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing RPDCS's UC and to contribute toward bridging the rural digital divide.Design/methodology/approachBased on the stimulus-organism-response theory, this study proposes a theoretical framework to investigate the factors influencing RPDCS's user churn. A total of 120 RPDCS users were initially recruited and 90 representative participants were chosen. Data were collected from the 90 respondents and 20 follow-up interviews. To examine the proposed framework and validate the correlations between these factors and UC, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression analysis were used. In addition, recommendations are made to avoid the UC of RPDCS to bridge the rural digital divide.FindingsThe results indicate that the UC of RPDCS was stimulated by both physical and ability divides and RPDCS ineffectiveness, resulting in increased churn rates and an exacerbated digital divide. Thus, avoiding the UC of RPDCS is an important way to bridge the rural digital divide, which includes both the physical and ability divides.Originality/valueThis study adds new knowledge about RPDCS and distinguishes it from previous research on public digital cultural services. In addition, the authors discuss how to avoid the UC of RPDCS, to bridge the rural digital divide.
Nowadays, many Chinese cities have experienced “population inversion,” migrants have become the majority population of some Chinese cities. To gain insights into the urban newcomers' online information ground (OIG) in China, we interviewed 10 urban newcomers in China though Wechat (an instant messaging service) and employed content analysis to analyze what are the characteristics of Chinese urban newcomers' OIG. The preliminary findings show that the online task‐forced group is an extension of information ground; OIG becomes the main information resource for urban newcomers and helps them settle down quickly; OIG is relatively temporary.
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