The usage of WeChat to promote academic publishing in China: A case study on Chinese Laser Press

Abstract

WeChat is one of the most popular social media applications in China and is widely used by publishers to promote their journals and activities. The Chinese Laser Press (CLP) has four WeChat accounts; approximately 1 million reads were recorded in 2018. The most influential WeChat account of the CLP had almost 43,000 subscribers at the end of 2019. WeChat is a successful tool for connecting journals with readers and can increase the visibility of the journals both within China and elsewhere. Connecting with researchers via WeChat is helping CLP maintain relations with researchers throughout their career.

Can promotion on WeChat official accounts improve scholarly journals' academic impact? A micro‐level correlation comparison study

“…Practitioners in scholarly publishing focused on how to establish smooth paths between official account articles, XML webpages and metadata repositories (Hao et al, 2021; Tao et al, 2014). Most of them took individual accounts as examples to show measures and skills they used to construct a system of new media publishing (He et al, 2020; Li, 2018; Shu et al, 2020; Wang et al, 2020; Zhang, Shen, & Ni, 2019; Zhang, Wang, et al, 2019). Usually, an article posted by an account can be widely spread through being re‐posted, re‐sent and shared in the ‘Moment’ (a function in WeChat to share contents with friends), and even by scanning a QR code.…”

“…As an increasing number of scholarly journals launched official accounts, those who are avant‐garde at new media began to stand out, thanks to more commercial and professional promotion. One of the predominant scholarly publishers in China, Chinese Laser Press, summarized their work on WeChat (Wang et al, 2020), and stated that they believed WeChat accounts benefited their journals' impact and their relations with authors. Others elaborated promotion strategies of individual journals, a bundle of journals in specific fields or the high‐ranked journals (Liu et al, 2021; Wu et al, 2021; Yu et al, 2020).…”

“…Others focused on the effects of specific measures, like live‐streaming, special columns, and so forth. (Lin & Gan, 2021; Wang et al, 2020). When these studies were talking about ‘impact’, they referred to the propaganda range and results of attracting followers, which had nothing to do with the academic impact of papers.…”

Social Media for Scholarly Communication in Central Asia and Its Neighbouring Countries

“… 31 32 WeChat is the most popular SMP of which 90% are academic scholars. 33 34 However, the medical content on this platform is touted to be concerning, due to frequent publication by unprofessional public accounts, lack of homogeneity and high frequency of advertisements. 35 Therefore, improvements have been suggested before its use can be expanded for research or clinical services.…”

Analysis of Young Girls' Eagerness to Spend for Disney Virtual Characters Based on Marketing Mix Theory

“…Even though Lina Bell has only emerged in recent years, there are several research on it due to its big and rapid success. Many researchers focus on the reasons why Lina Bell became a hit right from the start, Lina Bell in Disneyland is more like a living human being than a doll since it gives feedback to people's actions and words and carries their emotions [1]. The impact of COVID was also mentioned several times, as the boring and depressing feeling has increased people's desire for interacting in Disneyland with Lina Bell.…”