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Interface culture and gendered privacy risks in the context of Chinese locative social media use

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Altman PengORCiD

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This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by Routledge, 2021.

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Abstract

Across the world, young people are increasingly using locative social media applications to socialize with strangers for dating opportunities. This phenomenon is also found in Chinese society, where such applications are very popular with young Chinese urbanites. This article presents a case study of how young Chinese urbanites navigate social interactions with strangers on WeChat People Nearby, based on the findings of interviews with 19 Chinese university students aged between 18 and 23. By drawing on the notion of interface, we uncover how gender dynamics are established in young Chinese urbanites’ People Nearby use and how the gender dynamics are engineered by the privacy paradox of interfaced social interactions between strangers in the locality. The outcomes of the present research help us to understand the gender-related opportunity-risk axis established in young Chinese urbanites’ everyday use of locative social media applications.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Peng Altman Yuzhu, Gu Feng

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Social Identities

Year: 2021

Volume: 27

Issue: 1

Pages: 59-74

Online publication date: 03/09/2020

Acceptance date: 13/07/2020

Date deposited: 16/10/2020

ISSN (print): 1350-4630

ISSN (electronic): 1363-0296

Publisher: Routledge

URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2020.1814725

DOI: 10.1080/13504630.2020.1814725

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