The influence of social media on chinese college students' social activism

<p>Guided by Uses and Gratifications Theory, this study investigated the relationship between Chinese college students' use of social media and their social activism. Data collected from a goup-administered survey of 309 undergraduate students at a large university in eastern China was used to answer four research questions. The results indicated that Chinese college students who used social media for information seeking were likely to participate in individual social activism. Besides, students who used social media for self-status seeking and information seeking were likely to participate in collective social activism. No significant correlation between entertainment motivation and social activism were found. Neither can socializing motivation predict Chinese college students' social activism. In addition, gender had an impact on individual social activism and frequency of social media use could affect both individual and collective social activism.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication

Year dc:date.available

2012

Author dc:creator

• Gu, Xiaoting

Contributors dc:contributor

• Qingwen Dong

• University of the Pacific Thesis;Social media China;Chinese students;Internet Social aspects China;Internet and activism;Mass media and culture China
• Communication
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Social Influence and Political Communication
• Social Media

Licence

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/839

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarlycommons.pacific.edu:uop_etds-1838