Last semester, one of my classes included readings on the development of Chinese “super-apps”, and one of the most consistent recommendations I have received for traveling abroad was to download apps like WeChat and Alipay before leaving to be prepared to navigate Shanghai. My conversations in (one of my courses had a short unit on the super-apps) and outside of class made me curious to learn more about social media and also better understand how the use of technology in daily life has developed. China has “the world’s most active environment for social media”, and sees high demand for media offerings and competition among platforms to continue their growth and development. Some of the most common apps I came across in my searches include WeChat, Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Alipay, and a few others. The company TenCent launched WeChat in 2011 as providing similar functions to WhatsApp, but incredibly rapidly, it has grown to include messaging platforms, a social media element called Moments, digital payments, official accounts for businesses as well as work tools, location sharing, transportation services, and food ordering. WeChat functions by connecting “mini programs” to allow its users to easily access the different elements it provides, and these programs also allow companies to find customers. Xiaohongshu, or “little red book”, is described as a lifestyle app that could be compared to Instagram, Douyin is the Chinese version of TikTok and also offers online payment options, and Alipay enables digital payments and in-store payments.
Apps like these have caused unique new trends to develop both within China and around the globe. Because of the ease of digital payment across platforms, cash is used much less frequently in the country. According to Rest of World, a publication focusing on technology developments around the globe, Xiaohongshu has contributed a great deal to tourism as its many users continue to share travel tips and experiences. Audiences value seeing recommendations from their connections online and interact with posts frequently, driving rapid communication. Discussion also presents complex balances by creating space for somewhat more open and faster sharing of opinion or mobilization around a cause but also provides a great deal of data and information on citizen communication. Language has also shifted through expanded social media. The word for 8 is “bā”, so 88 has been used to represent “bābā”, bye-bye. Certain acronyms have become popular: xswl stands for “xiào sǐ wǒ le”, I’m dying of laughter”, and can be compared to “lol” in English (I learned this phrase for the first time in my tutoring yesterday). The slang term “pò fáng le” (essentially, “to have broken through someone’s defenses”) is used to represent being completely overwhelmed, often by positive emotions. It was originally used by gamers essentially saying that their cities had been overwhelmed by video-game antagonists; the phrase made its way to the Internet to represent having one’s defenses down. All in all, Chinese social media will continue to present creative and unique new directions for communication, language, purchasing, and opinion sharing, and I hope to continue to learn about it before traveling abroad and using it in daily life. 
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