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- Weibo Activism
- Collective Action Involvement
Conceptual Framework
Various motives for using the Internet and social network sites have been identified by scholars. Through diverse social networking tools, users can find other people with similar problems and concerns (Myers 1994). However, different usage of Internet and SNS leads to different results. Some studies show that informational use and communicational use might have a positive impact on users’ political interests, while recreational use might not. Klandermans (2004) distinguishes between instrumentality, collective identity, and ideology. Instrumentality refers to motives directed toward addressing political and social problems. In other words, instrumentality is the belief that things can be changed; collective action, such as public demonstrations, will be an effective means to achieve that goal. In light of the previous literature, it seems reasonable to assume that Weibo user motive is one of the most important features that affect Weibo use and collective action involvement. Thus, it is important to examine the primary motives that drive people to use Weibo. One study that applied a uses-and-gratifications approach to investigate Twitter found that Twitter is primarily used as an informational source, rather than as a social media (Johnson and Yang 2009). However, a study done with Facebook reveals that news use is still a minor component for all the social network use activity. Facebook news use is more often exposed to news shared by friends or any information provided by news media if they choose to subscribe. The purpose of Facebook users remains social (Glynn, Huge, and Hoffman 2012). As Weibo more resembles Twitter, this study expects that informational use is the primary motive driving people to use it. As informational use of Weibo is prevalent among users, it is more likely to affect people’s involvement in collective action. Thus, this research has adopted Johnson and Yang’s (2009) categorization of Twitter use gratification to explore Weibo user’s motives. Weibo user motives are operationalized into two categories: the social motive and the information motive. Social motives include: have fun; be entertained; relax; see what others are up to; pass the time; express myself freely; keep in touch with friends or family; communicate more easily; and communicate with many people at the same time. Information motives include: get information (facts, links, news, knowledge, ideas); give or receive advice; learn interesting things; meet new people; and share information with others (facts, links, news, knowledge, ideas). Meet new people belongs to information motive because Weibo, like Twitter, is a platform to “share new things that have happened around you” (Sina Weibo 2012). Meeting new people on Weibo often means following someone, and the major incentive behind this is to get information from others. That is why meet new people is categorized as an information motive.
Online Activism and Weibo Activism Yang (2009) defines online activism as any collective action that is based on the Internet and that intended to “promote, contest or resist change”. Weibo activism, as a branch of online activism, relies mostly on the new platform for contentious actions --- Weibo. Like internet activism, it takes various forms, from contentious discussion to collective actions, such as online protest. Weibo activism “touches all imaginable issues” that were also presented in online and offline activism, from human rights to animal rights, from environmental issues to food safety issues (Yang 2009). However, the biggest difference between online activism and Weibo activism is the empowerment of activists by the new technology in the era of “Web 2.0.” Its potential to rapidly disseminate information across distinct communities, and attract wide resonance is breaking down the inequality of information flow. In a word, Weibo opens a new window for activists to have a powerful media influence; an instant impact that penetrates different communities, and is relatively free from control and censorship compared to other media. Individual Characteristics of Weibo Activists One of the characteristics of the Chinese online sphere, according to Jonathan, is that the “full range of actors” in real life are also present online (Sullivan 2011). I disagree with this statement, because: 1) As discussed in the previous section the internet penetration rate in China is still too low to be an accurate representation of the total population. In other words, people from disadvantaged groups, such as migrant workers and peasants, are under-represented in the Internet population. Internet users are mostly young urban residents, with relatively higher level of education (CNNIC 2012). 2) The Weibo users, compared with average Internet users and SNSs users, are even younger, and more highly educated. Most importantly, students comprise a large portion of the Weibo user population (CNNIC 2011). Weibo activists are also more likely to be young people with higher education from more affluent areas, or simply students studying in universities. For example, the “dark glasses, portrait” campaign to free blind lawyer and human rights activist Chen Guangcheng from home arrest in 2011 has many young participants. However, according to Yang (2009), activists who are engaged in more contentious political activities, such as human rights protests, and ask for radical political change are often in their thirties or forties. In other words, they often have personal experience of the student protest in Tiananmen Square in 1989. For example, the Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo was born in 1955. This research aims to discover if the activists in the Weibosphere are also widely diverse in their background. Individual factors such as education and monthly income will be tested to find out if they have significant influence on Weibo activism. Issues of Weibo Activism Yang (2009) argues that in the post-Tiananmen era, online activism often has a more “concrete and modest” goal. Online activists often avoid a direct challenge to the state authority, but demand for “social equality and individual freedom.” Online activism is taking the “issue-specific” opportunity that is more likely to elicit response from the state to meet with its demand. Yang (2009) categorizes main issues of online activism into seven broad categories: 1) popular nationalism, 2) rights defense, 3) corruption and power abuse, 4) environment, 5) cultural contentions, 6) muckraking, and 7) online charity. Most of these issues can express their demand without a direct challenge to the legitimacy of state. Some issues “coincide with state agenda” that are not only tolerated by the state, but also encouraged to some extent, such as popular nationalism, and consumer rights defense. However, issues related to human rights defense, corruption and power abuse, which challenges the highest officials, are not tolerated. This research suggests issues of Weibo activism which are based on Yang’s categorization of online activism. These issues are: 1) environmental issues, 2) food safety, 3) rights related issues, 4) policy related issues, 5) corruption and power abuse, 6) online charity. Several issues from Yang’s category are dropped, because 1) muckraking in China is often related to corruption and power abuse since it resonant with people’s grievances towards social inequality. So the category of muckraking can be merged with the category of corruption and power abuse. For example, the latest Weibo-driven event against the corruption of Red Cross in China was started with a girl who claimed to have an adoptive father working for Red Cross. She uploaded a photo of herself, showing off in front of a car with luxurious bags and outfits which were subsequently forwarded millions of times almost instantaneously, igniting overwhelming criticism towards Red Cross. 2) Popular nationalism is more responsive to international events, thus it is only effective during windows of time. For example, the anti-Japanese protest in 2010 happened after Japan took a Chinese fishing boat captain into custody. The trend of nationalism faded away after the incident was resolved. There are two categories added to this research: food safety and policy related issues. Because: 1) Food safety issues can be categorized into rights defense issues since it is related to consumer rights. However, in recent years, enormous food safety problems were exposed by media that brought wide panic and concern about food safety problems. Thus, it is singled out as a Weibo activism issue. Policy related issues are more concerned with the discussion or denunciation of government policy. Again, policy that affects a vast population is often the most heated topics on Weibo, such as the rising price of petroleum. However, there are also posts that discuss fundamental changes to the economic and political structure, most of which are initiated by scholars in these fields.
Postmes and Brunsting (2002) define collective action as action undertaken by individuals or groups for a collective purpose. Collective action exists in various forms; for example, individual and collective forms of action, punishable and non-punishable action, and persuasive and confrontational action. Obar et.al. (2012) note the central concept to collective action is actually a process of political mobilization that brings people together to “effect political, social, or ideological change.” The development and maintenance of a form of social relationship between participants is often the central topic of collective action Looking back to some foundational sociological theory, we see that Mancur Olson (1971) developed “group theory” in his book to analyze collective action. A group of individuals with common interests are more likely to gather together to act for their common interest. The most fundamental purpose of most organizations (for example labor union) is to accomplish their common interests. Economic incentives are not the only incentives that drive people. Even lacking of economic incentives, an individual can still motivated by a social incentive (such as prestige, respect, friendship) to contribute his or her efforts to the group interest. Later, Alberto Melucci (1996) introduced the concept of “new social movements” in order to describe youth, environment, feminist, peace, and local autonomy movements in advanced capitalist democracies in the 1980s. In the information age, as the centralized state has moved its systems of social control to decentralized forms of self-regulation, social conflicts have also moved their locus from class and race to cultural challenges that are aimed at questions of identity and meaning. Melucci (1996) replaced irrational assumption of collective action with collective emotion theory, arguing that collective identity construction is a source of emotional energy which can stimulates action. Some scholars find that social media’s impact on collective action varies significantly from case to case. There can also be difference in type of collective action, since the false use of social media might result in a demobilizing effect which brings an un intended result (Spier 2011). Research based on Twitter has discovered that the majority of its users are politically inattentive, and more likely to be exposed to polarizing alternatives when seeking issue-based new items (Nguyen 2011). However, a web-based experiment suggests that a high numbers of online collective action will have a positive effect on an individual’s willingness to participate. Low numbers of participants, however, will have a negative effect on participants (Margetts, John, Escher, and Reissfelder 2009). Advocacy group members reported in one study that social media usage improved their advocacy efficacy and facilitated communication within groups. However, it still requires a personal connection to mobilize individuals (Obar, Zube, and Lampe 2012). It is important to acknowledge that the theories of social movement and collective action which developed from a Western perspective might not be suitable for China. Collective action in China may take different forms and have different demands. For example, Chinese sociologist Yu Jianrong (2010) categorizes collective action in China into four different forms: behaviors of safeguarding rights, social events out of indignation, social riots, social disputes and organized crime. According to Yu (2010), behaviors of safeguarding rights have three characteristics: 1. the actors’ purpose(s) is more related to interest than power; 2. rule consciousness among the actors is stronger than rights consciousness, meaning that the actors are willing to act within the rules, rather than challenge the legitimacy of state; 3. the incident is more responsive than progressive. Collective action is more often caused by infringement of civil rights. Wang and Chen (2006) propose to categorize collective action in China based on the primary stakeholders, its political implication, and the size of the events. Scholars have explored many aspects of the Internet’s influence on Chinese public opinion and its mobilizing effect. Wang claims that the Internet is unlikely to offer democratic hope for China since only a small number of people use it for political purposes. However, Zheng and Wu (2005) find that Internet enables Chinese people access to various sources of information. The Internet helps people to understand government policy as well as to share their opinions with governmental decision makers. By adopting a “cooperative” strategy that doesn’t undermine the legitimacy of state, online collective action that has moved offline has been effective. In this study, collective action refers to a group of people gathered for a certain purpose to express their demand to the government or associations through a range of activities, from online protest to offline protest, from petition to boycott. To explore how Weibo use has affected collective action participation, collective action was categorized into five different forms: boycott, petition, online protest, offline protest, and Weibo-driven events. Online protest includes forms like virtual sit-in, online demonstrations, forwarding a protest email or posting on Weibo. Offline protest includes strikes, demonstrations, sit-ins, et cetera.
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