Review of Chinese Social Media Platforms Focusing on WeChat and Weibo: Digital curating and cultural promotions

The growing scope of technological development and the extent of the specific application of new media in the museum sector are now intrinsic to their promotion, application and operation. Social media, with its large and diverse user group demographics, is an ideal place to disseminate exhibition collections and knowledge worldwide. Many museums now utilise social media by registering on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to share information, interact with visitors and share educational content. Museums further promote their collections by applying shared Creative Commons licensing to images of exhibitions and objects in their collections on websites like Flickr and Pinterest. In China, WeChat and Sina Weibo are the largest social media platforms. This paper will first introduce the current developmental state of digital curation and social media in China. It will analyse Weibo, how art and culture are administered in China as a state function, and how social media is involved. It will then use a case study on the use of exhibitions as part of a WeChat blog strategy. Finally, this paper will seek to propose how soft power and cultural diplomacy can extend within China in the digital age.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Han Bao

Conference

Publication date: July 2018

Publication date (Print): July 2018

Pages: 32-38

Affiliations

[0001]King’s College London

The Strand, London WC2R 2LS, UK

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2018.6

SO-VID: 3f5d3e44-a967-4b93-9e1b-4f6b825a6d5c

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

Conference acronym: EVA

Conference number:

Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 9 - 13 July 2018

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

History

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1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2018.6

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] W. Benjamin 1935 The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction Journal of Philosophy of Education 41 3 363 380

[2] J. P. BowenT. Giannini 2014 Digitalism: The new realism S. DunnJ. P. BowenK. Ng (eds.) EVA London 2014 Conference Proceedings, Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC) British Computer Society 324 331 DOI: 10.14236/ewic/eva2014.38

[3] M. Brennan 2018 Wechat new year data report 2018 [online] Available at: http://theunitldn.com [Accessed 26 Mar. 2018]

[4] H. G. Eilean 2007 Museum revolutions: how museums and change and are changed / edited by Simon J. KnellSuzanne MacLeodSheila Watson 367 377 Published by Routledge 2007

[5] S. Guilbaut 1895 How New York stole the idea of modern art Chicago [u.a.] University of Chicago Press

[6] R. Hertz 1993 Theories of contemporary art Pearson 2 editions

[7] J. Nye 2005 Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics New York Public Affairs

[8] F. Saunders 2013 The cultural Cold War New York The New Press

[9] Business Insider (n.d.) [online] Available at: http://uk.businessinsider.com/instagram-gallery-unit-london-1-2015 [Accessed 26 Jan. 2018]

[10] CNNIC 2017 Statistical Report on Internet Development in China, China Internet Network Information Centre China Internet network information centre [online] Available at: http://cnnic.com.cn/IDR/ReportDownloads/201706/P020170608523740585924.pdf [Accessed 26 Mar. 2018]

[11] Digitalarti. 2015 Shanghai New Media Artists and Galeries – Digitalarti [online] Available at: http://www.digitalarti.com/shanghai-new-media-artists-and-galeries/ [Accessed 26 Mar. 2018]

[12] J. Feola 2017 5 Chinese Internet artists and platforms to check out [online] Timeoutbeijing.com . Available at: http://www.timeoutbeijing.com/features/Art/158150/5-Chinese-Internet-artists-and-platforms-to-check-out.html [Accessed 26 Mar. 2018]

[13] Fireworksnewyears.com 2018 Xi Jinping Talks at The Beijing Forum on Literature and Art China – Xi Jinping's Talks at the Beijing Forum on Literature and Art « China.... [online] Available at: http://fireworksnewyears.com/info/xi-jinpings-talks-at-the-beijing-forum-on-literature-and-art-china [Accessed 26 Mar. 2018]

[14] L. Gibson 2012 Museums and Participation (Who goes. And who doesn't?) Understanding Everyday Participation [online] Available at: http://www.everydayparticipation.org [Accessed 26 Mar. 2018]

[15] L. GibsonA. Miles 2014, ‘Understanding Everyday Participation- Articulating Cultural Value’, Development Project, AHRC, Universities of Manchester and Leicester [online] Available at: http://www.everydayparticipation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/UEP_Briefing_Cheetham_Broughton.pdf [Accessed 26 Feb. 2018]

[16] K. LeiY. LiuS. ZhongY. LiuK. XuY. ShenM. Yang 2018 Understanding User Behavior in Sina Weibo Online Social Network: A Community Approach 6:13302 13316 DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2808158

[17] G. Ling 2014 Chronus Art Center: R&D First, China’s Own ZKM Next? [online] Chronusartcenter.org. Available at: http://www.randian-online.com/np_feature/chronus-art-center/ [Accessed 26 Mar. 2018]

[18] Tsionki. 2016 Remnants of an Electronic Past”: Chinese new media artist aaajiao – in conversation [online] Chronusartcenter.org . Available at: http://artradarjournal.com/2016/09/16/remnants-of-an-electronic-past-chinese-new-media-artist-aaajiao-in-conversation/ [Accessed 26 Mar. 2018]

[19] Unite London. (n.d.) [online] Available at: http://theunitldn.com [Accessed 26 Mar. 2018]

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