EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Media Studies 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 212 Chi Mei-Chiung (Chinese Culture University) The Influences of Mobile Media toward Interpersonal Relation: Exploration of Mobile- Mediated Communication among Youth in Taiwan Key words: mobil-mediated communication, interpersonal communication, social interaction, social network service, phubbing With digital technology development, mobile media show the significant potential to alter the form and function of communication. In the early days of internet usage, the concerns of academic research of interpersonal communication from the past face-to-face communication change to the evolution of the computer-mediated communication (CMC). Nowadays, the popularity of smart phones generates a new interpersonal communication pattern —mobile-mediated communication (MMC). This change involves not only different communication devise, but also function expansion, contact efficiency and economy. The adoption of smart phone has increased substantially and mobile access to the internet is pervasive in Taiwan. Especially young people, they proactively adopt emerging mobile technologies (e. g., mobile apps) whereby to fulfill their multifaceted communication purposes and social needs. Lai & Katz (2012) think humans have developed a new set of strategic uses of mobile media to build and maintain social competencies (e.g., connections and relationships) . Yuan (2012) studied mobile phones for social relations in Chinese society which provide many practical observations of communication behavior. On indirect and high-context patterns of Chinese social interaction, mobile phones play an important role and develop relation-oriented cultural norms. This study adopts quality method of focus group interview of young business professional and college students. It attempts to understand the attitude of younth towards using mobile phones and analyze the characteristics of social reaction in the mobile-mediated situation. The results indicate mobile-mediated communication create a positive impact on the development of social relationship. Especially mobile phones with a variety of affiliated functions, users can adopt it for different situations and communication purposes. It helps to strengthen and maintain social cohesion and harmony. Duan Cong (The University of Groningen) The Involvement of Social Media in Disaster Response: A Case Study of SinaWeibo in the 2015 Tianjin Explosion Key words: Social Media, Disaster Response, the Tianjin Explosion, Sina Weibo, Content Analysis At 23:30 on August 12th 2015, a series of chemical explosions occurred in Tianjin port. Sina Weibo, equivalent to Twitter, was the platform that immediately reacted to the disaster. Citizens uploaded pictures and videos on Weibo, which were used as news sources by other media. At the same time, the public get information fromWeibo. Thus, Weibo becomes a platform for the public both generating and consuming news content. This paper attempts to investigate how SinaWeibo is involved in response to the explosion and what roleWeibo played in this process. Through the mixed approach of quantitative and qualitative content analysis, 2196 posts on Weibo with the time frame of one-week after the explosion are analyzed and classified. The intensity and themes of the posts are identified in timely appearance. The popular posts with large number of comments and forwards including texts, attached pictures and videos, and hashtags will be investigated by a qualitative content analysis in response with the offline activities to investigate the effects of Weibo. Information updating, emotion supporting, opinion expressing and action appealing are the main functions of Weibo in post-disaster stage. Furthermore, the roles played by the social media in the stage of disaster response and how the public used Weibo in response to the disaster will be identified and further examined. Giusto Alice (Peking University) Language and Food Safety: the “Zombie Meat” Scandal Key words: Chinese Media, Food Safety, Zombie Meat