THE LIVED MEANINGS OF CHINESE SOCIAL NETWORK SITES (SNSS) AMONG URBAN WHITE-COLLAR PROFESSIONALS: A STORY OF HAPPY NETWORK

A phenomenological study reveals the lived meanings of Chinese social network sites (SNSs) among urban, white-collar professional users through an investigation of a newly launched SNS, Happy Network. Their shared meanings of the Happy Network were interdependent with participants’ interpretations of time, fun, need to belong, and social interactions, shaped by and reflective of their social role as white-collar professionals and the cultural characteristics of contemporary Chinese society. Specifically, participants’ understandings of the Happy Network entailed five dialectic relations: in control/controlled by, dependent/independent, public/private, intimate/distant, and personal/social.