The Research On Interpersonal Communication In Wechat

The recent growth of social media has introduced a brand new form of social interaction, breaking the limitations of interpersonal connections and in consequence, changing the existing forms of human communication, thus is getting higher and higher popularity all over the world. In China mainland, the development of social media is gradually influencing our communication and interaction, especially, a relatively new online application called "WeChat" is quickly spreading out among different walks of people. Its diversity in communication manners and unique characteristics impose profound effect on the dissemination of information and interpersonal interaction.Interpersonal communication is among the most common and crucial activities in communication. It is not only an important channel of social interaction, but also the direct reflection of interpersonal relationship. Hence, it is necessary and important to systematically investigate the interpersonal communication in WeChat. In this thesis, we perform literature review, questionnaire survey and face-to-face interview, based on a series of classic methodology, including Social Penetration Theory, Theory of Communication Privacy Management, Dramaturgy, Social Information Processing Theory, etc., together with community psychology knowledge, to analyze the origin and communication advantage of WeChat from a communication studies point of view, in order to interpret the communication scene built by WeChat, while digging into the characteristics of WeChat communication, its influence, and future trend.One of the most important findings of this work is that, as the depth and breadth of self-disclosure information increases and the diversification of self-presentation indicators among current WeChat users, WeChat self-disclosure is getting more and more personalized and deepened, with a comparatively high real and active presentation level. On the other hand, users’ self-consciousness is strengthened, revealing a strong self-censorship and privacy control. In general, WeChat constructs a communication environment with a hybrid real and virtual circumstances. In detailed process of communication, interpersonal connections have been broadened to certain extent. WeChat also significantly help maintain interpersonal relationship and improve social influence, demonstrating its "strong connection" characteristics. In spite of a few concerns like moderate social network addition and rumor spreading, it can be expected that WeChat will keep having active and positive influence in social communication in the foreseeable future.