The Impact Of WeChat Group Inter-communication Over Levels Of General Trust And Particular Trust

With the rapid development of society,the connection between us and the Internet has become tighter than ever while all kinds of online social networking media and devices are making a major life-changing difference throughout our daily communication.In the current article,I intend to take the most widely-used mobile application —— We Chat as an example,to examine and further analyze the behavior pattern of individuals' online social networking.To be specific,my research focused on how individuals' degree of involvement in online social networking activities(i.e.,We Chat group chat)may impact their general trust levels versus particular trust levels towards the public.And therefore,further investigate the potential of one's online social network usage as an indicator in predicting his/her trust levels.In Study 1,a number of demographic variables were described and later explained through multiple experiments and self-administrated questionnaires.A few frequently-used scales in the research field of trust were integrated and well tested in a pre-experiment before putting into use in the following formal experiments.In this study,five relevant measurements(e.g.,We Chat friends number)were adopted for assessing the individuals' We Chat usage statuses.The information and statistics I collected in Study 1 helps depict a clear picture of individuals' inter-communication behavior in We Chat groups,and also offers support in Study 2.By initiating several We Chat group chats among the participants,a virtual inter-communication environment was stimulated in Study 2;and therefore,to examine individuals' online interaction.In this study,I took three phases to record individuals' online communication behaviors before,during and after joining the stimulative We Chat group chats for later analysis.While investigating the relationship between one's online social network usage and his/her trust levels,I also attempt to improve the existing experimental paradigm for better observing individuals' actual inter-communication behaviors online.The following conclusions can be drawn from the results of the questionnaires and experiments in this research:(1)online social network usage significantly increases one's general trust level;(2)one's level of particular trust is barely affected by his/her online social network usage;(3)a positive correlation is observed between one's age and his/her general trust level;(4)the more friends one keeps in his/her We Chat Moments,the higher is his/her general trust level;and the more We Chat moments one posts per week,the higher is his/her general trust level;(5)compared with those who chose to receive the incentives through We Chat transactions,the ones that prefer grabbing We Chat red envelopes tend to have higher levels of general trust;(6)compared with those who originally hold relatively higher general trust levels,those whose general trust levels are originally lower tend to be more sensitive to the impact of online social networking activities.