Face-work on Social Media in China: The Presentation of Self on RenRen and Facebook

Abstract

This paper examines how the Chinese culture of “face” influences self-presentation on different types of social media. In-depth interviews with Mainland Chinese students who are studying in Hong Kong reveal that although the Renren and Facebook platforms are technically similar, the students present themselves in very different ways on the two sites. They are more likely to broadcast personal news, share pictures of travel abroad, and post informative news about China on Facebook. In contrast, on Renren they share experiences with less personal connotations, post pictures of travels in Mainland China, voice complaints and circulate gossip, and share practical information for daily life. The differences are due to the different imagined audiences on these sites and the students’ careful consideration of the best strategies for presenting one’s image in front of the different social groups in order to both gain face for oneself and avoid harming the face of others. This study contributes to the literature by showing that self-presentation on social media is shaped by both technological affordances and the local culture of interpersonal relations (in this case, the Chinese “face” culture).