=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2348/short11
|storemode=property
|title=The Influence of Internet Celebrities (Wanghongs) on Social Media Users in China
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2348/short11.pdf
|volume=Vol-2348
|authors=En-Chi Chang,Tony Woo
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/cerc/ChangW19
}}
==The Influence of Internet Celebrities (Wanghongs) on Social Media Users in China==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2348/short11.pdf
Business and Society
The Influence of Internet Celebrities (Wanghongs) on
Social Media Users in China
En-Chi Chang1 and Tony Woo2
1 AMG Digital Marketing & Design Company, Taichung, Taiwan
Enchi.chang9@gmail.com
2 Crown Jewelry Manufacturers Limited, Kowloon, Hong Kong
cjm@hkstar.com
Abstract. This study aims to decipher how internet celebrities in China,
or Wanghongs, accumulate their credibility and how they gratify the fol-
lower in China. By conducting qualitative research based on in-depth in-
terviews in Guangzhou, China, this study fills a research gap in under-
standing the internet celebrity culture in the digital China. The analysis
shows that Chinese followers were attracted by Wanghongs because of
Wanghongs’ positive personality traits, e.g. being humorous. They fol-
lowed Wanghongs mainly because they gained useful information and
advice from Wanghongs and at the same time got entertained. The bene-
fits from following Wanghongs are mainly the fulfillment of information
and emotional needs. This information was then shared to boost the fol-
lower’s self-image and to strengthen the follower’s connection with his
or her social circle, i.e., to fulfill other needs as being categorized by
Katz, et al (1973). However, interviewees were not satisfied with their
parasocial interaction with Wanghongs.
Keywords: Internet Celebrity, Wanghong, Chinese Social Media.
1 Introduction
1.1 China’s Social Media Phenomena
Although the popular social media might have their inception in the US and those most
popular services such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are blocked in China [1],
Chinese internet users have not been immune from the social media fever. Chinese us-
ers’ active engagement in social media emerged from the intense use of instant mes-
saging service such as QQ in 1999 [2]. Since then, QQ has generated a sizeable amount
of active users who later became the customer base of the other social media platform,
WeChat, in 2011. WeChat allows users to use smartphones to connect with friends on
a personal level; users can communicate with family and friends and share files and
news on the move. Meantime, Weibo, a Twitter-like service developed by Sina in 2009,
is the most widely used microblogging service in China [3] and allows users to follow
other users, celebrities, business organizations and government agencies on a public
373
Business and Society
2
level [4]. The noticeable difference between Weibo, WeChat, and QQ are privacy and
anonymity of users. While Weibo allows users to reach openly accessible information
from grassroots sources and focuses on sharing of information and opinions, WeChat
and QQ are more for social interaction on a personal level [5].
Besides the above mentioned social media platforms, several other services similar
to the social media in West can be found in China, e.g., Toudou Youku (vs. Youtube),
Meipai (vs. Instagram) and Momo (vs. Tinder) [1]. These services have been developed
into a ‘social media ecosystem’ containing the core services, such as WeChat, QQ and
Weibo, for social interactions and the derivative services mainly letting users acquire
information [6]. The latter is the main breeding ground for China’s internet celebrities,
or Wanghongs. In the following discussion, we will therefore use internet celebrities
and Wanghongs interchangeably.
1.2 Internet celebrities: West vs East
The advent of internet celebrities might be traced back to the appearance of Lone-
lygirl15 in 2006 [7]. Since then, attracting and accumulating fans and followers through
posting contents in various social media platforms such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram has become a phenomena. For instance, Ryan Higa reached his stardom
by ‘strategically’ posting, e.g., funny videos, to gain noticeability; he is named a ‘digital
star’ and owns the most followed comedy Youtube channel (Forbes.com, not dated).
Internet celebrities manage their fan base using varieties of affiliating methods and
gain popularity by creating a sense of closeness between themselves and their follow-
ers; they share common languages with their supporters and use alike cultural refer-
ences to create relationships with and attachment of their fans and followers in various
online communities. They often become opinion leaders for fashions, books, restau-
rants, movies and travels and interact with fans and followers as if the followers were
friends.
Wanghongs, Chinese interpretation of internet celebrities, are ordinary people who
attract millions of fans and followers by creating original digital contents on social me-
dia platforms and demonstrating the characteristics of opinion leaders [8][9].
Wanghongs might generate original contents through live-streaming, blogging and mi-
croblogging to provide rich information for their fans and followers, or to provide shop-
ping advice as ‘fashionistas’ [10].
1.3 Research Aims
Extant studies, e.g., [11][12], often focus on internet celebrities’ or social media’s cred-
ibility in delivering brand messages, but few has focused on why and how an internet
celebrity as a brand influences followers’ and fans’ attitudes and behavior. By conduct-
ing qualitative research based on in-depth interviews in China's third most populated
city, Guangzhou, this study fills a research gap in understanding the internet celebrity
culture in the digital China. This study aims to decipher how Wanghongs accumulate
their credibility of being reliable sources of information in social media and how they
gratify the follower in China.
374
Business and Society
3
2 Literature Review
2.1 Source Credibility Theory
Source credibility theory posits that ‘individuals or receivers are more likely to be per-
suaded when the source presents itself as credible’ [13]. When social media users per-
ceive that an internet celebrity has higher credibility, it is more likely they will build
connection with the internet celebrity [14][15].
Past studies have found that ‘trustworthiness’, ‘expertise’ and ‘attractiveness’ are
dimensions, which highly influence source credibility [15-19]. Trustworthiness is the
honesty and believability of a source [14]. When an internet celebrity is trustworthy,
social media users might be more likely to take actions, such as following the celebrity
and sharing personal information with the followed celebrity [18]. Expertise is the ex-
tent to which an information source is considered to be able to make correct assertions
[15]. Attractiveness encompasses not only physical attractiveness, but also psycholog-
ical traits, such as intellectual skills and personalities [13]. In advertising studies, at-
tractiveness of an endorser is found to be more important than expertise and trustwor-
thiness [15].
2.2 Uses and Gratifications Theory
Uses and gratifications theory [20] posits that an individual actively seeks out and uses
particular media to satisfy specific needs. Katz, et al. [21] classify needs that users seek
to fulfil through the use of media into 5 groups: needs for information, knowledge and
understanding; needs for aesthetic, pleasurable and emotional experience, needs for
credibility, confidence, stability and status, needs for contacts and needs for tension-
release. Traditional media were an agent for information and exerted great influence on
individuals, but the user played a passive role in media consumption. In contrast, social
media users have become also media content creators who can share multimedia con-
tents, such as texts, photos and videos. Sharing contents and information with other
users on social media enables individuals with common interests to interact in a shared
platform and creates parasocial interactions [22]. Therefore, social media provide an
individual with the opportunity for fulfilling their social needs of belonging. At the
same time, social media could help the user fulfil psychological needs, such as feeling
competent and knowledgeable.
Although the function of social media seems multifaceted, it can be said that the
essential objective for social media users is to gratifying users’ needs [23]. Hence, uses
and gratifications classification [20] could provide a framework for understanding so-
cial media users' various needs.
3 Methodology
The data were collected through in-depth interviews by one of the authors with 12 un-
dergraduate students from Guangdong, China; all 12 students, 6 male and 6 female, are
375
Business and Society
4
single and aged between 21 and 23. All interviewees were online at least 3 hours per
day and almost all (11) had over 10 years (included) of using the internet at the time of
the interview. The interviewees’ profile is consistent with the profile of Wanghong fol-
lowers reported by [24]. The top three social media used by the interviewees were
WeChat, Weibo and QQ. The main purpose of using social media was communication,
followed by information search and checking news. All interviewees mentioned that
they followed Wanghongs every day; the number of Wanghongs followed by inter-
viewees ranged from 1 (3 interviewees) to more than 5 (2 interviewees).
The interview questions (available upon request) were designed in order to under-
stand why the interviewees follow Wanghongs (based on source credibility theory) and
what benefits the followers could get from Wanghongs (based on uses and gratifications
theory). The interviewees were briefed with research ethics policy before the interview.
Collected data were coded and categorized by one of the authors and the results were
discussed between the authors.
4 Discussion and Conclusions
4.1 Basic conditions for building a fan base
Regarding the social media used by interviewees for following Wanghongs, the most
frequently used was Weibo (58.33%), followed by WeChat (33.33%) and YY (8.33%).
YY is a live-streaming platform; such type of social media is currently very popular in
China. The use of live-streaming platforms could indicate that fans are seeking
prompter responses from Wanghongs [25].
Each interviewee provided multiple answers for which characteristics a Wanghong
should have. 29 positive characteristics (e.g., cheerful, daring and pragmatic) were
coded and categorized; among them, being funny and humorous (24.14%) is the most
important characteristics. Majority of interviewees (75%) also expected that
Wanghongs could post funny videos.
To keep interested, interviewees expected that Wanghongs are present online (75%).
Further, 9 interviewees explained what they hope Wanghongs could do on social media;
4 expected that Wanghong could interact with fans (41.67%) and 5 hoped that
Wanghongs could provide useful information (33.33%). The information is not only
from Wanghongs’ postings, but also Wanghong’s interactions with fans. And fans not
only took information shared by Wanghongs as advice for themselves, but also shared
this information with family and friends.
4.2 Why Do Fans Follow Wanghongs? – The Source Credibility Perspective
Data for source credibility were coded, based on three themes: trustworthiness, exper-
tise and attractiveness. Interviewees (50%) considered a Wanghong credible when s/he
shows responsibility for what s/he says or does. Interviewees were more likely to trust
a Wanghong they had known for quite a while (33.33%) and they trusted Wanghongs
who had gained public acceptance (66.67%).
376
Business and Society
5
Although academic achievements may add credibility to a Wanghong (25%), inter-
viewees considered that Wanghongs’ expertise should be judged by their life experi-
ence (41.67%); Wanghongs’ expertise should be from knowledge and experience
gained from trial and error in real life and could be used for solving particular problems
fans encounter (83.33%).
66.67% of interviewees considered Wanghongs’ attractiveness is important for judg-
ing their credibility, but attractiveness should be based on ‘inner beauty’ (66.67%), ra-
ther than appearance (8.33%). Inner beauty could mean a Wanghong’s connotation,
humor (both combined: 40%) and other personality traits, such as out-of-the-box think-
ing, being humble, affable, credible and being unique.
The above analysis indicates that although public acceptance is important for gaining
initial trust, a Wanghong’s credibility is mainly built upon the long-term observation of
fans or followers. To understand the ‘inner beauty’ and experience of a Wanghong and
then to know whether a Wanghong is responsible for his or her behavior could not
happen overnight. Besides, the analysis shows that ‘inner beauty’ is the interviewees’
definition for ‘attractiveness’; such a result echoes the definition by Shimp (2000; cited
from Umeogu, 2012).
4.3 Uses and Gratifications From Following Wanghongs
Regarding the benefits of following Wanghongs, 6 interviewees (50%) mentioned that
it is for knowledge and useful information, while the other 6 (50%) mentioned for en-
tertainment. In order to interact with followed Wanghongs, 10 interviews (83.33%)
would ask questions or share what they know with Wanghongs. However, not all the
questions and sharing were responded by Wanghongs and only 4 interviewees men-
tioned that they felt gratified by the responses from Wanghongs.
Each interviewee provided multiple answers for the usefulness of information
Wanghongs had shared. Among the 30 coded and categorized answers, psychological
or emotional benefits (56.67%) were mentioned more frequently than intellectual gains
(43.33%). Yet, feeling more knowledgeable (36.67%) is the leading benefit interview-
ees mentioned; feeling happy (16.67%) and being entertained (13.33%) are the second
and the third.
10 interviewees (83.33%) mentioned that they would share the information with
family and friends, particularly those with similar interests (66.67%). Sharing
Wanghongs’ information not only makes the whole social circle more knowledgeable
(33.33%), but also brings the interviewees a happy feeling. 10 interviews mentioned
that such sharing is positive for self-esteem, mostly because they gain confidence from
possessing new and useful information (50%), besides getting noticed by friends.
Regarding the feedback from family and friends after sharing the information, 7 in-
terviewees (58.33%) mentioned that they were praised by friends and family. These 7
interviews also mentioned that friends considered that they are more knowledgeble
(42.86%) and counted on them for more information in the future (57.14%).
Based on the above analysis, it appears that following Wanghongs mainly fulfilled
interviewees’ needs for information and for emotional experience. Meantime, inter-
viewees shared Wanghongs’ information with family and friends to fulfill other needs,
377
Business and Society
6
such as needs for contacts and needs for confidence and status [21]. The above analysis
also indicates that the interviewed followers were gratified not by their parasocial in-
teractions with Wanghongs, but by strengthening their current social circle through
sharing Wanghongs’ information.
4.4 Limitations
Although this qualitative research produced useful insights, some limitations should
be considered. First, the qualitative research design limited the sample size and research
location. Future research should consider a large scale survey incorporating multiple
locations and a larger sample pool. Second, since the social media ecosystem evolves
rapidly, how and why fans follow Wanghongs could also change rapidly. Future re-
search might take a longitudinal approach to study how fans of Wanghongs or internet
celebrities change over time. Besides, a cross-cultural comparison between fans in East
and West could also help the understanding of cultural differences in the internet-ce-
lebrity-fan interaction and even the phenomena of the internet celebrity economy.
References
1. Thai, N.: 10 most popular social media in China, https://www.dragonso-
cial.net/blog/social-media-in-china/, last accessed 2019/01/30
2. Chiu, C., Ip, C., Silverman, A.: Understanding social media in China,
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-in-
sights/understanding-social-media-in-china, last accessed 2019/01/30
3. Yu, H., Xu, S., Xiao, T., Hemminger, B. M., Yang, S.: Global science dis-
cussed in local altmetrics: Weibo and its comparison with Twitter. Journal of
Informetrics, 11(2), 466-482 (2017).
4. China Internet Watch: Introduction Guide on Weibo, https://www.chinainter-
netwatch.com/landscape/weibo/#ixzz4kk0lQHAh, last accessed 2019/01/30
5. Hou, J., Ndasauka, Y., Pan, X., Chen, S., Xu, F., Zhang, X.: “Weibo or
WeChat? Assessing preference for social networking sites and role of person-
ality traits and psychological factors. Frontiers in Psychology, 9,
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00545/full (2018)
6. Jin, J.: China social media landscape 2018, https://cn-en.kantar.com/me-
dia/social/2018/china-social-media-landscape-2018/, last accessed
2019/01/30
7. Cresci, E.: Lonelygirl15: How one mysterious vlogger changed the internet,
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/16/lonelygirl15-bree-
video-blog-youtube, last accessed 2019/01/30
8. Ouyang, S.: Wanghong economy takes off, http://www.china-
daily.com.cn/a/201712/11/WS5a2dc2aca310eefe3e9a1481.html, last ac-
cessed 2019/01/30
9. Xinhua: China’s internet celebrity economy bigger than cinema,
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-09/17/content_26812402.htm, last
accessed 2019/01/30
378
Business and Society
7
10. Tsoi, G: Wang Hong: China’s online stars making real cash,
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-36802769, last accessed
2019/01/30
11. Djafarova, E., Rushworth, C.: Exploring the credibility of online celebrities'
Instagram profiles in influencing the purchase decisions of young female us-
ers. Computers in Human Behavior, 68. pp. 1-7 (2017).
12. Lou, C., Yen, S.: Influencer marketing: How message value and credibility
affect consumer trust of branded content on social media’, Journal of Interac-
tive Advertising, https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2018.1533501, last ac-
cessed 2019/01/30
13. Umeogu, B: Source credibility: A philosophical analysis. Open Journal of Phi-
losophy 02, 112-115 (2012).
14. Jin, S. A., Phua, J.: Following celebrities’ Tweets about brands: The impact of
Twitter-based electronic Word-of-Mouth on Consumers’ source credibility
perception, buying intention and social identification with celebrities. Journal
of Advertising 43(2), 181-195 (2014).
15. Pornpitakpan, C.: The persuasiveness of source credibility: A critical review
of five decades’ evidence. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 34(2), 243-
281 (2004).
16. Lee, J.K., Lee, S.Y., Hansen, S.S.: Source credibility in consumer-generated
advertising in Youtube: The moderating role of personality. Current Psychol-
ogy 36, 849-860 (2017).
17. Ohanian, R.: Construction and validation of a scale to measure celebrity en-
dorsers: Perceived expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness. Journal of
Advertising 19(3), 39-52 (1990).
18. Wang, L., Qian, D., Zhu, L.: The effect of system generated cues on mi-
croblogging rewording repost behavior – A source credibility perspective.
Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 19(1), 104-118 (2018).
19. Wiener, J.L, Mowen, J.C.: Source credibility: On the independent effects of
trust and expertise. In Lutz, R.J. (eds.) NA-Advances in Consumer Research,
13, pp. 306-310.
20. Katz, E., Foulkes, D.: On the use of the mass media as escape: Clarification of
a concept. The Public Opinion Quarterly 26(3), 377-388 (1962).
21. Katz, E., Gurevitch, M., Haas, H.: On the use of the mass media for important
Things. American Sociological Review 38(2), 164-181 (1973)
22. Giles, D.C. Parasocial interaction: A review of the literature and a model for
future research. Media Psychology 4, 279-305 (2002).
23. Quan-Haase, A., Young, A. L.: Uses and gratifications of social media: A
comparison of Facebook and instant messaging. Bulletin of Science, Technol-
ogy & Society, 30(5), 350-361 (2010).
24. Wang, Y.: Internet celebs: a force to be reckoned with. http://usa.china-
daily.com.cn/china/2016-06/24/content_25846339.htm, last accessed
2019/01/30
25. Lavin, F.: China’s live streaming industry is booming – Here’s how it works.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/franklavin/2018/06/19/why-does-china-lead-
in-live-streaming/#8eb4eeb5dcad, last accessed 2019/01/30
379