Chinese WeChat Users and Their Behavioural Features: A Case Study Based on the Grounded Theory

Abstract

WeChat is a social medium for mobile phones developed by the Chinese company Tencent in 2011. By March 2018, there were one billion active WeChat users, making it the social software with the fastest development in China. Most Chinese WeChat users share WeChat Moments, establish WeChat groups, send WeChat red envelopes, and become WeChat Businessman on WeChat. This paper probes the features of WeChat user behavior in light of the Grounded Theory. The findings revealed four behavioral features: the expression of personality, the connection between individuals, group establishment by individuals, and the connection between individual and group. From the perspective of interpretivism, this paper analyzed such behavior and found that WeChat users are individuals with different characters. Sharing WeChat Moments enables users to become unique individuals and express their personalities in certain social circles. In addition, people through WeChat Moments and WeChat red envelopes enhance the connections among individuals. WeChat Businessman also develops via the connection between individuals. Different individuals can form WeChat groups according to other contexts, and individuals in different groups can have something in common. The connection between individual and group is also a social need. The virtual world established in WeChat can be called the “WeChat world.”