Narcissistic Dissemination On "Wechat Moments"

In the age of social network,self-presentation has become a habit in people's lives.Net users show their private objects,trivial matters and personal discoveries on the social network by sharing words,photos and videos,and they tend to show their good sides in order to shape their images and attract others' attentions.To some extent,such a phenomenon reflects the narcissism inclination of modern people.Wechat is a typical social network platform and an indispensible communication tools in people's lives for it has been installed in over 90% of smart phones in China,and people's narcissitic dissemination behaviors on “Wechat Moments” has beome a common social phenomenon.This thesis studies the narcissitic dissemination behaviors on “Wechat Moments” by qualitative approaches including document analysis,indepth interview and questionnaire survey.The thesis summaries the representations and characteristics of narcissitic dissemination,and analyzes its causes and influences from three perspectives including media environment,individual psychological condition and dissemination effects.Research shows that complicated media and individual factors caused the popularity of narcissitic dissemination on “Wechat Moments”.I analyzed the disseminational characteristics of “Wechat Moments” by using McLuhan's media theory.Research shows that the popularity of Wechat owes to the booming development of mobile internet which makes Wechat a habit in people's lives.People's strong dependecies on Wechat leads to numb narcissism in the use of Wechat.Futhermore,the acquaintances social circle in Wechat which is based on the field of strong ties has its own unique privacy and characteristics.In such a field of strong ties,people's self-presentation reflects both the custom of pursuing decencies in Chinese traditional culture and the pinciple of recency effect in acquaintance relationship.I used Goffman's theory of drama,Cooley's theory of mirror self and Rollo May's theory of sense of being comprehensively to explore the motivations of internet sharers.Research shows that as performers people always hope to show their good sides in social relationship by means of various behaviors to manipulate others' impression on themselves.Such a manipulation is based on three motivations: constructing an ideal self,seeking self-identity and acquiring a sense of being.People's interpersonal relationship on social network is consistent with Goffman's theory of drama,and their self-presentation on Wechat Moments is achieved through “the front stage of internet” and “the backstage of real life”.In the end,by analyzing indepth interview and questionnaire survey,I find that people try so hard to shape ideal self-images on Wechat Moments but as audiences their friends do not regard such images as ones in their real lives.Therefore,the intersection and mutual exclusion of “the front stage of internet” and “the backstage of real life” make people's performance on Wechat Moments collapse more easily.There is a undeniable paradox between the motivation of internet sharers and the dissemination effect of what they share.