Research On The Identity Of Virtual Community Under The Perspective Of "Actor Network Theory"

With the acceleration of China's Internet ethnicization and the stratification,virtual communities with "interests" as a link play an increasingly important role in the lives of netizens.Netizens try to redefine themselves in the virtual community and look for value in the group and a sense of belonging from identity.The construction of this identity will have a major impact on political,economic,cultural development,etc.The issue of identity of virtual community members deserves attention.This study takes the domestic famous sports virtual community "HUPU Sports Forum" as the object,adopts the research method of network ethnography,and conducts research on the identity of virtual community members through participatory observation and in-depth interviews.There are two main problems in the research: first,how members construct identity in the virtual community;second,what impact does this identity construction have on the virtual community.Under the framework of the Actor Network Theory(ANT),this paper innovatively proposes that the identity of the virtual community is constructed in the "translation" of the actors multiple times,and the "translation" is essentially It is the way in which members process and disseminate information content to achieve common goals.In the virtual community,the identity construction between members requires effective information dissemination and interaction,and ANT provides us with a new research perspective.This paper believes that in the HUPU Sports Forum,in order to complete the construction of individual identity,members will first "translate" the "ideal me" in the subconscious into a topical post to complete compensatory fantasies.Thereafter,through interaction,the member's forum identity The image will be "translated" and constructed again in the comments and interactions of others.In the stage of collective identification,members "translate" everyday language into "black words" within the forum to divide group boundaries and "translate" the original welfare items into generalized forms to recruit more internal members.Finally,members will "translate" their inner emotional attitudes into carnival symbols to promote the carnival celebration.Unlike most of the rest of the research,this study treats all kinds of heterogeneous factors as "actors" and emphasizes the existence of "non-human actors" whose role requires the "agent" to spread and strengthen.In addition,the paper further divides the role of human actors in the "translation" action: "core actors" are usually opinion leaders in the forum,playing the role of "leader" and leading the direction of the production of the forum content;"General actors" are responsible for the large-scale diffusion of specific topics.The identity building of the virtual community makes these "actors" form a "network alliance" that will affect the virtual community.In the HUPU Sports Forum,these effects are mainly reflected in the three levels of "the forum system","communication content" and "spiritual value",and at the same time,they will promote the "translation".In short,it is of theoretical and practical value to re-examine the identity of virtual communities from the perspective of ANT.