The Platformed Discourse of ‘Fans’ in the Chinese Creator Market

“Fans” in Chinese Digital Markets The rich, extensive, and diverse Chinese digital market presents a plethora of platforms, content formats, and monetisation strategies that are quickly proliferating and evolving, in part due to the size and hyper-competitiveness of the industry. In particular, the cultural production of wanghong—the domestic catch-all for Internet celebrities, influencers, creators and the like—is often perceived to be a distinct ecology to Silicon Valley platforms, as the state is highly present and interventionist in the production, maintenance, and regulation of digital platforms (Craig et al.). This unique socio-political context has seen the extension of wanghong from mere creators to important mediators and leaders of innovation in the economy, specific to business models (Han “Platform”, “Historicising”), entrepreneurship (J. Guo), and mindsets (Xu) that pervade the digital culture of followers, audiences, and consumers. More crucially, these various groups of target users are often parsed as “fans” in the corporate vocabulary of platforms. In the Chinese language, “fans” can be generally parsed as fensi (粉丝), miyou (迷友), or aihao zhe (爱好者). Whereas aihao zhe refers more to an enthusiast or aficionado of a subject matter or activity, miyou tends to refer to a person who is obsessed over something. Fensi tends to be the most used term to refer to fans at large, and can variously refer to a person who admires, supports, or follows someone or something. It is for this reason that on Chinese social media the term “fan” and “follower” are often interchangeable. However, in the corporate discourse by platforms, the term “fan” seems to be preferred for connoting the human interest aspect and a level of agentic enthusiasm, over the term “follower”—guanzhu zhe (关注者), genjinzhe (跟进者), or zhuisui zhe (追随者)—which implies some passivity. The wealth of scholarship has focussed on Chinese “fans” from a variety of digital platforms and genres. A central theme in the scholarship is how fans have shifted from being mere “passive recipients of marketing campaigns” to being active participants of the “gift economy” who are content experts and co-creators of productions (Liang and Shen). Chinese fans have spearheaded the phenomenon of “data fans” who focus their efforts on “generating online traffic and data” for idols to “gain traction on social media” (Zhai and Wang), through a savvy command of platformed algorithms that respond to their “clicking, viewing, commenting and reposting” practices (Yin), to boost traffic to posts and conversations about their favourite celebrities. Such practices have been introduced as “algorithmic fan culture” (Yin) in the Chinese market, where the primary goal is to generate visibility for (the object of) their fandom (Y. Zhang et al.) as platformed metrics are perceived to be markers of popularity, influence, and commercial success. The affordances and corporate discourse of “fans” by platforms is important for fostering the sociality that fans feel towards the objects of their affection—whether traditional celebrity, public figures, wanghong, or media texts—which in turn cultivates positive fan-led initiatives such as “non-government organized volunteering” (Jeffreys and Xu), or civic engagement that encourages fan philanthropy (Yang et al). This aspect of Chinese social media fandoms has been so prominent as to culminate in the launch of dedicated “digital fandom fundraising platforms” like Taoba (桃叭) (Liao and Fu). In response, brands are pivoting to using social media platforms to foster “company social networks” to turn “followers” into “fans” through entertainment content (L. Guo et al.), and investing in “fan management system[s]” (Shih et. al). For instance, tech giant Xiaomi has described its initiatives as a “fan-centric social media business model” (Shih et. al), where “fan demand” is a core consideration for business decisions and there are streamlined modes of communication with fan-consumers to collect their feedback and manage their expectations. Given the centrality of platformisation in the Chinese digital market (Lin and de Kloet; Z. Zhang), this article takes such platformed discourse of “fans” in the Chinese creator market as its focus to reveal that major platforms view fans as “resources” which wanghong leverage to achieve monetisation. Methodology This article is an extension of a project undertaken by the Influencer Ethnography Research Lab (IERLab) in which we analysed creator discourses on popular social media platforms in various cultural and language markets. The goal was a scoping review to explore how platforms impact people’s understanding of the “creator” in different contexts, and the dataset and discussion in this article is developed from the resulting report Platformed Creator Discourse in Chinese Markets (Abidin and Guo). In the larger project, we focussed on how creator vocabularies and discourses are produced, developed, reproduced, and shifting on a group of platforms, looking also at the initiatives and unique features of each. This article focusses on six platforms—Bilibili, Douyin, Douyu, Kuaishou, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu—surveying how the constitution and discourse around “fans” have been produced, negotiated, and contested on each platform. Specifically, the study undertook a three-pronged approach between May to June 2023: firstly, platform features and affordances were studied via the walkthrough method (Light et al.) on both the iOS app version and the Website versions of the platforms where possible; secondly, platform policies and regulations were studied via document analysis gathered through the dedicated creator centres and pages provided by each company (Bowen); thirdly, platform campaigns and monetisation strategies were studied via a combination of Web archaeology (Harper and Chen; Rauber et al.) and digital ethnography (Abidin and de Seta). Translations were undertaken by the authors who are bilingual. Contextualising the Platforms Bilibili, Douyin, Douyu, and Kuaishou are video platforms variously focussed on short-form, long-form, and livestream video. Weibo is a micro-blogging platform, whereas Xiaohongshu is an e-commerce platform that also has social media image- and video-sharing functions. In the table below, we provide an overview of the six platforms, underscoring their main features, their original agenda and/or slogans, and what the platforms have been most commonly known for at the time of writing. This context guides our understanding as to how “fans” are presented in the platformed discourse, as we will discuss in the next section. Platform, year est. Main features Original agenda Present-day focus BilibiliEst. 2009 Video-sharing, livestreaming Animation, cartoons, games (ACG) video-sharing Mainstream video-sharing from 2021 DouyinEst. 2016 Short video,livestreaming Music short videos Everyday life short videos and livestreaming from 2018 DouyuEst. 2014 Livestreaming Gaming livestreaming eSports and online gaming livestreaming, variety show and entertainment livestreaming from 2019 KuaishouEst. 2011 Short video, video-sharing, livestreaming GIFs and short-form video-sharing Rural life and everyday life in third- and fourth-tier cities, livestreaming from 2016 WeiboEst. 2009 Micro-blogging,blogging,video-sharing,livestreaming,e-commerce Information sharing via micro-blogging posts Longform blogging, video-sharing, and livestreaming of mainstream news, information in general, and entertainment, with in-app e-commerce functions from 2017 XiaohongshuEst. 2013 Short video,video-sharing,Livestreaming,e-commerce Overseas shopping tips and cross-border commerce for Chinese travellers via picture and video posts Shopping recommendations and reviews, and lifestyle sharing guide, with in-app e-commerce functions from 2018 Table 1: The main features, original agenda, and present-day focus of the six platforms in our study. Table by authors. The Platformed Discourse of “Fans” In this section, we consider the platformed discourse of “fans”. Our coding of fieldnotes from the walkthrough method, platform policies and regulations through document analysis, and fieldnotes from our digital ethnography point to four main themes: fans as platform gatekeepers; fans for status designation; fans as consumers and patrons; and fans as community. Fans as Platform Gatekeepers A distinctive feature of platforms in the Chinese market is the gamification of follower counts and platform features, pointing to a platformisation of fan bases per se (cf. Z. Zhang). It is often the case that the number of followers amassed by a creator directly impacts the types of features and services that the creator’s account is able to unlock. As such, followers are narrated as helpful, charitable, and loyal “fans” who are critical to the success of creators who wish to access a platform’s gatekept features. For example, in 2022 Kuaishou launched the “Kuaishou Creator Version App” (快手创作者版App) that offers creators features to maintain fan engagement, such as monitoring fan favourites, categories of content that perform better with their follower base, a list of top fans, and other management optics to better improve content traffic with the ultimate aim of increasing monetisation potential (TOM). Xiaohongshu made a similar move in the same year, enabling creators with 1,000 to 5,000 followers to be eligible for intermediary platform and advertising activities (“Menkan”). Douyu is popular with a range of livestreamers across genres, despite focussing specifically on eSports and online gaming livestreaming, and variety show and entertainment livestreaming. In recognition of its leadership in livestreaming in the Chinese market, the platform launched an initiative to contract select livestreamers as exclusively contracted employees. Known as guanqian (官签)—which literally translates to “official signing”—these livestreamers must have already established fan bases to qualify for the programme, and once contracted they are assigned specific workloads and paid a basic income in addition to their other revenue streams. Fans for Status Designation In the vein of “data fans” in the Chinese market (Zhai and Wang), for some platforms, the number of followers accumulated by an account determines the creator’s role and designation on the platform. Xiaohongshu’s handbook of sponsored content and advertising for creators and advertisers offers three categories of “bloggers” whose prescribed functions are decided based on their fanbase. While “top-ranked bloggers” (头部博主) with over 500,000 followers are chiefly responsible for strongly promoting content, boosting visibility, and triggering a user-following effect, “middle-ranked bloggers” (腰部博主) with 50,000 to 500,000 followers are designated to highlight their personal traits to reach a target audience. However, “bottom-ranked key opinion consumers/bloggers” (尾部KOC博主) take on the more traditional parasocial duties of influencers, and are perceived to engage their 1,000 to 50,000 followers via the creation of authentic experiences, the fostering of shared feelings, and the expansion of interest in different content types (“Zenme”). On Weibo, “da-V” (大V, literally translating to “big V”) refers to social media personas with credibility that distinguishes their accounts from regular user accounts. While the “V” badge, which appears next to the user’s account name, serves as a marker of status, the number of fans further acts as a status designation. “Baiwan da-V” (百万大V)—a user with a “V badge” and a million fans—is an important designation on the Weibo platform. For example, in 2023, Weibo required “baiwan da-V” accounts to undergo real-name verification, which would be displayed on their profile pages, particularly for accounts in genres such as social affairs, healthcare, and finance (Weibo Management). Fans as Consumers and Patrons The overt focus on monetisation (cf. Han “Platform”) and entrepreneurship (cf. J. Guo) on Chinese platforms has resulted in a proliferation of platform-led campaigns and initiatives that overtly position fans as consumers and patrons of creators. In 2014, Weibo launched its “Me-Media Plan” (自媒体计划), which focussed on drawing in more creators with the specific promise of assisting them to accumulate “more followers”, which would subsequently translate to “more tangible income” (“Weibo”). Many platforms also launched fan tipping services in the 2010s, like Bilibili’s “Charging Project” (充电计划) in 2016, which updated platform features to facilitate the transfer of money from viewers to creators as a “show of appreciation”, and the platform took a 30% cut from all transfers (“Cong”). Following in Weibo’s footsteps, in 2018 Bilibili launched the “Creation Encouragement Project” (创作激励计划) to introduce a new revenue stream to creators, who could now earn an income based on traffic or “view numbers” to their posts (iNews). For other platforms, fans are quite literally consumers, as feature upgrades slowly evolved the social media sites into e-commerce spaces. By 2019, Douyin introduced “daihuo” (带货) to allow creators to promote products for direct purchase on the app, and “tuangou” (团购) with features to promote discounts and coupons for offline services. These upgrades occurred during a season when industry pundits recognised the effectiveness of short videos for e-commerce and creator monetisation. As such, on the likes of Douyin it is not uncommon for a specific genre of wanghong to be branded as “daren” (达人): creators who specialise in drawing in online attention and leveraging this traffic specifically to boost viewer purchases. Some of the most proficient daren eventually emerged as an exclusive class of “dianzhu” (店主), or shop owners, as they began to peddle their own merchandise and products for sale. In recognition of this phenomenon, in 2020 Douyin launched the new feature “Douyin Shop” (抖音小店), enabling individual creators to set up e-commerce storefronts on the app to facilitate in-app sales and payments. Fans as Community Finally, fans were also described as simply a community of followers who were drawn together by their interest and investment in a specific genre of content or specific creators. Bilibili has historically been known to be especially popular for its ACG (Animation, Comics, Games) subcultures, which continue to congregate on the platform despite the company making efforts to mainstream over the years. Douyu’s focus on eSports and gaming has seen a unique demographic of male users, and the vernacular of the platform’s campaigns and initiatives draws on visuals and language that appeal to this community. When Douyin was first launched in 2016, its slogan was “focus on the new-generation music short-form video community” (专注新生代的音乐短视频社区) to appeal specifically to communities of musicians and singers. Xiaohongshu’s legacy in overseas and cross-border shopping recommendations and e-commerce has retained its largely young, female audience, who have emerged as a community of Key Opinion Consumers (KOC) perceived as role-models or leaders whose reviews are prized. In recognition of the importance of fans as communities centred on creators, Weibo was among the first platforms to launch a “Fan Service Platform” (粉丝服务平台) in 2013, providing its verified users with access to and optics on follower-related data, and the exclusive opportunity to send direct group messages to several groups of followers at once (Jing). The variety of vocabulary that creators use to refer to their fans also points to some nuances around the constitution of community on Chinese platforms. Specifically, the various terms for community are often used to class fans who are more “elite” than others, and identified as a “qun” (群) or bounded group. For example, it is common for creators to refer to their most loyal tier of fans as “tiefen” (铁粉), which literally translates to “iron fan”. Platforms have even begun to introduce “tiefen” flares or tags that followers can “earn” or “unlock” depending on their engagement—including tipping—with creator accounts, thus designating their more elite and exclusive status within the community. There are also options for creators to filter followers by such a status, with “tiefen” rankings publicly available on creators’ public profiles. On the platforms with e-commerce features, creators often refer to their fans as “jiarenmen” (家人们), which translates to “family members”. This implication of community—a group of people who share intimacy—is usually invoked when creators are sharing “good deals”, “exclusive opportunities”, or “rare bargains” with prospective consumers, framed in the discourse of “only wanting the best for my family” or “only wanting to share bargains with my loved ones”. In so doing, the conversation masks or deflects from the reality of the relationship being one of functional exchange, or that the parasociality cultivated over time is ultimately a “commercial intimacy” (Abidin and Thompson) that is specifically intended to facilitate purchases. The gendered dimension of such intimacy is noticeable. For example, on Xiaohongshu, beauty and fashion creators widely use “jiemeimen” (姐妹们)—”sisters”—to refer their fan community regardless of the gender of the creators and the followers themselves. Conclusion By analysing the platformed discourse of “fans” on the six Chinese platforms, we argue that, in the Chinese creator market, major platforms view fans as “resources” which wanghong leverage to achieve monetisation. By using fans as gatekeepers to regulate access to platform services for creators, and using fanbase numbers as status designations, Chinese platforms convey to creators that fanbases are instrumental to their success, functioning not just as followers but as tangible “assets”. The discourses that frame fans as consumers and patrons further demonstrate that Chinese platforms offer diversified monetisation channels and functions for creators, directly relying on fans’ purchasing capacities. The formation of fan communities also centres fans’ consumption power. However, fans are not mindless followers or “passive consumers”: their engagements with creators and platforms shape, change, and sometimes challenge platformed discourses (cf. Sparviero). We call for future research to study the agency of fans under the powerful platform economy in the Chinese creator market, as well as their negotiation with platforms. 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