Author(s)

Wenhao Lu, Ke Zhang

Corresponding Author

Ke Zhang

ABSTRACT

Different from European and American cultural context, subculture groups in China are closer to neo-tribe due to their fragmentation and mobility. However, the difference between cultural and media context requires the neo-tribal theory to recontextualize to adapt to the communication mechanism in the context of Chinese SNS. In the past, Chinese research on subcultures mostly chose a single tribe as the object. Few studies have done a descriptive comparison of tribes formed in different ways. Therefore, the research divided neo-tribes into two types: interest-based & empathy-based tribes, and made a compare research of network structure analysis between them. By adapting SNA from the macro, meso, and micro level, the study found that empathy-based tribes have weaker cohesion than interest-based tribes, the overall willingness of tribal members to establish contact with others is weaker, and the distribution of opinion leaders is more dispersed, but small-scale support among members is more frequent.

KEYWORDS

Neo-tribe, SNA, subculture, interest-based tribe, empathy-based tribe