3. 50%of Chinese market penetration
(Kuittinen, 2013)
3rdiOS
Android
mobile application facetime in China
minutes
/month
(Ng, 2013)
209
{
}
BACKGROUND

4. Does mediated communication on WeChat
contribute to Intimacy in a relationship?
Perceived closeness
Interdependence
Affinity
INTIMACY:

9. I LOVE YOU,BABE.
I REALLY MISS
YOU,BABE.

11. HYPOTHESIS
H: The intensity of WeChat use is
positively related to intimacy perceived
by individual in a romantic relationship.

12. METHOD：ONLINE SURVEY
www.sojump.com

13. SURVEY
4 17 3
WeChat Use Intimacy Demographic
Intensity scale
(2007)
Miller Social
Intimacy Scale
（1982）
Sex
Age
Education
α＝.897

14. RESULTS
101/109
92.66%
46
55
45.54% 54.46%

15. r = .31**
Intensity of WeChat use is
SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED
to intimacy perceived by
individuals in a romantic
relationship.

16. THAT’S ALL

18. RESEARCH QUESTION
RQ: What functions in WeChat
fulfill the needs for intimacy
between couples in a romantic
relationship?

19. STEP 2 FOCUS GROUP

21. “I like WeChat because I can not only
text my girlfriend, but also send her
voice messages,
emoticons or do a video chat.”
Social presence (Berghel &Womack, 2003)

22. “I like WeChat because I can not only
text my girlfriend, but also send her
voice messages,
emoticons or do a video chat.”
Social presence (Berghel &Womack, 2003)

23. “I can send pictures to her
and share the interesting things I
encounter any time I want . ”
Interpersonal process model of intimacy
H. T. Reis and P. Shaver‘s (1988)
“My girlfriend ‘force’ me to LIKE
every post of hers.”

24. “I can send pictures to her
and share the interesting things I
encounter any time I want . ”
Interpersonal process model of intimacy
H. T. Reis and P. Shaver‘s (1988)
“My girlfriend ‘force’ me to LIKE
every post of hers.”

25. “I can select photos in which I look
gorgeous to my boyfriend in hope of
compliments.”
“I can send voice messages in which my
voice sound particularly sweet to
him.”
Selective self-presentation

26. “I can select photos in which I look
gorgeous to my boyfriend in hope of
compliments.”
“I can send voice messages in which my
voice sound particularly sweet to
him.”
Selective self-presentation

27. “I can keep track of what my bf is
doing in Moments.”
“I can see if people he interacts with in
Moments may pose a threat to me by
checking their profiles.”
Information needs uncertainty reduction

28. FINDINGS
Fuctions(Use) Need(Gratification)
Voice message
Walkie-talkie
Voice
Tone
Video chat Voice, tone, facial expressions,
gestures
Emoticon Entertainment
Facial expressions, gestures
Photo
Selective self-presentation
Self-disclosure
Partner responsiveness
Moments Information needs
Uncertainty reduction
Synchronous
communication
Close to realtime interaction
Asynchronous
communication
No pressure to reply immediately

29. LIMITATION
Flaw in correlational studies
Other adoption factor
Sample size
&representativeness
Uneven famale to male ratio
of focus group

30. DIRECTION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
Gender differences
Affection expression:
text? audio? pictures?
Video?

31. “HOW DO YOU EXPRESS YOUR LOVE”
Voice:Li Xiongfei
Video Source:
“惡作劇之吻”
“You’ve Got Mail”
“回到過去”
“那些年我們一起追過的女孩”
“繼承者們”
“WeChat Ads”