Revisiting community and media: an affordance analysis of digital media platforms used by gay communities in China

Abstract

What roles do media play in community building? Based on life story interviews with 72 older gay men living in China, this study traces the rise and fall of four significant digital media platforms used by Chinese gay communities since the late 1990s. We propose the notion of community-based media affordance as an analytical device and show that the four platforms vary in terms of pervasiveness, self-presentation, searchability, visibility, editability, and awareness. This variation in affordances has contributed to “the good, the bad, and the ugly” in Chinese gay communities. Our analysis highlights the specific social, cultural, and political circumstances of the development of these platforms. It also suggests a link between certain community-based media affordances and the platforms’ capacity for queer community building. The framework of community-based media affordance can also be used to compare affordances across different media in future studies.