@article{StockmannHartmanLuo, author = {Stockmann, Daniela and Hartman, Keri and Luo, Ting}, title = {The political position generator - A new instrument for measuring political ties in China}, series = {Social Networks}, volume = {63}, journal = {Social Networks}, issn = {0378-8733}, doi = {10.1016/j.socnet.2020.05.004}, pages = {70 -- 79}, abstract = {This paper proposes a novel instrument - the political position generator - for measuring individuals' political ties, or personal, affective connections to state officials and other political actors. It adopts and adapts the more general position generator framework in social capital research to capture three key dimensions of political ties - upper reachability, network diversity, and tie strength. The measure is validated with data from a representative survey of the Chinese population and three scales representing the three political ties dimensions are created. In correlational and multivariate regression analyses, we find initial evidence of the instrument's criterion-related (discriminant and concurrent) validity.}, language = {en} } @article{StockmannGartenLuo, author = {Stockmann, Daniela and Garten, Felix and Luo, Ting}, title = {Who is a PRC user? Comparing Chinese social media user agreements}, series = {First Monday}, volume = {25}, journal = {First Monday}, number = {8}, issn = {1396-0466}, doi = {10.5210/fm.v25i8.10319}, abstract = {Social media companies rely on user agreements as one means to manage content produced by users. While much has been written on user agreements and community standards of U.S.-based social media, surprisingly little is known about Chinese user agreements and their implications. We compare terms of services as well as privacy policies of WeChat and Weibo between 2014 and 2019 using their U.S. counterparts WhatsApp and Twitter as a benchmark. We find that Chinese user agreements reveal a territorial-based understanding of content management differentiating between PRC and non-PRC users based on language, IP address and country of citizenship. Second, Chinese social media companies are surprisingly transparent about what content can be published, which has implications for self-censorship among users. Third, changes in PRC user agreements reflect Xi Jinping's tightening control of the Internet. Finally, U.S.-based platforms have moved towards content management that differs by region, thus becoming more similar to the Chinese approach over time.}, language = {en} }