Understanding user engagement with mobile media in the diasporic context: A case of Australia-based Chinese users' practice on dating apps

Situating user engagement with dating applications (apps) in the context of diasporic media use, this paper provides a lens to understand the complexities that arise in cross-cultural contexts of use. More specifically, this paper provides a framework to understand Australia-based Chinese users’ engagement with Tantan and Tinder, two dating apps that are embedded in different cultural contexts. Tantan is a popular dating app in mainland China, and was designed to mimic Tinder, which is blocked in Mainland China like other Western social media platforms. Accordingly, engagement with these platforms by Chinese users in Australia provides a good opportunity to compare and contrast the ways that cultural understandings of interpersonal relationships are integrated into these platforms, and the various cultures and practices associated with them. Given the scope of Chinese immigrants in Australia and the widespread use of mobile media, issues around their engagement with such technologies will become more prevalent. In the case of dating apps, it will be more complex than other mobile platforms due to special settings of dating apps and China’s unique culture related dating and courtship. This paper aims to fill gaps between dating app studies and digital diaspora studies. Most existing research about dating apps focuses on Western applications, despite the fact that China is becoming a major player in the dating app market. Also, academic work about diasporic use of mobile media is limited, and it is almost non-existent when it comes to dating apps. Therefore, there is a clear opportunity for more nuanced work to be done that combines the fields of mobile dating app studies and digital diaspora studies