This study adopts a social constructivist perspective to explore how transnational marriages are constructed through social media interactions on Rednote. On the Rednote platform, researchers collected 50 posts by Chinese influencers showcasing transnational marriages and 150 highly liked comments as samples for content analysis. The results indicate that sharing cross-cultural lifestyles is the main content of these posts, with life sharing, love stories, emotional sharing, and scripted videos as the core themes displayed. Through self-disclosure, influencers build trust and emotional connections with followers and construct a positive image of transnational marriages through impression-management-based self-presentation strategies. Selective showcasing of positive life aspects and scripted content are the primary forms of self-presentation. In these interactions, influencers and followers establish parasocial relationships that shape followers' cognition and practices regarding transnational marriages. In the future, the construction of transnational marriages on social media and its impact on users' internalization and practices will become a new direction for research.
Aharony, N. (2016). Relationships among attachment theory, social capital perspective, personality characteristics, and Facebook self-disclosure. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 68(3), 362-386.
Becker, J., & Lissmann, H. J. (1973). In halts analyze-Kritik einer sozial wissen schaftlichen Methode. Arbeitspapiere zur politischen Soziologie 5. München: Olzog.
Berger, C. R., & Calabrese, R. J. (1974). Some explorations in initial interaction and beyond: Toward a developmental theory of interpersonal communication. Human communication research, 1(2), 99-112.
Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality. In Penguin Group. Penguin Group. https://doi.org/10.1163/157006812X634872
Charsley, K. (Ed.). (2013). Transnational marriage: New perspectives from Europe and beyond. Routledge.
Chan, W., & Ngai, P. (2021). Transnational Marriages in Urban China: Trends and Misconceptions. Journal of Marriage and Family Studies, 33(4), 1023-1040.
Derlega, V. J., Metts, S., Petronio, S., & Margulis, S. T. (1993). Self-disclosure. Sage Publications, Inc.
Goffman, E. (1956). The presentation of self in everyday life. Woodstock, N.Y., Overlook Press.
Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. American Sociological Review, 21(5), 631. https://doi.org/10.2307/2089106
Horton, D., & Richard Wohl, R. (1956). Mass communication and para-social interaction: Observations on intimacy at a distance. Psychiatry, 19(3), 215-229.
Huitun Data. (2024, April 6). Huitun Data RED Version. Xhs.huitun.com. https://xhs.huitun.com/#/anchor/search
Kaplan, D. (2021). Public intimacy in social media: The mass audience as a third party. Media, Culture & Society, 43(4), 595-612.
Lasswell, H. D. (1948). The structure and function of communication in society. The communication of ideas, 37(1), 136-139.
Lim, M., & Yang, Y. (2015). Effects of users’ envy and shame on social comparison that occurs on social network services. Computers in Human Behavior, 51, 300-311.
Mayring, P. (2004). Qualitative content analysis. A companion to qualitative research, 1(2), 159-176.
National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China. (2023). Annual data. Stats.gov.cn. https://data.stats.gov.cn/easyquery.htm?cn=C01&zb=A0P0C&sj=2016
Pan, W. (2014). Love and marriage in globalizing China. Routledge.
Picone, I. (2015). Impression management in social media. The international encyclopedia of digital communication and society, 36, 469-476.
Robinson, M. D., Johnson, J. T., & Shields, S. A. (1995). On the advantages of modesty: The benefits of a balanced self-presentation. Communication Research, 22(5), 575-591.
Rodkin, P. C. (1993). The psychological reality of social constructions. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 16(4), 633-656.
Salovey, P. (1991). Social comparison processes in envy and jealousy. In Social comparison (pp. 261-285). Routledge.
Sinn, D., & Syn, S. Y. (2014). Personal documentation on a social network site: Facebook, a collection of moments from your life. Archival Science, 14, 95-124.
Slaby, J., Mühlhoff, R., & Wüschner, P. (2019). Affective arrangements. Emotion review, 11(1), 3-12.
Su, B. C., Wu, L. W., Chang, Y. Y. C., & Hong, R. H. (2021). Influencers on social media as references: Understanding the importance of parasocial relationships. Sustainability, 13(19), 10919.
Ueno, K., & Adams, R. G. (2006). Adult friendship: A decade review. Close relationships: Functions, forms and processes, 151-169.
Uribe, R., Buzeta, C., Manzur, E., & Celis, M. (2022). Celebrity endorsement using different types of new media and advertising formats. Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administración, 35(3), 281-302.
Wang, L., & Sun, J. (2020). The Romanticization of Transnational Marriages in China: Myths and Realities. International Sociology Review, 35(2), 221-239.
Woon, E., & Pang, A. (2017). Explicating the information vacuum: stages, intensifications, and implications. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 22(3), 329-353.
Zhao, H. (2020). Explicating the social constructionist perspective on crisis communication and crisis management research: a review of communication and business journals. Journal of Public Relations Research, 32(3–4), 98–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/1062726X.2020.1802732
Zhou, M., & Zhang, L. (2019). Social Media and Transnational Marriages: Changing Perceptions in China. Media, Culture & Society, 41(5), 679-695.
Mingming, B., Pazil, N. H. A., & Pandian, S. (2025). The Social Construction of Transnational Marriage on Rednote: Insights from Influencer–Follower Interactions. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 15(11), 616–629.
Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode