摘要:

This study examines a widely used yet underexplored digital affordance specific to the Chinese social media platform WeChat, i.e., the “tap-tap” (拍一拍) function, with a particular focus on users’ metacommunicative reflections on its role in online communication. Adopting a discourse-centered online ethnographic approach that combines analyses of naturally-occurring instances of “tap-tap” use and interviews with these users, this study explores the creative ways in which participants exploit the communicative potential of “tap-tap”, and how they interpret the role of this technological affordance in their online interactions. Drawing on the concept of ‘metacommunicative reflexivity’ in sociolinguistics and communication studies, as well as ‘interpretative flexibility’ in the sociology of science, we highlight the agency of users as active adaptors of the ‘intended scripts’ of digital technologies for meaning-making and interpersonal connection. The study shows that “tap-tap” is inherently interactive, which is evident not only in its content design but also in users’ active deployment of this function for self-representation, interpersonal alignment, and conversation management. By emphasizing users’ metacommunicative reflections on a digital affordance specific to WeChat messaging, this study offers contextualized insights for understanding the complexity and creativity involved in contemporary digital communication.