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Dynamic Construction of Chinese College Students' Online Identities Through Hashtags in Xiaohongshu: from A Contextual Adaptation Theory Perspective

Author(s)

Cao Wei

Affiliation(s)

Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei, China

Abstract

In the era of social media, user-generated content (UGC) has become a significant field for constructing online identities. Based on pragmatic identity theory and contextual adaptation theory, the study focuses on the usage of hashtags on the emerging social e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu, aiming to explore the relationship between its characteristic, that is combining social communication with e-commerce attributes, and the strategies of pragmatic identity construction through hashtags. Consequently, the study collects and analyzes 537 hashtagged posts from 20 Chinese college students between January 2024 and March 2025, and then, reveals the strategies and mechanisms of identity construction through hashtag usage. The findings indicate that college students use hashtags to promote their diverse online identities construction by adapting context, the culture of a certain community, psychological needs, and algorithmic traffic. Moreover, the study summarizes the instrumental, social, and identity functions of hashtags. By expanding the application of contextual adaptation theory in new media scenarios, the research provides new insights into understanding the digital survival of youth and platform economy interactions, while offering references for content ecosystem governance on social platforms.

Keywords

Contextual Adaptation Theory; Pragmatic Identity Theory; Hashtags

References

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