'Douyin is My Nourishment of the Mind': Exploring the Infrastructuralization Process of Short Video Sharing Platforms From Rural People’s Perspective

Research Background and Issues

• What problems or challenges did the authors identify?
  Current HCI research pays limited attention to the phenomenon of platform-as-infrastructure, particularly in the context of rural users. Although short video platforms (SVSPs) have a significant impact in rural areas, existing studies primarily focus on the lack of infrastructure in these regions, with little exploration of how SVSPs are gradually becoming digital infrastructure in rural areas.

• Why is this issue important?
  Short video platforms are becoming foundational to rural economic and cultural development, influencing rural residents' lives, social identity, and economic activities. However, the process of SVSPs becoming infrastructure and the role rural users play in this process remain underexplored. Understanding this phenomenon can not only provide design recommendations for SVSPs but also offer new perspectives for broader research on rural infrastructure.

• Research Motivation and Related Work
  The authors aim to fill this research gap by investigating how rural residents adopt and use short video platforms and their interaction mechanisms with the platform's infrastructuralization process. Related work primarily involves studies on infrastructure, short video platforms, and rural users' experiences with digital services.

Solutions

• What methods or solutions did the authors propose?
  The authors designed and conducted an in-depth empirical study, involving semi-structured interviews with 26 short video platform users from rural areas in China. They explored users' behaviors, experiences, and expectations of the platform. The data was analyzed using inductive thematic analysis, adopting a user-centered perspective to examine the infrastructuralization process of short video platforms.

• What is innovative about this solution?
  This study integrates the concept of platform infrastructuralization with rural users' experiences, exploring how users influence the infrastructuralization process through practices, content creation, and participation in social interactions. Additionally, the authors introduced the concept of "emotional support" as a critical foundational function of short video platforms, explaining their high acceptance and deep engagement among users.

• What are the implementation steps and key techniques used?

1. Data Collection: Conducted semi-structured interviews to understand user behaviors and experiences, supplemented by screenshots and interaction records.
2. Thematic Analysis: Applied inductive analysis methods to extract themes from user data.
3. Theoretical Integration: Combined findings with theories on infrastructuralization, short video platforms, and rural studies to deepen the understanding of the results.

Research Findings

• What specific findings were obtained?

  1. SVSPs have become a critical digital infrastructure for rural users, significantly transforming their daily lives and social interaction habits.
  2. Using SVSPs has enhanced rural users' happiness, self-identity, and collective cultural identity, serving as "nourishment for the soul."
  3. Through algorithmic recommendations and multi-level interaction mechanisms, SVSPs have attracted rural users with low barriers to entry, supporting and driving the infrastructuralization process from the user level.

• What advantages does this solution have compared to existing ones?
  This study focuses on the role of users in the infrastructuralization process, emphasizing the unique needs and experiences of rural users, thereby addressing a gap in existing research that primarily focuses on technology design or social structures. It also suggests ways to enhance rural users' sense of value and autonomy through improved platform design and policies.

• What are the experimental or evaluation results?
  Qualitative interviews revealed that rural users feel unprecedented levels of attention, recognition, and care when using SVSPs. Additionally, the high adoption rate and deep engagement with these platforms in rural areas lay a foundation for their further development as infrastructure.

• Limitations and Future Directions

  1. Limitations: The study was conducted in a relatively affluent rural area in China, which may not fully represent other rural regions; the participants were primarily active users, lacking observations of non-active users.
  2. Future Directions: Future research could expand to regions with different socioeconomic backgrounds, explore the reasons and experiences of "non-users," and incorporate quantitative data for long-term tracking studies.

Conclusions and Recommendations

By integrating user needs with platform design, future efforts can:

1. Ensure platform designs better balance rules and user autonomy, such as allowing users to co-create rules.
2. Support rural users in conducting economic activities by promoting the establishment of related social ecosystems, such as providing logistics, training, and other supporting services.
3. Enhance the platform's value recognition for rural users by developing dedicated cultural promotion sections and optimizing existing rules to make them more transparent and user-friendly.