One Platform, Different Terminals: The Impact of Terminal Differences on the Political Engagement Expressions of Chinese Netizens

Numerous studies have shown that platform differences can affect users’ online political engagement. However, there are few studies exploring the impact of different terminals on the online political engagement of netizens on the same platform. To explore this issue, this study captured user messages from four different terminals of the Leadership Message Board on People's Daily Online : the WeChat Mini Program; application client; mobile webpage; and PC webpage. The aim was to discover the differences in user political engagement behavior when using different terminals for the same platform. The findings show that although users try to engage in political issues online on the same platform with similar purposes, the differences in what terminal they use to access it significantly affect the results of such engagement. Concepts of “rehearsal space,” “psychological ownership,” and “redirection convenience” are introduced to help explain this phenomenon.