Invitation to the QQ World
In this chapter, some background information about QQ will be introduced. This chapter is divided into four parts. First, we will briefly introduce what QQ is. What does QQ look like? How do people set it up to find new friends? Second, the QQ dating site
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Invitation to the QQ World
Certain users describe this technology as a communication medium, a conduit that transmits information from one place to another, a means of keeping in touch with friends in faraway places—or of avoiding face-to-face contact with the people just upstairs. For these users, the Internet is primarily a tool they utilize to facilitate research or communicate with others. Other users talk about cyberspace as a place they can go to meet and talk with others. Although such online worlds may not have physical substance, they are thought of as meaningful places where things happen that have genuine consequences. Some users talk about these online spaces as virtual communities. Others call cyberspace “home”. —(Markham 1998, p. 86).
In this chapter, some background information about QQ will be introduced. This chapter is divided into four parts. First, we will briefly introduce what QQ is. What does QQ look like? How do people set it up to find new friends? Second, the QQ dating site, one of the services provided by Tencent QQ, is introduced. The QQ dating site is not merely for people in search of partners. Rather, it is commonly used by people to sell sex services. Third, we will introduce the QQ forum where co-author Choi gathered most of the data. The culture of the forum is described, and some of the rules of the forum will be explained. Understanding the culture and the rules of the forum is important for the readers to understand the behavior of the forum users. In addition, the different types of messages which can be found on the forum will be introduced.
M.K.-t. Choi and K.-b. Chan, Online Dating as A Strategic Game, Why and How Men in Hong Kong Use QQ to Chase Women in Mainland China, DOI 10.1007/ 978-3-642-39985-5_4, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
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4 Invitation to the QQ World
What Is QQ? The full name of QQ is Tencent QQ. QQ is the most popular instant messaging computer program (IM) in China developed by Tencent. QQ was first released as a “Network Paging” instant messenger (similar to ICQ and MSN). Later, other features were successively added such as chat rooms, games, Internet storage, online dating services, etc. There were more than ten billion registered accounts in 2009, and the server recorded more than 75 million online at the same time (Tencent 2010). The large amount of users makes QQ a popular tool for people to make friends through the Internet. Figure 4.1 shows a penguin, the logo of Tencent QQ. To start using QQ, people have to download the software first. QQ can be downloaded at the official website of Tencent QQ (http://hi.qq.com). After downloading the software, people have to register for a QQ account which is free of charge. The QQ account is a number which is used to identify a user. After registration, users
Fig. 4.1 The logo of Tencent QQ
Fig. 4.2 Interface of QQ—personal information
What Is QQ?
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Fig. 4.3 Interface of QQ—searching people
may enter their personal information, including sex, age, occupation, location, etc. People can
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