What social media platforms run Hong Kong and what are the implications?

Hong Kong’s infatuation with technology and social media defines it. It’s impossible to step into any of the city’s public spaces without encountering as many mobile devices as people.

Commuters on the subway or double-decker buses sit with their screens lit and faces tilted downwards. Young people walk the streets with earphones plugged into their iPhones or Androids, pausing always to snap an Instagram picture or a Snapchat of their ‘food porn’.

In Hong Kong and across the world, social media platforms are enjoying an ever-increasing level of influence.

And the city finds itself in a unique position: our residents enjoy greater internet freedom under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle than those living over the border on mainland China.

This week, City Weekend explores the social media platforms that have taken Hong Kong by storm over the years and the implications behind our city’s use of them.

Connecting friends and strangers

According to a survey by market research firm Statista, 78 per cent of Hong Kong’s population were active social media users in the third quarter of 2017 – a high but unsurprising figure given the city is consistently reported as possessing one of the fastest internet connections on the planet.