The Multifaceted Impact of Social Media on Economic Growth in China
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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK
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This study investigates the relationship between social media usage and economic growth in China from 2017 to 2023, focusing on the role of key social media platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, and BiliBili. This study uses an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method to examine time series data and investigate social media's effects on China's short-term and long-term GDP and control variables including Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods (TRSCG) and Aggregate Financing to the Real Economy (AFRE). The research chooses ARDL because of its strength in dealing with limited sample sizes and adaptability in handling regressors with various integration orders, setting it apart from traditional cointegration tests. Furthermore, this study utilizes a bounds test method to identify enduring connections between the factors. This study examines the impact of social media on the economic growth of China as a whole, as well as that of major factors like TRSCG and AFRE. It examines the impact of social media platforms WeChat, Weibo, and Douyin, which have a negative impact, but BiliBili has a positive impact on economic development, utilizing identical fundamental economic metrics. Further research indicates that the existence of a long-term relationship between the variables is backed by the error correction term (ECT). These observations provide important suggestions for policymakers and businesses on incorporating social media into economic development plans.