How this Harvard grad tried (but failed) to become an internet celebrity in China

Stephen is a TIA Star Contributor and publishes exclusive, high-value content that serves the Asian tech community. Read more from TIA Star Contributors here.

“You see Stephen, you have to play to your strengths on Chinese social media.” Her eyes ran over me, evaluating my vaguely Jewish, almost pre-pubescent frame. “Perhaps you should post fewer photos.”

From the outside, Lara Sun looks like a normal 20-something Chinese girl. If you meet her, you’d think she’s smart, funny, and has a crushingly accurate view of your (dismal) modeling career. She’s someone you’d like to be friends with. But what you wouldn’t realize is that thousands of people feel exactly the same way.

Lara and her twin sister Sara are veritable internet celebrities (网红) in China. Combined, they have nearly a million followers on Weibo (China’s Twitter). We met as co-hosts for Harvard’s Chinese New Year gala where I was the token foreigner who spoke Mandarin. Interested in the prospects of fame, glory, and someone besides my mom commenting on my online posts, I reached out to Lara to know: Could I become an internet celebrity in China?

China and social media

Social media in China is a really big deal. By some estimates, there are 600 million social media users in the country. Huge names elsewhere (Facebook, Google, and Twitter) are blocked. As a result, China-specific platforms have developed, messaging and social media app WeChat and Weibo among them.

Social media also plays a larger role in the lives of Chinese citizens than those in the US. A survey by McKinsey & Company recently found that more than 91 percent of Chinese internet users used social media in the past six months (compared to 61 percent in the US). Because of a distrust in centralized communication, social media also has a larger influence on purchases in China than anywhere else in the world. Social media celebrities not only have fame in China, they also wield remarkable power over others’ behavior.

Why I wanted to be a Chinese celebrity

I had a few motivations. For one, it would be a weird adventure. I wanted to find out what happens in the dark armpit of Chinese social media. I also wanted to be that armpit. Second, I thought it would be fun to explore the life of internet fame. What is it like to have people know about you without you knowing anything about them? Finally, I was in my senior spring of college. I was bored. I needed a project, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Lara had already begun downloading Weibo on my phone. “So, what do you want your handle to be?” she asked. I hesitated, “Stephen?”

She crinkled her forehead, as if finally realizing that my only marketable talents were my skin color and that I go to Harvard.

“Let’s call you, ‘哈佛一哥Stephen,’” she replied. Roughly translated, it meant “some guy named Stephen who went to Harvard.” With a new title and a fully developed Weibo account, I was ready for stardom. I just needed to create my first post. Luckily, Lara stepped in again.

You see, Lara has two natural advantages: She is witty and is roughly three to seven points more attractive than me on a scale of 10. She helped me construct a first post with a quick joke and a picture of the two of us. After she posted it, she went back to her Weibo account and simply liked the post.

And so the floodgates opened. Within minutes, my follower count went from 10 to 300. By the end of the week, I had nearly 700 followers.

What I learned almost immediately was the power of influencers in China. Though social media is a distributed system, influence still seems to collect among a small percentage of the population. When a few of those people notice you, the implications are enormous.

Understanding live broadcasts in China and Taiwan

My first live broadcast

Creating videos for a Chinese audience

My experience with super fans

My run-ins with the government and Sina

How I lost to Sina and the Chinese government

Did I become a social media celebrity in China?