What is it about?
This study explores how real estate agents in China use persuasive language on WeChat Moments, a popular social media feature similar to Facebook's timeline. The researchers analyzed 409 posts from 14 agents to identify the tactics they employ to convince potential buyers to purchase properties.
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Why is it important?
Our study is one of the first to examine how persuasion works on WeChat Moments, a hugely popular but under-researched platform in China. While past studies have explored persuasion in advertising or politics, this research focuses on real estate agents—a group that plays a key role in China’s economy—and their creative, sometimes surprising tactics on social media.
Perspectives
Working on this study was particularly fascinating because it revealed how persuasion—something we encounter daily—adapts to the digital world in unexpected ways. Seeing real estate agents blend humor, urgency, and even subtle pressure on WeChat Moments made me reflect on how social media is reshaping communication, not just in business but in everyday life. I hope this article helps readers notice the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) tactics used in online persuasion, whether in ads, social posts, or even personal interactions. Beyond academia, I think these insights could benefit marketers, digital communicators, and anyone curious about how language influences decisions in the age of social media. Most of all, I hope it sparks conversations about how culture and technology together shape the way we convince—and are convinced by—others.
Jianyou He
Hanjiang Normal University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: China’s real estate agents’ persuasion realizations on WeChat Moments, Pragmatics Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA), July 2024, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/prag.22062.he.
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