Traveling Through the Music Time Machine: Digital Memory Practice in Annual Listening Reports on Music-Based Social Media Platforms

Yuxin Wu

doi:10.30560/hssr.v8n4p154

Yuxin Wu School of Digital Media and Design Arts, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30560/hssr.v8n4p154

Keywords: digital memory, social media, listening reports, self-presentation, collective memory

Abstract

This study focuses on the "annual listening reports" generated by music-based social media platforms as a form of digital memory practice. It investigates how such reports influence the construction of individual memory and the formation of collective memory. Using participatory observation and semi-structured interviews, the research analyzes listening reports from QQ Music and NetEase Cloud Music over the past three years and includes interviews with eight young users. The findings reveal that both platforms employ multimodal presentations and emotional narratives to evoke user resonance, though issues such as narrative homogenization and slow innovation in format persist. Users actively engage in the construction of digital memory by utilizing everyday listening records to bridge memory gaps and by negotiating with platform algorithms through "pre-arranged playlists." These reports also function as social media artifacts that enable self-presentation and emotional resonance in the foreground, while facilitating strong social ties in the background. In doing so, individual memories are embedded into broader networks of collective memory. This study provides insights into user behavior on music platforms and social media. It contributes a novel theoretical perspective on the interaction between individual and collective memory in the context of social media.

References

[1] Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Doubleday Anchor.
[2] Leary, M. R., & Kowalski, R. M. (1990). Impression management: A literature review and two-component model. Psychological Bulletin, 107(1), 34–47. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.107.1.34
[3] van Dijck, J. (2007). Memory matters in the digital age. In Mediated Memories in the Digital Age (pp. 27–52). Stanford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804779517-004
[4] Johnson, B. K., & Ranzini, G. (2018). Click here to look clever: Self-presentation via selective sharing of music and film on social media. Computers in Human Behavior, 82, 148–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.01.008
[5] Hoskins, A. (2011). 7/7 and connective memory: Interactional trajectories of remembering in post-scarcity culture. Memory Studies, 4(3), 269–280. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698011402570
[6] Dong, C., & Ding, Y. (2018). When Goffman meets the internet: Self-presentation and performance in social media. News and Writing, (1), 56–62.
[7] Huang, S., & Chen, Z. (2024). Returning to Posts and Multitudinous Memory: Taking QQ Space's "On This Day" as an Example. Journalism & Communication, (10), 49–63.
[8] Zeng, Y., & Xu, H. (2024). Tailor-Made Memories: Digital Mnemonic Practices in Platform Annual Reports. Modern Communication (Journal of Communication University of China), 46(5), 32–42.
[9] Huang, J., & Chen, X. (2024). The Vanishing Newsstand: User Comments, Digital Nostalgia and the "Nearby in Memory." Media Observer, (9), 55–66.
[10] Zhan, Y., & Lai, Y. (2024). Digital Albums: Digital Memory and Forgetting in Social Media. Modern Communication (Journal of Communication University of China), 46(6), 78–84.
[11] Chen, Z. (2016). The Communication-Oriented Approach to Collective Memory Research. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication, 38(4), 109–126.
[12] Liu, X. (2018). Music Socialization in the Mobile Internet Era [Master's thesis, Shandong Normal University].
[13] Zhang, R. (2019). Research on Community Identity in Music Social Media [Master's thesis, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications].
[14] Wang, L. (2024). Research on Factors Influencing Music Sharing Behavior of Social Media Users [Master's thesis, Guizhou Minzu University].