Pandemic-Incited Intermediated Communication| The Construction of Distributed Trust on Bilibili Under the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study explores the construction of distributed trust under today’s networked environment. Focusing on diaspora micro-influencers’ COVID-19-related videos on Bilibili, this study aims to explore: How platform-specific features of Bilibili enhance the construction of distributed trust; the dynamics among a diversity of sources on trust building; and the ways in which the content of uploaders’ videos and users’ comments contribute to the formation of distributed trust. The results show that user participation, particularly participatory surveillance enabled by platform-specific features, plays a key role in the construction of distributed trust. Although it has new characteristics, we can also see that the formation of distributed trust is not a replacement of the old model but only an outcome of its transformation and evolvement.