'Douyin is My Nourishment of the Mind': Exploring the Infrastructuralization Process of Short Video Sharing Platforms From Rural People's Perspective

Infrastructure is a common topic in rural areas around the world. While most existing research attention has been paid to the difficulties with Internet access and the fragile infrastructure of rural areas, our study contributes an empirical understanding of digital platform-as-infrastructure - short video sharing platforms (SVSPs) in rural China. Through semi-structured interviews with 26 rural users including content creator and regular users, we elaborate on their practices, experiences, and perceptions of SVSPs. We foreground that SVSPs have reshaped rural people's daily routines and enhanced their self-worth and identity, which in turn led to deeper and more sustained engagement with these platforms. We then situate our findings within the broader context of platform-as-infrastructure, discussing how rural people's adoption and usage intertwine with the infrastructuralization process of SVSPs. We end by discussing how to make future platform-as-infrastructure more engaged and beneficial to rural populations, meeting their practical usage and well-being requirements.