Social Media and Chinese Students at SFU: A study of social media in cultural adaptation of Chinese students in Canada

This article presents a case study on the experience of cross-cultural adaptation of Chinese students at Simon Fraser University, and social media is suggested as a means to improve their experiences living around the Metro Vancouver area. In particular, this article studies reasons of the uncomfortable adaptation process of Chinese students, including mental, cultural, ideological, environmental, and educational aspects. At the same time, social media is proved to be a supportive tool in information searching and social networking, and its extension into cultural and educational aspects will also be investigated. To do this, 27 responses to an Internet-based survey and 4 interviews have been analyzed. The findings show that the majority of the respondents had unpleasant experiences for various reasons, in the meanwhile, they believe social media is a good starting point for Simon Fraser University to improve the cultural adaptation experience of new Chinese students.