Getting a life : expatriate uses of new media in Hong Kong

What does it mean to “share” thought and experience in contexts enabled by new media platforms?1 In a usage dominant on social network services that “spread” existing media content (Jenkins et al. 2013), sharing blurs into a gesture of display for mostly unspecified friends who may easily miss or ignore it. In contrast, this chapter exists because three women shared time, ideas and activities in the practical sense of developing a five-year project (2009-2014) shaped by a more or less equal division of labor and an ethic of reciprocity when circumstances allowed. Our focus was the Zynga games (Farmville, Cityville, Castleville, Farmville 2) that we played together during those years. However, with Meaghan Morris living in Hong Kong for much of that time while Elaine Lally and Catherine Driscoll worked at different universities in Sydney, our collaboration was made materially possible by the affordances of Facebook (Inbox and a closed group page where we posted materials, ideas and chat about our gaming), supplemented by email, SMS, Dropbox and a sporadic use of Pinterest as well as of pubs, cafés and conference presentations.