Abstract

Social media has been widely applied by major religions throughout the world to enhance cohesion among believers. Although a considerable amount of research has focused on the effect of social media on the beliefs of Christianity and Islam, East Asian religions have seldom been featured in current research. This study, therefore, took a representative sample of individuals participating in the celebration of the festival of the goddess Mazu and measured their attitudes towards and perceptions of social media’s influence on folk religion. I also explored how social media stimulates transformation in Chinese folk religion, its influence on the preservation of cultural values, and the cross-industry alliance between folk temples and local businesses. Moreover, this study proposes suggestions for further research