The intelligent algorithm generated content recommendation and the multimodal dissemination of information have brought about changes in the production and dissemination of city images, and short-video platforms have become important media for image dissemination and cultural cognition. To understand the nature of city image construction on the Douyin platform and how to link city image construction to users’ engagement, this study took six cities as examples: Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Xi’an and Chongqing. A multidimensional coding system was designed encompassing content producers, content themes, narrative features, visual symbols and emotional tendencies. Text semantic analysis, visual feature extraction, descriptive statistics, and negative binomial regression were used for the empirical analysis. Based on the analysis of sample data, the following conclusions can be drawn: Lifestyle experience and historical culture are themes of urban image presentation. Ordinary users play a high role in urban image content production. There are differences in the methods of urban image presentation among different content producers; and lifestyle experience themes, experience narration, and positive emotional expression are all positively correlated with user interaction. Accordingly, this study constructs an explanatory framework. It unpacks the process of urban image construction from four dimensions: content selection, symbolic representation, emotional narrative, and interactive feedback. This framework can serve as a methodological reference for quantitative research on urban image dissemination within short-video platforms.
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Share and Cite
Zhang, X. (2026) Constructing City Images on Short-video Platforms: A Content Analysis of Douyin. Journal of Social Development and History, 2(2), 118-128. https://doi.org/10.71052/jsdh/GZJY1907