Short abstract:

Examining Hong Kong's sticker packs on messaging apps reveals evolving localism post-2019 protests, fostering everyday identity and nationalism. Analyzing digital channels and visual elements highlights their role in identity maintenance and dissemination.

Long abstract:

Hong Kong, in the past decade, has seen the development of different strands of localism. Some simply meant to appreciate Hong Kong culture, while others attached political demands. This abstract looks at one form of this localism in the sticker packs and gifs popular in Hong Kong chat messaging apps such as Telegram, signal, and WhatsApp. Using publicly available popular sticker packs, I look at how these banal instances of localism foster an everyday sense of Hong Kongness, which in some cases edges towards nationalism. These align with what Ismangil and Schneider (2023) termed digital agitprop, wherein online channels are used to foster and spread a visual common during the 2019 Anti-Extradition Bill protests. While the demonstrations have long stopped, these sticker packs serve as echoes of the movement and form part of digital identity and nation making on an everyday level. I contribute to instances of everyday nationalism (Antonsich, 2020), extending the range of banal nationalisms (Billig, 1995) outside of the gaze of the state. I pay attention to things. First, the digital distribution channels and affordances of different social media channels, focusing on WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal, and second, the visual makeup of the different sticker packs themselves and how their digital nature helps maintain and spread a sense of identity.