How knowledge comics go viral: adoption pathways, social media promotion and framing strategies in Chinese publishing market

Amid the rapid expansion of Chinese digital media ecosystem, knowledge comics have emerged as a prominent genre within the Chinese publishing landscape, leveraging social media as a primary communication channel to attract large readerships and facilitate widespread adoption. This study draws on Diffusion of Innovations Theory, Framing Theory, and Media Richness Theory to examine how social media platforms and influencer-driven promotion reshape the adoption, engagement, and communication of knowledge. Using qualitative content analysis, we analyse top-selling knowledge comics, user reviews, high-engagement social media posts, and related news coverage. Findings reveal that knowledge comics represent a distinct innovation, characterised by nonlinear diffusion patterns and redefined innovation attributes in digital contexts. We identify three dominant framing strategies: problem-oriented, aspirational, and participatory. Social media creators use those strategies to shape audience interpretation through visual and emotional techniques. The impact of these strategies is further strengthened by the multimodal richness of social platforms, which combine text, imagery, video, and interactivity to enhance message clarity, emotional resonance, and persuasive power. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the rapid diffusion of knowledge comics in China and the role of social media in that process, while also offering broader insight into diffusion, framing, and media richness in contemporary publishing.