Viable Pathways for Undergraduate Social Media Entrepreneurship in the Digital Economy Era

Abstract

With the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, social media has become a primary platform for undergraduates to engage in innovation and entrepreneurial practice. As digital natives, undergraduates possess inherent advantages in social media entrepreneurship; however, they still face practical dilemmas such as limited entrepreneurial cognition, deficiencies in the education systems, and insufficient external policy support. Drawing on an analysis of how social media reshapes entrepreneurial logic, this study employs a mixed-methods approach encompassing literature review, case study, and data analysis. It synthesizes authoritative survey data with typical entrepreneurial cases to identify the core characteristics, cognitive biases, and practical dilemmas of undergraduates' social media entrepreneurship. It further constructs a three-dimensional optimization system for practical paths from the perspectives of universities, individuals, and government-society. The findings reveal a fundamental shift from product-first to market-first logic and from heavy-asset to light-asset operations. This study aims to break through the limitations of traditional entrepreneurial models, improve the success rate of undergraduates' social media entrepreneurship, and provide theoretical support and practical reference for the reform of college entrepreneurship education and the improvement of entrepreneurial support policies.