Page 219 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Chapter 7. The Yihuang incident

Figure 50 illustrates the forms of public participation in the Yihuang event. Al-

though 43% of respondents indicated that they just browsed relevant news information
and did not have any direct participation, another 43% expressed their participation as
disseminators. They spread information and discussed the Yihuang incident with oth-
ers using social networking sites, including Weibo. This again suggests that Weibo has
become the first choice for the internet users to participate in social events among We

Media platforms.
According to the media practitioners, the common forms of online public partici-
pation are: posting information via BBS/forums, using the advantages of social media

and We Media by posting microblogs, giving a thumbs-up to a post, commenting and
forwarding a post (Interviewee 8). Among of these forms, people who are capable of
longitudinal thinking often use blog or long microblog to express their views. Whereas
a majority of internet users prefer to use the fastest and simplest way of participation
– posting microblog, commenting and forwarding (Interviewee 6). Interviewee 1 point-

ed out that, many government departments have opened their verified Weibo account
to publish official information and to provide a space to interact with the public. The
enhanced public participation in anti-corruption is a typical example of the combined

effort made by the public and the government.
The public’s perceptions on participating the Yihuang case as a social event
Internet users have a high level of sympathy towards the victims in the Yihuang
incident, as shown in Figure 51. The total number of the respondents who felt sympathy
for the victim was as high as 77%. Yet only 5% believed that this extreme behaviour

was vexatious and unreasonable. Although 33% of the respondents demonstrated their
sympathy and approved of using extreme behaviour to protest in the event, nearly half
(44%) held a reserved attitude.

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