Page 222 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

The Battle in the Ladies’ Room was the turning point at which Weibo demonstrat-

ed its strength. Therefore, respondents’ participation in the second stage of the event
was crucial as it implies a general perception of whether to participate in a social event.
35% of respondents indicated that they were involved in the most representative online
activity, the Battle in the Ladies’ Room on Weibo during the 2010 Yihuang incident.
They commented or reposted the information regarding the Zhong Sisters’ situation

(Figure 54). Although this accounts for a small portion of the respondents, we cannot
ignore the fissionable effect and the multi-directional feature of Weibo. With a third
of respondents actively participating on Weibo at the time, the fissionable effect and

many-to-many communication mode could reach a much larger population and ensure
the Yihuang event gained sufficient attention from the society as a whole and cause a
sensational effect.

Figure 54. Participation in the key stage of the Yihuang event.
As illustrated in the forms of public participation in Figure 50, 35% of the re-
spondents chose to talk about the Yihuang incident through face-to-face communica-
tion with their friends and family, and 20% used spreading information and discussing

the incident with others through telephone, SMS, instant messaging services or emails.
It shows that some respondents preferred a more private and secure way to contribute
in the diffusion of the Yihuang incident. The proportion was much higher than the other
two low-tech options, which are more likely to reveal their true identity to the relevant
government department. These two options were ‘I participated in the online petition

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