Page 227 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Chapter 7. The Yihuang incident

in this period are (in a chronological order): BBS/forums, blog, microblog and WeChat

Moments. In this book, Weibo is regarded as the most representative platform in the We
Media age, especially in the response process of social and public events. Weibo has
played a decisive role in cases like the Yihuang incident. The intervention of Weibo in
the Yihuang case makes it the point that manifested the advantages of the We Media.
Weibo’s potential to evoke ‘truly’ open debates was questioned by some scholars

(MacKinnon, 2011; Morozov, 2011; Sullivan, 2012; Sullivan, 2013). One argument is
that Weibo mainly functions as an entertainment space with popular users and topics
emphasising recreation, hence it is an apolitical space (Sullivan, 2012). Moreover, the

debates on Weibo were seen to be undermined by the combination of censorship mech-
anism and the party-paid Weibo writers which reduced open and enduring participation
(MacKinnon, 2011). The presence of government is now more evident on social media
than before (Sullivan, 2013), and the pessimistic outlook of Weibo being apolitical is
further validated by the government’s crackdowns against ‘online rumours’.

However, there were optimistic views, as well (Jiang, 2010; Noesselt, 2014; Xiao,
2011; Yang, 2011). Scholars emphasised that some degree of online public discussion is
actually allowed by the Chinese government (Jiang, 2010), and that online protest was

seen taking place on a regular basis (Yang, 2011). For the Chinese netizens, Weibo is
a strong tool to oversee the authorities and to organise collective resistance (Noesselt,
2014), and the Chinese internet is seen as a ‘catalyst for social and political transforma-
tion’ (Xiao, 2011, p.60).
Weibo is a product that is comprised of the features of both new internet media

and mobile networks. Despite the advantages of vast information, wide coverage, high
57
interactivity, instantaneity and multimedia, it also included the 5A elements of the
mobile network (Yuan, 2011). By connecting offline interpersonal interaction to the

communication within online communities, it has promoted the expansion of the scale
of We Media distribution. Together with the low cost and high speed of Weibo, it has
created a barrier-free and bidirectional environment for communication. Users of mi-
croblog have developed a pattern for self-proclamation, self-organisation and self-net-

57 ‘5A’ represents anyone, anytime, anywhere, anything, anyway.

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