Page 232 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Feasibility Study of New Media Technology
on Constructing Online Public Sphere

‘Twitter has played a revolutionary role in both interpersonal communication, in-

ternational communication and political communication. The Weibo, from main-
land China... not only symbolises the dawn of the civil society, but also shows the
governance philosophy with Chinese characteristics’. (Zhao, 2010, p.46)
As Interviewee 2 indicated, ‘the substance of Weibo has already changed in Chi-
na. It is more than a social networking site, but a media’ . When Weibo was initiated
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in 2009, the maximum word count of a post on Weibo is 140, which means that the
content needs to be clear and simple. Also, because the procedures of making a post
on Weibo is easier than BBS/forums, together with the popularisation of smart phones,

it is natural that more and more netizens become Weibo users. A user base of millions
people enhances its influence and forms a positive cycle within the user community
and information flow (Interviewee 8). Interviewee 2 further emphasised the diversity
of user community in Weibo, which makes it an epoch-making product in the media
history. The user community is constituted by a variety of accounts registered under the

name of general public, government departments, media professionals, and celebrities
(actors, singers, entrepreneurs, public intellectuals, etc.). It is a public space that carries
the voice from all sectors in the society. Information flow is multi-directional and users

have the equal power in accessing and disseminating information. It is what makes the
general public’s online activity valuable and powerful. To quote from one of my inter-
viewees, ‘voices of the people exist all the time and social media gives them a channel
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to be expressed and heard (Interviewee 2) .’
A number of researchers have already investigated the media market for public

opinion, but until today, there has been no unified definition and conclusion for the
role Weibo has played in the media market. Briefly speaking, there are some common
characters between Weibo and new media (e.g., popular online chatrooms, BBS and

blog sites) in the formation of public opinion, but there are differences that makes it
unique in the We Media age. To begin with, Weibo originates from the social network-
ing activities in physical space. In addition to expand one’s social connections, it also

60 Translation provided by the author.
61 Translation provided by the author.

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