Page 237 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Chapter 7. The Yihuang incident

reaches a certain level, the ‘argot’ becomes a trending word on Weibo, which would be

a notable tag for the social event. It also signifies the arrival of the peak point in the on-
line space.

7.5.3.3 The ‘domino’ feature

The ‘domino’ feature refers to the trend that, due to the unpredictability of neti-

zens’ activities, one social event may explode on cyberspace and turn into another event
or phenomenon that receives extensive public participation. The ‘domino’ feature is
reflected from two perspectives. Firstly, the original information brings the intense pub-
lic opinion, which means that the content of only one Weibo post could arouse massive

discussions and debates concentrating on one social event. Although one Weibo post
just has a few words, it usually contains more information than it looks. A tree structure
can be found in the phenomenon in which the branches and leaves contains different
level of information from various parties.

Moreover, the ‘domino’ feature is also reflected through the massive influence
brings by Weibo on all stakeholders involved in a social event. Online discussions and
debates, coordinated with the offline mobilised activities draw the social event into
people’s real lives. It magnifies the practical influence of the event and promotes the

public opinion to the peak level. It explains how social event contained in one post can
mobilise the participation of all society and develop into an influential case. Through
the crossing and scattered interactive pattern among the Weibo users, it leads to diverse
public opinion.

7.5.4 Safeguarding citizens’ rights on Weibo: avoiding the bottom line of
Chinese central government

The state has attempted to reduce the emerging trend of collective action through
surveillance, prevention, and intervention. The state has harshly suppressed mass cam-

paign that challenging the legitimacy of the political power, however, it also demon-
strated increasing tolerance towards environmental, livelihood, and civil rights issues
(Hassid, 2012; Yang, 2009).

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