Page 247 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Chapter 7. The Yihuang incident

Furthermore, in the data analysis section, I argued that social media could be

treated as a vehicle for the instant and spontaneous dissemination of a social event. The
dynamics of participating a social event include two reasons: useful and interesting.
‘Useful’ means to appeal for help in an effective way, e.g., safeguarding one’s rights.
‘Interesting’ refers to a psychological need of being existent: one wishes to find a sense
of self-identification and self-achievement through participating online activities. I

also summarised the common forms of online public participation: posting informa-
tion 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. My data

demonstrated that, in a centralism country like China, many people choose online or
offline public participation according to the degree of anonymity. It can also be under-
stood as people do not want to get trouble with the government. Last but not the least,
although Weibo has delivered many benefits and advantages for online public partici-
pation and for the government to collect public opinion, there are still some problems

that worth attention, including irrational emotion among the public, intentional shifts of
public opinion by celebrity influence, and the credibility of information on Weibo.
Moreover, in the discussion section, I argued that, based on the Yihuang case,

Weibo plays an indispensable role on public participation in modern China. It served
not only as the platform for information dissemination, but also the channel for the
victims to appeal for their interests. It acted as a tool to call for help and the space
that formed public opinion. In the eyes of the public, Weibo is seen as the information
source, opinion space, and spectating centre for a sensitive social incident. It is an irre-

sistible trend that Weibo will be continued to use as an effective channel in the interac-
tion with the government. Meanwhile, being able to target the livelihoods of citizens,
gathering public opinion, Weibo provides a platform for the government to learn more

about its people.
Secondly, I argued that Weibo has already become an online public sphere with its
own characteristics: the resonance of topics, the degree of participation, the intervention
of traditional media, and the attention paid by opinion leaders. Moreover, I explained
three dissemination features of user behaviour during the online public participation on

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