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Weibo to the Rescue?
Purpose: In this study, the authors explain citizens' adoption of social media in citizen–government relations in China, a country that blends an authoritarian governance regime with limited tolerance of and responsiveness to online citizen participation. Design/methodology/approach: Original survey data were gathered using a vignette survey among 307 respondents living in the People's Republic of China. Multivariate analysis of the data was used to test four hypotheses and identify antecedents of Chinese citizens' social media adoption for "thin" participation purposes. Findings: Citizens' perceived impact of "thin" participation, citizens' skills and capabilities and citizens' trust in institutions are significantly associated with citizens' social media adoption. Social media anxiety was found not to be associated with Chinese citizens' social media adoption. Research limitations/implications: This study demonstrates how vignettes can be used to study adoption of technological and institutional innovations in an authoritarian governance regime and how in this context existing adoption theories can be extended with notions of institutional trust to adequately explain citizens' adoption of technological and institutional innovations in citizen–government relations. Social implications: Although some argue that social media activity could potentially mitigate democratic deficits caused by the state, in the case of China, the intertwinement of state and social media platform renders this argument unsustainable. Originality/value: This study is one of the few systematic survey studies focusing on Chinese citizens' adoption of social media in citizen–government relations.
BASE
China's Weibo: Is faster different?
The popularization of microblogging in China represents a new challenge to the state's regime of information control. The speed with which information is diffused in the microblogosphere has helped netizens to publicize and express their discontent with the negative consequences of economic growth, income inequalities and official corruption. In some cases, netizen-led initiatives have facilitated the mobilization of online public opinion and forced the central government to intervene to redress acts of lower level malfeasance. However, despite the growing corpus of such cases, the government has quickly adapted to the changing internet ecology and is using the same tools to help it maintain control of society by enhancing its claims to legitimacy, circumscribing dissent, identifying malfeasance in its agents and using online public opinion to adapt policy and direct propaganda efforts. This essay reflects on microblogging in the context of the Chinese internet, and argues that successes in breaking scandals and mobilizing opinion against recalcitrant officials should not mask the reality that the government is utilizing the microblogosphere to its own advantage. © The Author(s) 2013.
BASE
Weibo communication and government legitimacy in China: A computer-assisted analysis of Weibo messages on two 'mass incidents'
This article, based on a computer-assisted analysis of Weibo communications about two recent 'mass incidents' in China, offers a model for understanding online communication's influence on government legitimacy. This study explores the discourse of Weibo discussions on social protests and what impacts this discourse may have on the legitimacy of Chinese government in the digital environment. The Weibo discourses on the two mass incidents suggest two modes of online communication: one-way communication, where local residents have taken the initiative and two-way communication, initiated by both local residents and national elites. Different themes the discourses have touched suggest different types and levels of impacts Weibo discussions have on government legitimacy. More precisely, the discourse in which there is a critique of the current national political system in China is more challenging to government legitimacy than the one in which there are only demands for local changes. The online discourse about the Haimen incident on Weibo even can be seen as reinforcing government legitimacy. Therefore, the impact of online communication on government legitimacy is relative and depends on specific cases. To understand the power of online communication requires us to analyse the nature of online discourses about specific cases and then examine them within external social and political contexts and by comparing them with one another. Contextual dynamics such as social problems and tensions can function as an indicator for understanding the type and level of impact of online communication on government legitimacy. © 2013 © 2013 Taylor & Francis. ; Peer-reviewed ; Post-print
BASE
The Rise and Influence of Weibo (Microblogs) in China
In: Asian survey, Band 54, Heft 6, S. 1059-1087
ISSN: 1533-838X
China's weibo community numbered more than 300 million users in 2013. This article assesses the rise and influence of microblogs from political, social, and commercial aspects. It examines ways the Chinese government has controlled microblogs, considers newer competing forms of communication, and assesses trends in Chinese digital discourse.
The rise and influence of weibo (microblogs) in China
In: Asian survey: a bimonthly review of contemporary Asian affairs, Band 54, Heft 6, S. 1059-1087
ISSN: 0004-4687
World Affairs Online
Weibo, Framing, and Media Practices in China
In: Journal of Chinese political science, Band 18, Heft 4, S. 375-388
ISSN: 1874-6357
Clearing the air: investigating Weibo censorship in China
In: Index on censorship, Band 44, Heft 3
ISSN: 0306-4220
A former reporter for state-owned broadcaster China Central Television, Chai Jing was fronting Under the Dome, a documentary that methodically explains the lethal hazards of microscopic, airborne soot in cities across China. She also spoke plainly about her concerns for her daughter's health. Especially moving was a video interview featuring a six-year-old girl's testimony to having never seen white clouds, stars, or blue skies. Here, Auer and Fu talk about Weibo censorship in China. Adapted from the source document.
Chinese Celebrities' Political Signalling on Sina Weibo
In: The China quarterly, Band 254, S. 466-483
ISSN: 1468-2648
AbstractIn China, celebrities can dominate public discourse and shape popular culture, but they are under the state's close gaze. Recent studies have revealed how the state disciplines and co-opts celebrities to promote patriotism, foster traditional values and spread political propaganda. However, how do celebrities adapt to the changing political environment? Focusing on political signalling on the social media platform Sina Weibo, we analyse a novel dataset and find that the vast majority of top celebrities repost from official accounts of government agencies and state media outlets, though there are variations. Younger celebrities with more followers tend to repost from official accounts more often. Celebrities from Taiwan tend to repost less than those from the mainland and Hong Kong, despite being subject to the same rules. However, the frequent political signalling by the most influential celebrities among younger generations suggests that the state has co-opted celebrity influence on social media to broadly promote its political objectives.
Chinese celebrities' political signalling on Sina Weibo
In: The China quarterly, Band 254, S. 466-483
ISSN: 1468-2648
In China, celebrities can dominate public discourse and shape popular culture, but they are under the state's close gaze. Recent studies have revealed how the state disciplines and co-opts celebrities to promote patriotism, foster traditional values and spread political propaganda. However, how do celebrities adapt to the changing political environment? Focusing on political signalling on the social media platform Sina Weibo, we analyse a novel dataset and find that the vast majority of top celebrities repost from official accounts of government agencies and state media outlets, though there are variations. Younger celebrities with more followers tend to repost from official accounts more often. Celebrities from Taiwan tend to repost less than those from the mainland and Hong Kong, despite being subject to the same rules. However, the frequent political signalling by the most influential celebrities among younger generations suggests that the state has co-opted celebrity influence on social media to broadly promote its political objectives. (China Q/GIGA)
World Affairs Online
Die Rolle von Sina Weibo im "Kampf um die öffentliche Meinung" in China
In: Kommunikationspolitik für die digitale Gesellschaft, S. 121-148
Die öffentliche Meinung im Internet gewann für staatliche Akteure in China in den letzten Jahren stark an Bedeutung. Der Staat versucht mittels direkter Regulierung sowie indirekt über Sina Einfluss auf die öffentliche Meinung zu nehmen. Dabei steht der kommerziell geführte Microblogging-Dienst Sina Weibo zwischen den Nutzerinteressen und den Interessen des Staates. Hinzu kommt staatliche Propaganda, die von bezahlten Kommentatoren bis hin zu direkter Präsenz auf Sina Weibo reicht. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird zunächst auf einer Makroebene die Internetregulierung in China und deren Entwicklung skizziert. Am Beispiel der Diffamierung wird in einer juristischen Analyse aufgezeigt, wie die Einschränkung des Rechts auf freie Meinungsäußerung als effizientes Instrument für den Staat dient, um die öffentliche Meinung zu kontrollieren. Des Weiteren wird analysiert, inwiefern Sina als Betreiber der Plattform die staatliche Regulierung durchsetzt. Eine Darstellung der verschiedenen Propagandastrategien rundet diese Analyse ab.
Chinese views of the United States: evidence from Weibo
In: International relations of the Asia-Pacific: a journal of the Japan Association of International Relations, Band 20, Heft 1, S. 1-30
ISSN: 1470-4838
We study Chinese attitudes toward the United States, and secondarily toward Japan, Russia, and Vietnam, by analyzing social media discourse on the Chinese social media site, Weibo. We focus separately on a general analysis of attitudes and on Chinese responses to specific international events involving the United States. In general, we find that Chinese netizens are much more interested in US politics than US society. Their views of the United States are characterized by deep ambivalence; they have remarkably favorable attitudes toward many aspects of US influence, whether economic, political, intellectual, or cultural. Attitudes toward the United States become negative when the focus turns to US foreign policy – actions that Chinese netizens view as antithetical to Chinese interests. On the contrary, attitudes toward Japan, Russia, and Vietnam vary a great deal from one another. The contrast between these differentiated Chinese views toward the United States and other countries, on the one hand, and the predominant anti-Americanism in the Middle East, on the other, is striking.
Makesi Weibo si xiang xiao xiang
Yin and Yang: Sina Weibo and the Chinese State
In: New perspectives quarterly: NPQ, Band 29, Heft 2, S. 7-10
ISSN: 0893-7850
Yin and Yang: Sina Weibo and the Chinese State
In: New perspectives quarterly: NPQ, Band 29, Heft 2, S. 7-9
ISSN: 1540-5842
The new element in governance is social media. Inexorably, its fertile networks of shared information shift power from authorities to citizens and amateurs, including to the "unknown" experts in the "dorm rooms and edges of society" who drive innovation.Tweets may bust trust and undermine authority, but can social media also be a tool for building consensus through deliberation and negotiation among interests? When it comes to governance, is crowd‐sourcing any better than populism at generating collective intelligence instead of disruptive "dumb mobs?" Can networks aid the self‐administration of society, or does that take institutions with governing authority?In this section, leading Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, technologists and network theorists from Google, Microsoft and the MIT Media Lab join with political scientist Francis Fukuyama and top thinkers from Asia to address these issues.