Winnie's blog: Collaborative Practices between Conflicting Parties on New Media: Politics and Weibo in China

Ways of Collaboration between Politics and Media

Media is called the fourth estate of the political force. Thomas Carlyle attributed the origin of the term to Edmund Burke[1], Thomas Carlyle in his book On Heroes and Hero Worship indicated: “Burke said there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters’ Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all.”[2]

Media plays an important role in politics indeed, there are mainly two ways of collaboration between politics and media as follows:

First of all, political media. Political media refers to the communication way managed, ruled, and even owned by political entities, meant to propagate views of the certain entity. For instance, in China, People’s Daily is the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. The function of political media is posting information.

In addition, news conference (press conference) is also a way of collaboration, which aims at information transferring. A news conference or press conference is a media event in which government invites journalists to hear them speak and, most often, ask questions.

Introduction of New Media

What do demonstrations on city streets in the Philippines in 2001, the election of the United States in 2008, revocation of the results of the fraudulent elections in Moldavia in 2009, the M-15 movement with their camps and demonstrations in Spain in 2011, and the “Occupy Wall Street” movement that started in New York, also in 2011, all have in common?[3]

They have all used new media to help organize such protests and mobilize their responsible agents. Yet these were much more than just about arranging a party: they all greatly exploited new media to establish communication networks and move towards their objectives, which seems to be unbelievable for traditional media.[4]

Today’s new media have helped make real the idea of a “global village”, first put forward by communications theorist Marshall McLuhan in the 1960s, and suggests the claims of a “flat world” by twenty-first century essayist Thomas L. Friedman are true.[5] According to Friedman, personal computers and the speed of the optic cable in the transfer of information have marked the modern revolution and almost removed the limitations of time and space.

New media’s quick development into an important way to influence society is part of the advancement of information and communication technologies.

The first noteworthy trend has been the evolution of the Internet. The modern Internet is often called “Web 2.0”. The central components of Web 2.0 are the different social media and social web communities. Invented by Tim O’Reilly in 2005, the term “Web 2.0” is just a name for the evolution of Internet-based communications, and it shows that networking and electronic interaction have advanced to the next level.[6]

The quick development of mobile technology and different mobile terminals has been important for the creation and use of social media. A modern, well-equipped smartphone can be a pocket-sized mega-studio.

The applications and services of information and communications technology are merging together more and more. An ubiquitous presence, the different hardware and services we use now contain a new kind of “intelligence”, where these machines and services communicate with each other without any particular action by the user.[7]

In accordance with Bruno (2014), new media refers to on-demand access to content anytime, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, and creative participation. Another aspect of new media is the real-time generation of new and unregulated content.[8]

Collaboration between Politics and Weibo

Weibo is a free, internet-based microblogging service, on which users can send short messages with only 140-character to each other. Its use is based on quick exchanges of thoughts and information between friends, acquaintances, and all the users of the Weibo platform. According to Sun.S(2012), Weibo has more than 300 million users, over 100 million posts generated every day.

As a type of new media, Weibo inherits the traditional political functions of media. Besides, due to the fast, cross-distance as well as mutual direction communication, Weibo created new ways for collaboration which seems to be impossible for traditional media. [9]Thus, Weibo has significant advantages in building collaboration with politics as follows:

Firstly, according to Annual Report of Official Weibo (2013)[10], up to 31^st of October, 2013, there are 100151 official accounts, 66830 organizational accounts and 33321 individual accounts included. (Organizational accounts means accounts opened, ruled by a certain department while individual accounts means accounts belongs to an individual who is an official working in government, both of organizational accounts and individual accounts can be considered as official accounts.) Compared with the same period 2012, it grew by 60%. In ministerial level in China, for example, @外交小灵通，@中国旅游，@央行微博，@商务微新闻 are owned by Foreign Ministry, National Tourism Administration, Central Bank and Ministry of Commerce respectively. After verification being checked by Sina, the official Weibo will get a “V” (verification) next to its account, and detailed identity verification about “V” can be seen on the same page too. (Figure 1) Therefore, the government owns a new way for posting information. The content is even richer than its other official sources. For instance, the content of @中国旅游, the official account of National Tourism Administration, can be divided into three main parts and nine branches. (Figure 2)

Figure 1: Official Weibo of National Tourism Administration with V Verification[11]

Source: http://weibo.com/p/1001062058584790/home?from=page_100106&mod=TAB#place

		Official Weibo	Official Website
Government Affairs	Industrial Standard	Yes	Yes
	Laws & Regulations	Yes	Yes
	Statistical Data	-	Yes
	Financial Budget	-	Yes
News	Industrial News	Yes	Yes
	Local News	Yes	Yes
Public Services	Scenic Spots	Yes	Yes
	Scenery Pictures	Yes	Yes, only a few
	Travel Tips	Yes	-
	Experience Sharing	Yes	-
	Seasonal News	Yes	-

Figure 2: Comparison of Official Weibo and Website of National Tourism Administration[12]

Source: http://www.cnta.gov.cn/

Secondly, according to Hofstede (2010) China’s power distance index is very high[13], with a significant 80, (Figure 3) which means the society in China believes that inequalities amongst people are acceptable. The subordinate-superior relationship tends to be polarized and there is no defense against power abuse by superiors. Thus, in China, actually there is no or only a few upward communication ways. When official Weibo came, however, this situation has been changed. All users can make comments and repost the message from official Weibo, sometimes official Weibo may reply some of the comments. In this instance, interactions can be seen on the Weibo platform, which significantly benefits in building upward communication.

Figure 3: Culture Dimensions Results of China[14]

Source: http://geert-hofstede.com/china.html

Thirdly, Weibo shows a significant role in crisis management. On November 16, 2011, a school bus run by a private kindergarten collided head-on with a coal truck in Gansu province, China. 19 children were killed, as were 2 adults. The bus was originally with nine seats, but it had been modified to carry more passengers, and was severely overcrowded. 62 children were on board at the time of the crash, along with the 2 adults. The accident caused a great deal of outcry on the Chinese internet, with many netizens criticizing the government. Weizhong Liu, the provincial health department director, posted a Weibo at the first time. Later, @甘肃刘维忠，@微博甘肃，@甘肃省卫生厅，@庆阳市卫生局，@甘肃政府新闻办， ruled by the Provincial Health Department Director, Provincial Government of Gansu, Provincial Health Department, Health Department of Qingyang and Information Office of Provincial Government respectively, posted 312 related messages totally within the next 7 days including apologies[15], latest news, compensation schemes, mourning and reflection.(Figure 4) All official accounts were closely related to manage this issue, so the crisis management team was right selected. Those related messages helped the public knew the ongoing issues, in accordance with Alice and Michelle (2009), their responses fit the incident, thus they managed this crisis well. (Figure 5)

Weibo Account	Verification (V)	Date of Account Opened	Number of Followers
@甘肃刘维忠	Provincial Health Department Director	21 Jan, 2011	399394
@微博甘肃	Provincial Government of Gansu	28 Jun, 2011	730030
@甘肃省卫生厅	Provincial Health Department	22 Aug, 2011	805285
@庆阳市卫生局	Health Department of Qingyang	16 Nov, 2011	4072
@甘肃政府新闻办	Information Office of Provincial Government	27 May, 2011	702410

Figure 4: Official Weibo in Crisis Management in “11.16”[16]

Steps	Actions Encouraged To Be Done	Actions They Have Done	Comments on Their Actions
Assess the Incident	Adopt the customers’ point of view rather than management’s perspective	“I have child too, I feel so sad, I don’t know how to comfort you…” by @甘肃刘维忠	Good use of similarities and sympathy
Acknowledge the Problem	Avoid premature statements related to the cause, focus on the process of investigation, and prevent further harm	Made all reposts and latest news public directly and transparently	Response quickly/Communicated directly helps to avoid communication barrier
Formulate a Response	Evaluate the benefits and costs of the response in terms of customer relationships over the long run	Apology/Promise to provide compensation to victims and increase investments in education, especially in security	Conversations for commitment: to satisfy the concerns of public[17]/ Comprehensive actions
Implement the Response	Align scandal communications with customers’ perceptions of the brand’s function	Meeting Promises	Avoid reputation loss

Figure 5: Steps of Crisis Management in “11.16”[18]

Fourthly, Weibo plays an important role in supervision. [19]Most of them were exposed by netizens, who found clues which led to broader investigations. The name "Uncle Watch" is one of the highlights of Weibo anti-corruption in 2012. “Uncle Watch”, Yang Dacai, a work safety official in Shaanxi, who was sacked in September, 2012, after netizens posted photos of him wearing luxury watches that he couldn't afford on his salary. Later, netizens found many other pictures of him, which showed he had more than 5 luxury watches. Also, in the same year, Cai Bin, an urban management official in Guangdong was dismissed from his post after it was revealed online that he owned 22 houses. In the light of Annual Report of Official Weibo (2012)[20] by Shanghai Jiaotong University[21], there were 15 well-known network anti-corruption cases, 6 cases of them originally came from Weibo, and the other 9 cases were also pushed by Weibo due to the large amount of reposts.[22]

Last but not least, sometimes government also asks people for help through Weibo, particularly in finding clues for criminal investigation. On Nov 23^rd, 2010, a dead body of a little girl washed ashore. @厦门警方在线，the official Weibo of Xiamen Municipal Public Security Bureau, posted a message to ask netizens provide clues if it was possible. The horror of the girl arose public concern, thousands of people reposted. @厦门警方在线 also timely updated the progress and discussed the case with netizens on Weibo platform. Finally, with clues provided by witnesses, the suspect was caught within 7 days. Besides, Weibo also held a conference called mirco-Q&A, which is similar to press conference. Guests will be invited to answer the questions from netizens online.

Therefore, Weibo created a comprehensive way which not only consists all traditional ways, but also includes some new types of collaboration.

Conflicts on Weibo

The collaboration, to some degree, can be considered as a double-edged sword. Though the collaborative practices between Weibo and politics seems to be good, due to the diverse backgrounds netizens, quick response and cross time and distance communication, conflicts also happens, even much easier and more frequent.

First of all, fake information can spread faster and create more influence. For example, Weibo benefits a lot in anti-corruption as I mentioned before, it also has its limits and sometimes can do harm to innocent people. After the case of Cai Bin, a Weibo revealed that Li Yunqing, a retired senior engineer in Guangzhou, owned 24 houses and was suspected of corruption. However, later investigation showed that Li was neither a member of Communist Party of China nor an official of government. Her houses came from successful business and hard working. The incident left Li angry, as her personal information had been leaked to the Internet. Zhang Youde, head of the Social Management School, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said Internet muckrakers should take legal responsibility if they cross the line and violate the privacy of others. Zhang said legislation should be put in place to rein in the negative effects brought to society by online anti-corruption. (2013)[23]

In addition, some departments of government just “follow the trend” to create an official account without managing the Weibo well. @衡水微旅，the official Weibo of Tourism Bureau of Hengshui (Figure 6) has only 20 posts and 1388 followers, which play an insignificant role in communication. In Zhongshan, Guangdong, there are 57 official accounts with verification based on a survey by 21cn, however, only 18 of them have more than 500 posts.[24] As a result, the impact is limited. These kinds of inact accounts are called “Zombie Weibo”. Similarly, some accounts post Weibo every day, but never response the problems reported by people, or response without investigation. In the past we don’t have such channels to communicate, but now we do have channels, it seems that government is still not willing to communicate, which makes people much angrier.

Figure 6: Official Weibo of Tourism Bureau of Hengshui

Source: http://weibo.com/hengshuiweilv

Furthermore, official Weibo shows an uneven development in regions, bureaus and hierarchies.

(1)Regions:

Figure 7 shows the distribution of organizational accounts while Figure 8 indicates the distribution of the number of posts. It can be clearly seen that Guangdong ranked the first in both number of accounts and posts. Also, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Shandong, Henan and Beijing did well. Qinghai and Tibet, however, needed further development. In general, east coast is far more developed than the rural western interior.