Demonstration of Participation Networks in Urban Transport Policy of Public and Private Sectors through Social Media: The Case of Bike-Sharing Pricing Strategy in China

Abstract

Social media has become a valuable platform that enables public and private stakeholders to participate and interact in various transport policies. Using a network-based perspective and a case study of bike-sharing pricing strategies in China, this paper aims to quantitatively characterize the pattern and structure of multi-stakeholders engagement networks. Furthermore, this paper also empirically examines the confirmation bias that might exist among participants. Dataset on retweets from the Chinese Twitter-Sina Weibo is collected. Results reveal two types of important actors with unequal roles in terms of information diffusion: the “network root” and the “network bridge.” The former is mainly comprised of organizations and influential individuals who dominate message sharing, whereas the latter is comprised of the general public with various occupational backgrounds who control the efficiency and the scope of information spreading. The result also reveals a hierarchical structure in both networks and a community gathering like-minded individuals. The empirical result also demonstrates the existence of echo chambers in the transport participation network of governments and enterprises. Most echo chambers operate such that organizations or influential individuals amplify the views of the general public with more critical viewpoints. These findings of this study can assist transport stakeholders in crafting more sustainable strategies based on the understanding of uneven patterns in online public participation. Furthermore, this study sheds insights on how social media could be used to facilitate the collection of diverse people’s opinions and the evaluation of multi-stakeholder engagement for major transport issues.

External Environmental Analysis for Sustainable Bike-Sharing System Development

“…Some research work in this area has also been devoted to incentives for the safe use of BBSs [68]. Moreover, in recent years, social media has become an important platform enabling interested public and private entities to participate and interact in different transport policies in the field of BSSs [69]. Further research focused on the role of economic incentives in modeling user behavior [70].…”

The survival of bike-sharing startups in China: an empirical analysis of the influencing factors

“…Second, the Chinese government is actively tackling traffic congestion and environmental pollution, promoting the development of the green travel industry and allowing bike-sharing startups to compete freely for public space (Spinney and Lin, 2018; Gao and Li, 2020). Third, the mobile network infrastructure in China has been fully covered, and people have become accustomed to mobile payments, making it possible to develop the bike-sharing business model (Ye et al. , 2021).…”

“…, 2021). Fourth, the media's intensive coverage of bike-sharing from birth to bankruptcy has accelerated the public's understanding of the business model of bike-sharing (Ye et al. , 2021).…”

Great Divisions: The Evolution of Polarization During the Man-made Emergency of January 6, 2021.

“…Previous research has focused on studying issuebased politics, such as abortion rights or gun control, that polarize citizen's opinions on either side (Zhang et al, 2022). Some researchers have investigated the effects of echo chambers and how they are effectively slow-moving crises that have been exacerbated by the continuous tussle of opinions between the right and the left (Ye et al, 2021). Yet other researchers have attempted to specifically analyze election campaigns and its results, such as studies on US Presidential elections of 2016(Allcott & Gentzkow, 2017Baker et al, 2020).…”

“…Some of the literature has also focused on studying whether it is possible to invert the opinions of people that are at the opposite ends of the political spectrum (Asimovic et al, 2021). Much of the past research using social media data has investigated user interactions from a social network perspective and used social network analysis to study the formation of echo chambers (Ye et al, 2021). Yet, there is little research on how social media political viewpoints evolve organically over time, including on open-ended platforms like Twitter (which ranks first in delivering news to the public (Pew Research Center, 2021)).…”