“…Over a long period of time, public opinion is guided and strictly controlled by official media, and the news reported by such media is highly homogeneous (Sparks, 2008). However, the development of the Internet and social media sharply impact and challenge the traditional media surveillance, and social media has gradually become one of the most important realms of public opinion and the main channel for public opinion to be expressed (Xie et al, 2016), for it provides both an opportunity and a mechanism for the public to participate in crisis communication and discussion (Lin et al, 2016). Thus, the theories of framing and agenda-setting and the conceptualization of gatekeeping may not be applicable in a social media environment (Spence, Lachlan, Spates, & Lin, 2013).…”