Weibo and the making of Chinese networked publics: Witness, debates and expertise

Abstract

Through the analysis of the online discourses about Weibo in the past and present, this article examines how the platform has taken part in the shaping of Chinese networked publics and public participation as it has been undergoing three stages of development itself: collective witness, ideological contention, and networks of expertise. The three stages reflect a major transformation of social media and digital culture in China, from the civic-minded public engagement and activism to the celebration of individual online fame and monetization of content creation. This transformation is taking place at the tightening state control of digital media, suggesting a blurring boundary between corporate and public interests under such circumstance.

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“…At that time, Twitter was blocked and some domestic microblog services were also shuttered in China. Since then, Weibo has played an essential part in the public life of the Chinese people, reflecting China's socio-political transition in the post-Olympics decade (Guo & Jiang, 2015;Han, 2018). Han 2018 In terms of technical features and usability, Weibo, similar to Twitter, provides real-time information and it is characterized by three components: it enables users to post 140-character messages, address others with '@' symbols, and use hashtags to topically mark Weibos, repost messages and answer them.…”

“…At that time, Twitter was blocked and some domestic microblog services were also shuttered in China. Since then, Weibo has played an essential part in the public life of the Chinese people, reflecting China's socio-political transition in the post-Olympics decade (Guo and Jiang, 2015;Han, 2018). Han (2018) divides Weibo's transformation into three stages: collective witness, ideological contention, and networks of expertise.…”

“…Since then, Weibo has played an essential part in the public life of the Chinese people, reflecting China's socio-political transition in the post-Olympics decade (Guo and Jiang, 2015;Han, 2018). Han (2018) divides Weibo's transformation into three stages: collective witness, ideological contention, and networks of expertise. They 'reflect a major transformation of social media and digital culture in China, from the civic-minded public engagement and activism to the celebration of individual online fame and monetization of content creation' (Han, 2018).…”

“…Han (2018) divides Weibo's transformation into three stages: collective witness, ideological contention, and networks of expertise. They 'reflect a major transformation of social media and digital culture in China, from the civic-minded public engagement and activism to the celebration of individual online fame and monetization of content creation' (Han, 2018). On 22 July 2012, the official Weibo account of the People's Daily (@ renminribao) posted its first Weibo when a thunderstorm and flooding in Beijing killed 77 people.…”

“…Since 2012, Weibo's influence started to decline with the rise and competition of WeChat as well as the tightened state control in the digital media space. In 2014, Weibo was listed at Nasdaq, marking its step into the global market (Han, 2018).…”