A Research On Online Public Opinion From The Perspective Of Government's Public Decision-making

Since 1990s, the Internet has developed both rapidly and drastically, affecting the world profoundly both in political system and in citizen's political life. As days advance, the concept of network has taken the place of the concept of the Internet. The extension of network includes the Internet and some new ways which comply with the definition of network. The extension broadens and results in network's influence on politics. Online public opinion has been flourishing in this fertilization, and has drawn great attention both from citizens and governments. And the discusses about it between scholars followed. However, documents on the online public opinion have so far focused in journalists'reports and amateur essays. Among the experts'studies, there are more from the perspective of communication than from government's public decision-making. Accordingly, this paper tries to explore toward this direction. The paper can be divided into five parts:First, the introduction. It introduces the study, points out the importance, and describes the method. The focus is on the introduction of study situation both home and abroad. The introduction has lead to a founding that relevant study in China emerged later than that did abroad. And the focuses home and abroad are different. Second, the analysis on concepts. The study has found that among former studies, many amateur substantially existing journalists'narratives didn't grab the ideas of some particular concepts. So, their application of these concepts bases on indefinite borders. This part defines the concept of online public opinion and government's public decision-making. The differences between some concepts are also discussed. The benefice of the differentiation is that network doesn't amount to the Internet; public decision-making doesn't amount to government's public decision-making, nor does administrative decision-making to government's public decision-making, et al. This part also proposes the characteristics of online public opinion. Analysis on the legitimacy of online public opinion involves, too.The third part is the focus of the paper, which discusses the boom of online public opinion in China. The circumstance of the boom includes the soft environment and the hard one. Why citizens have chosen online public opinion as beloved one has been discussed, together with the introduction of some real cases. The rationality is analyzed and the defects are also found. The mode of the affecting of online public opinion on government's public decision-making is proposed and its characteristics are summed. Online public opinion plays different roles in the distinctive phases of government's public decision-making. Situation abroad is put into contrast too. Through the procedure, both the positive and the negative aspects of online public opinion are seen.The fourth part analyzes the trend of the relationship between the main two objects the paper studies. According to the shifting data, the tendency of conservative media, the development of anti-anonymity, the prediction of the trend is possible to be introduced. Countermeasures are given in the end.The fifth part is the conclusion.In a word, online public opinion has much to do with the improvement of government's public decision-making to a scientific and democratic one. And its influence in the earthen world is so great that both the government's employees and common citizens have to treat it properly, and thus, get on well with it and make use of it. Thus, a harmonious world can be expected.