A Study On Health Risk Communication In Social Media In Mainstream Media Platforms

With the outbreak of the new crown epidemic,health risk communication around it has become an important topic in the field of health risks.In the social media environment,the information dissemination environment and the public’s information reception channels have changed,and the public’s information acquisition depends on social media.Although social media has the characteristics of fast transmission and wide spread,due to its information overload,various false information mixed in,resulting in an "information epidemic" that makes it difficult for people to find reliable information.It can be seen that it is necessary to increase the dissemination of information from reliable sources in social media.In the process of health risk communication,mainstream media and public health organizations are reliable sources,but the research on health risk communication around the latter is relatively rich and occupies an important position in the public trust of mainstream media in China,so this paper selects mainstream media as the research object.In order to explore how mainstream media construct health risks in social media platforms,and how different construction contents and construction methods further affect the public’s participation in health risk information in social media platforms,this paper selects People’s Daily,a representative mainstream media in China,as the research object,and uses the content analysis method to analyze and study the risk information related to the new crown epidemic released by the Weibo platform of People’s Daily.Based on the findings,this study aims to provide strategies and recommendations for future health risk communication in mainstream media on social media platforms based on the results of the study.The study found that the frequency of media coverage gradually decreased over time and increased as public attention increased.Among the many sources,government departments are the most important source of information for People’s Daily Weibo,and the public has a high degree of trust in this source,and it is more likely to trigger public participation than other sources.In terms of framework selection,People’s Daily Weibo pays more attention to the use of thematic frameworks,which are more likely to trigger public participation,so it is more appropriate to choose thematic frameworks for health risk communication.In terms of meaning construction,the information content is mainly data update,symptom description,etc.,and reports with practical effects such as symptoms and incubation period are also more likely to trigger public participation.The presentation of risk uncertainty mainly relies on comparative presentation and digital presentation,but how to present risk uncertainty has no significant impact on public participation behavior.In terms of performance information,social performance information accounts for a higher proportion,and performance information with practical guiding significance is more likely to trigger public participation.In summary,compared with reporting methods such as news framework and uncertainty presentation,information content construction,instructive performance information and other reporting content are more likely to trigger public participation.The study of geographical factors found that the proportion of information reported to other countries and regions ranked third with 12.9%,and the public participation in overseas epidemic reporting was lower than that of domestic epidemic reporting.Therefore,this study believes that the mainstream media in the social media environment should use the content with practical reference or guidance value as the starting point to improve the communication effect and meet the public’s information needs.In the process of communication,attention should be paid to responding to public questions,interpreting relevant policies,and always paying attention to the governance of rumors.Finally,mainstream media should also make full use of the two-way interaction characteristics of social platforms to capture public attention and better provide reference for health risk communication.