A Study On The Reversal Of Public Opinion In Hot Media In Social Media

Hot-button issues have literally become a feature of the age of Internet. In China, social media(Weibo and Wechat as the most representative ones) functions as a platform of public opinions. However, problems occur with the phenomena of public opinion reversal oftentimes.I adopted literature review and case study as major approaches to my thesis and analyzed the phenomenon of public opinion reversal systematically. First, I defined the concepts in my framework.Secondly, I have a concrete manifestation of public opinion inversion phenomenon and impact were discussed.Then,I explored the reasons in terms of the communication environment, the ideas, the subjects, the media, and the audience. In my final analysis, I discussed the future of this phenomenon and reached the conclusion as well as its implication, i.e. “discourse equality” is still a fake idea, and the general public should develop their independent thinking, and the media as well as leadership of Internet should take some responsibility and be aware of the impact of reverse communication of online information. Since the information is unequal for both sides, they should make it more open and opaque.