The Internet as the representative of the new media, has become a strong force to express the public’s opinion, fight against corruption and appeal for justice. A number of incidents have been exposed through the Internet. It revealed the true identity of “Tiger Zhou.” The picture of the rare breed of tiger was actually a fake. The voices of “Web surfers” were heard during the “Two Sessions.” The government dismissed the protagonists in the events of “using public money for massage therapy” and “over priced cigarettes.”  The rise of the new media is both refreshing and shocking.

Few people doubt that the Internet will continue to expand its influence and will play an increasingly important role in our country’s political and social life.

However, the management of the Internet presents a new difficult problem to deal with. Instances of pornography, fraud, and network violence are numerous, seriously polluting the network environment. Law enforcement agencies have not slackened in training and combat, but that has achieved little. Although government departments pay attention to network public opinion, and issue positive and timely responses, most responses are passive, lag behind, or play the role of firefighters. Some officials are deeply worried about the network and find it is difficult to face the surging “network of accountability storm.” In the eyes of some people, the Internet is really a great scourge. It is impervious to reason and difficult to tame. These phenomena show that the traditional management philosophy and management style have lost their roles in the virtual world. The special action of regulating the Internet’s vulgar atmosphere has aroused strong reactions. All social circles actively participate, regard it highly and have marked that a new type of model for Internet management has begun to take shape. The characteristics of this model involve using Internet principles to manage the Internet. That is, in accordance with the virtual world’s basic features and principles, letting nature take its course and guiding the matter along its course can achieve maximum effectiveness.

Managing of Network Information

The management of the Internet, in fact, is management of network information, rather than management of anything human or material.

What is the most fundamental characteristic of the virtual world? The virtual world is a kingdom of information. There is nothing except information. In that world, we can’t see the tangible or the human body. We can only see the information coming forth to transmit people’s thoughts rapidly and to develop people’s relationships. The traditional management model, which focuses on the human body and the tangible, faces frustration and difficulties here. The particular difficulty is that we are facing network information, rather than general information. The most basic characteristic of network information is anonymity. People hide their identity, background, status and reputation to express their thoughts freely and indulgently. Sometimes the thoughts are mixed with non-rational emotions, so it is difficult to judge the authenticity of the information. Another characteristic of network information is that the contents are comprehensive and the numbers are huge. It contains insights and valuable spiritual wealth, as well as pornography, violence and vulgar contents. This brings great difficulty to our management. The third characteristic of network information is its rapid dissemination. At first, net friend post messages, causing many messages to follow, bringing more large-scale views and comments. And then the messages are reproduced by the portal. People use cell phones and instant media to send messages to their friends and relatives and it ultimately leads to a hot spot of social events.

We must manage the Internet effectively and in accordance with the characteristics of the network information. The management of the human and tangible aspects should be classified and the management of network information should be classified too. Different management strategies should be adopted for each aspect. Online harmful information is divided into illegal information, false information, and vulgar information. Illegal information refers to various types of information that are specifically prohibited by the relevant state laws and regulations. False information is contrary to what is true, including disinformation, deception, distortion, etc., part of which can be classified as illegal information, but needs to be distinguished carefully. The so-called vulgar information isn’t popular information, but refers to coarse, immoral interests, and wrong value-oriented information. For the illegal information, combat should be the focus. The strength of the vast numbers of Internet users should be used to report and launch many websites to resist consciously. For the false information, the focus should be on clarification. The government and the media authorities need to take the initiative to stand up, expose the lies, and disclose the truth in a timely manner. For the vulgar information, the focus should be on guidance. The government and the media authorities need to dialog with the Internet users equally through various means, guide the direction of network opinions, and imperceptibly influence the Internet users’ thoughts.

Mobilizing the Public is the Basic Strategy for Managing the Internet.

Limited management forces can’t deal with the rapid dissemination of information when the number is astronomical. In fact, compared with general information, network information can be monitored easily, because it is in full view of the public at all times, and there are lots of piercing eyes. Regulating the Internet’s vulgar atmosphere can result in brilliant achievements, fundamentally owing to the vastness of Internet users’ reports and responses. Under the strong pressure of network opinion, the vast majority of web sites enhance their self-awareness.

In addition, full use should be made of the characteristics of the Internet, using management of the critical node, the psychology of groups and people’s thoughts, and the interaction between virtual space and the real world.

Management of the Key Nodes

The mathematician, Barabas, found that many websites only had a small number online, fewer sites had a medium number online, and very few sites had a large number online. This indicates that the network is dominated by the “many websites who have a small number online.”
 
If the key nodes that have the most extensive contacts in the network are controlled, it will be easier to control the entire network.

Therefore the emphasis of network information is the management of the key website nodes. From the view of websites, these key nodes are search engines, telecommunications network operators, and mainstream media. They provide the access services, web links and the authoritative information. If these key nodes can be controlled well, the dissemination of harmful information will be greatly reduced. The special action of regulating the Internet’s vulgar atmosphere can result in brilliant achievements, owing to focus on monitoring these key nodes on the Internet.
 
From the point of Internet users, the key to the node network is "opinion leaders." Some experienced net friends’ points of view control Internet users’ judgment, and guide the direction of network opinions. The main body of China’s Internet users is young people. They don’t have much experience, and are more vulnerable to the impact of opinion leaders. The relevant departments should consciously train the opinion leaders, and make the network opinions more rational and less impetuous.

Virtual communities are having more and more force in the real world. This will, no doubt, launch a major challenge to the administration management. Government officials at all levels should not only be the spectators, but should be the network’ participants. They should not only respond network to opinion negatively, but should be the online opinion leaders. Otherwise, they can’t be competent enough to handle their leadership role in real society. Shanghai is exploring the "double moderator, double entry” mode. Neighborhood cadres, in accordance with the rules, become the community forum co-moderator and dialogue equally with the residents of the virtual community. The original owner is taken to the real community to understand and become more familiar with the situation. Through guiding and leading the community views, the relevant departments need not adopt rigid regulations, so community management will be more effective and humane.

The Guide of Group Psychology

Network information sometimes is full of irrational and violent tendencies, and can even brew into a "network of crises." In this process, group psychology can play a major role. Once a group psychology forms, the individual will lose his reason and sense of responsibility. The individuals will be emotional, impulsive, use extreme language, and have the feature of offensiveness. Using infection and imitation will push the original speech to the extreme until it rises to the level of being out of control. The characteristic of the Internet is interactive. Interaction is two-way and multi-directional, so an emotional state can spread very fast. Because of the impulse, people lose their reason and change from an individual psychology to a group psychology.

Group psychology can be managed in the best, the second best, and the worst ways. The best way is to take preventive measures. According to the “broken window effect,” if a window has been broken, it should be repaired immediately; otherwise more windows will be broken. Because people accept this suggestion: breaking the window is allowed and you will not be subjected to discipline. On the Internet, if a message fulfills people’s expectations, and matches their dissatisfaction, people will automatically believe, go along with it, and thus give positive feedback to make it snowball, developing rapidly to an uncontrollable level. Therefore, when the harmful information just appears, there should be a keen eye to detect it and to clarify or counter-attack in order to hinder the formation of a group psychology. Relevant departments should pay close attention to dynamic network opinion and assess which negative information will reflect a certain class’ voice, if it will spread rapidly, and whether it will lead to a crisis. If the outlook is not optimistic, it will be necessary to join the mainstream of online media, disseminate the truth, spread positive public opinion and refute the wrong views.

The second choice is in the initial formation of the group psychology, when the negative sentiment is spreading, but has not yet translated into concrete action. At that time, the need is to use the French scholar Le Bounty’s three means when leaders mobilize the public: assertion, repetition and transmission. Making a simple and strong assertion is the best way to allow a certain concept to have access to people’s minds.

The worst way is intervention after the situation has expanded. At that time, a great effort will be needed to clarify the truth and also to make up for the resulting heavy losses.

The Citrus incident provides a painful lesson. Last year in Mid-October, the news of Citrus worms was disseminated widely in the community. Rumors started flying. Citrus all over the country could not be sold, and tangerine farmers suffered huge losses.
 
At present, this last situation is most prevalent for relevant departments that deal with network crises. It had already brewed into the serious consequences before the truth was clarified and the group calmed down.           
(Xiaobai Sheng/ Nanjing Audit University)

Endnotes:
[1] http://news.xinhuanet.com/theory/2009-04/27/content_11263577.htm

Safety Issues of the (Communist) Culture under the Influence of “Internet Public Opinion” [1] Chinese Academy of Social Science Newspaper, May 19, 2009

Public opinion is often expressed and spread through the Internet. It is an integrated sum of the multiple feelings, attitudes, and opinions of Internet users about all kinds of social and public affairs that they care about or that are closely related to their interests. These public opinions mainly spread through email, BBS, instant messaging, Internet news and follow-up, blogs, podcasts, wikis, and Internet surveys, as well as some social software programs. The spread of public opinion on the Internet is part of the spread of culture. It does not have regional or national borders and it has sped up the globalization of human culture. The most important feature is that by using all kinds of ways and approaches, Internet public opinion presents a different culture, different manners and customs, and different senses of value to people. It indeed opens up people’s minds. However, to some degree it also impacts peoples’ values and conduct that formed during their previous socialization. It causes inadequate adaptation of people’s minds and barriers to their actions.

…

The freedom and openness of the Internet are creating prerequisites that have never existed before for the spread of diverse culture. The closeness that the Internet has brought to all countries and people in the world is unprecedented. The free spread of Internet information has caused both integration and collision of different cultures. On the one hand, this kind of integration and collision are without any governmental control and have a positive significance. On the other hand however, they also create some degree of threat to the stability and solidarity of our country and society. Especially for those youths who have had little experience with our traditional culture, the national culture has not rooted in their minds. It is highly possible that, influenced by foreign Internet information (mainly Western ideology), our youths will not yet have immunity from it or the ability to discriminate properly. The social mentality of this specific social group is therefore threatened to some degree.

Since the spread of public opinion on the Internet is an important part of the spread of culture, in order to eliminate its influence on cultural safety at its roots, we must start spreading cultural propaganda. As the Internet is developed rapidly, it is crucial to use effective ways to spread cultural propaganda.

(1) Insist on the Strategy of Active Defense regarding the Spread of Culture. To put it in fundamental words, it is to look at the world’s cultural diversity in the right way and insist on the fundamentality of the Socialist culture with Chinese characteristics. We need to utilize the Internet to spread the national culture, and strengthen the national spirit and the cohesive force of this advanced culture. We need to construct an effective system to protect culture and strengthen the force for guarding against and fighting back against the psychological warfare of western culture, expand communication among different cultures, and improve the Chinese people’s psychological endurance and the Chinese culture’s immunity. Also, at the right times and with the right global situations, such as some incidents, we should use cultural attacks to actively attack western culture in order to reduce its influence on us.

(2) Strengthen the (Communist) Party’s Controlling Force over the Spread of Culture in the Macroscopic Picture. First, we need to set clear value standards on the content of the spreading culture. Secondly, regarding the media that cultures spread with, we need to enhance the supervision over the different kinds of spreading tools, especially the Internet. We must strengthen the establishment and reinforcement of laws related to cultural spread so that we can use the laws to crack down on the illegal activities of spreading things through media such as the Internet that harm basic values and that are against common social interests. Thirdly, we need to train a politically strong troop that is proficient in its work, has great discipline, and has a correct attitude to spread cultural.

(3) Make a Great Effort to Boost the Spreading Power of Socialist Culture with Chinese Characteristics. In the past 30 years, as China’s overall strength has continued to grow and international prestige has continued to improve, our culture’s spreading power has improved a lot. It has almost completely spread in multiple languages, with multiple media (radio, newspapers, television, magazines, and the Internet, etc.), and has the charm of “Chinese characteristics.” This not only expands the global influence of Socialist culture with Chinese characteristics, but also to some degree it improves and expands our nation’s strategic interests.

How Internet Public Opinion Spreads [2] Chinese Academy of Social Science Newspaper, May 19, 2009

(1) Interactivity. On the Internet, the Netizens in general show a strong sense of participation. During the process of commenting and giving opinions about a certain incident, there are often many Netizens participating in the discussion. Frequently, it forms an interactive environment, where opinions from two opposite sides both appear and they discuss, argue, exchange opinions, collide, and even clash. This kind of real-time interactive sharing enables different opinions to come out quickly. The discussion is able to get more complete, more in-depth, and more concentrated. As an example, in July of 2008, Yang Jia, the young man from Beijing, killed seven policemen with a knife in Shanghai, and injured 3 policemen and a security guard. Public opinion should condemn Yang Jia’s killing action and the law should strictly punish him. However, on the Internet there were quite some people justifying Yang Jia’s action. Netizens with different opinions argued very intensely over the Internet.

(2) Inaccuracy. Each Netizen as an individual experiences pressure in the real world, and this directly affects what he or she expresses on the Internet. Influenced by all kinds of factors, some of the arguments on the Internet lack reason and tend to be perceptual and emotional. Some people even take the Internet as a place to release their anger. When people have frustration in their lives in the real world, or when they have some biased views about society, they can use the Internet to express anger. Therefore, on the Internet, it tends to be voices that are more vulgar and pessimistic. For example, as the crisis of the world economy continues to expand, some companies in cities along the shores are having trouble paying their workers, and some companies have even declared bankruptcy. The real estate economy also keeps going down. Some Netizens perpetually use the Internet to spread their comments. At the same time, very often the Netizens’ moods can affect each other. Thus, the Internet public opinion is a result of the interaction of individuals’ moods as well as groups of people’s moods. Sometimes it is a reflection of the real situation. However, at other times, it causes a deviation from people’s original opinion. What we must pay attention to is that others can easily echo people’s emotional opinions, and this can therefore lead to harmful public opinions; it can be very seditious and destructive. Take the Harbin young man, Lin Songling, who six policemen killed, as a typical example. [Ed: On October 11, 2008, a surveillance video tape was posted on the Internet showing a brawl in which six plainclothes Harbin police officers beat a young man to death. It was quickly reposted on many forums. Some Netizens suspected the police had suspiciously edited it.] On the Internet, public opinion quickly expanded and the speed with which rumors spread could not have been overseen.

Netizens Gradually Take Over the Role of the Main Body in Expressing Public Opinion [3] Chinese Academy of Social Science Newspaper, May 19, 2009

The Internet in China has grown rapidly in recent years. According to the data from China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), at the end of 2008, 22.6% of people were Internet users in China. It was the first time China passed the global average, which was 21.9%. At the same time, the Chinese Netizen population reached 298 million, which stayed at the top worldwide. The Netizen population is still rapidly growing. The main body of those who participate in Internet sharing is composed of Netizens. They frequently use the Internet to spread and share media, acquire information on the Internet, participate in the interaction on the Internet, give personal opinions, and express their positions on different issues on the Internet. Studying the characteristics of the Netizens since they are the main body on the Internet and analyzing their behavior can help us realize and control the pattern of spreading Internet public opinion and make it better serve the government’s decision making.

…

The Netizens express many kinds of emotion, attitudes, and opinions. But the center of these is their political attitude.

Since the essence of people’s social political attitude is driven by their concern for their personal interests this, in turn, affects the government’s control and decision making. Therefore it has become the core content of Internet public forum discussions. The Netizens should be managed by the government and they need the government to represent their interests. On the other hand, the government must manage everything through public affairs, using specific plans, policies, laws, and working methods. Whenever these public affairs operate, they immediately touch Netizens’ interests. The Internet provides the Netizens a fast and convenient sharing media for expressing their feelings. They express these emotions, attitudes, and opinions specifically about the nation, the government, or public affairs; therefore they are reflections of the Netizens’ social political attitude.

…

The Internet public opinion expressed by the Netizens has become an important force for directing and influencing general public opinion.

Internet information can flow globally and freely. It makes “world affairs” become “things next door.” When the Netizens express their opinions, they are no longer limited by regional factors. They can easily share in real time with people thousands of miles away. The quickness, convenience, and interactivity of Internet conversations are quickly drawing Netizens from everywhere and with different voices. Eventually it will form a huge force of social public opinion, draw more attention from society and can even become a great public voice that will influence decision making. Therefore, we cannot overlook the Netizens’ influence over Internet public opinion.

…

When Netizens use the Internet, they usually follow social public affairs. There is a typical path in the development of each discussion. In many cases, it has continuity, diffusibility, and the ability of gathering a large audience. Communication about public affairs, from beginning to end, will usually last for a while. The Netizens’ Internet public opinions reflect on public affairs and will also go through a beginning, development, climax, fading, and disappearance or residual period. This makes the Netizens’ Internet actions show continuity, diffusibility, and the characteristics of being able to gather a large audience. It is these characteristics that result in some information being able to induce strong reactions, lead to high-level attention from the government, and induce lots of discussions by sectors of the community.

The Safeguard System for Reporting on Unexpected Incidents [4]
Chinese Academy of Social Science Newspaper, May 14, 2009

Leading principle: ensure that reporting is ordered and highly efficient.

Unexpected incidents include natural disasters, accidents, public health affairs, and social security incidents. In recent years, the number of unexpected incidents in China has shown a tendency to increase. Therefore, the news media should not take unexpected incidents as something atypical. Instead, they should take the reporting of unexpected incidents as part of their everyday operations.

First, the system needs to be perfected in order to enable fast reactions to the unexpected incidents. A steering committees needs to be formed to uniformly coordinate the news interviewing groups, technical support groups, and administrative service groups. This way the number of intermediate links can be reduced to ensure the fast reporting of unexpected incidents.

Next, the discipline in reporting unexpected incidents must be very high and strict. The media needs to have specific people to keep in touch with the higher propaganda management branch and convey the direction and spirit from the branch in a timely manner, so that the degree of reporting can be controlled and public opinion can be steered correctly.

Lastly, regular meetings need to be added to the system of reporting unexpected incidents. During the period of the unexpected incidents, the steering group needs to set a time every day to have a meeting with the main people from relevant departments, so that directions from the propaganda management branch can be passed down. The meeting can help everyone to realize shortcomings in reporting and to be clear about the stresses to be reported on and the direction that later reports need to take. Within the meeting, manpower and material resources can be more reasonably arranged and the reporting time and layout can be scientifically adjusted. This ensures an ordered, strong, and highly efficient reporting of unexpected incidents.

Endnotes:
[1] Chinese Academy of Social Science Newspaper, 2009-5-19
http://www.cass.net.cn/file/20090519233914.html
[2] Chinese Academy of Social Science Newspaper, 2009-5-19
http://www.cass.net.cn/file/20090519233915.html
[3] Chinese Academy of Social Science Newspaper, 2009-5-19
http://www.cass.net.cn/file/20090519233911.html
[4] Chinese Academy of Social Science Newspaper, 2009-5-14
http://www.cass.net.cn/file/20090514233606.html