China

李建華

The media plays an integral role in society because it helps in getting a message across to the masses.There are several forms of media like radio，television，and newspapers which are the primary means of spreading and disseminating information.Many successful organizations make use of the media in different ways to make sure that the wide audience receives the intended information，and one such firm is Weibo.Weibo is a micro blogging Chinese Website which was launched in the year 2009，and it is quite popular with more than 392 million active users.The intent of this paper is to discuss how Weibo has been portrayed in the media and the theory that relates to it.

The agenda-setting theory depicts a strong influence that the media possesses which is the power to tell the masses what is important.Way back in the year 1922，Walter Lippman who was a newspaper columnist had the concern that the media has a lot of power to present images to the audience （McCombs et al.793）.Two researchers called Shaw and McCombs made an investigation to this effect，and their investigation covered the 1968，1972，and 1976 presidential campaigns.The research was done in the year 1968 and they decided to focus on two main elements namely information and awareness.Shaw and McCombs attempted to find out what relationship existed between what the voters in one community deemed imperative and the actual content that the media used during the campaigns.The researchers concluded that mass media exerts a noteworthy influence on what voters consider the main issues （McCombs et al.798）.

The media has had a significant effect in the way that the masses view Weibo and its importance in micro blogging.Manya Koetse published an article in the year 2015 which was dubbed "What's on Weibo"and it was an article that reported about the social trends in China.In her article published on 30th April 2015，Koetse observeed that Weibo is the biggest social media platform in China that compares to Twitter （Koetse 2）.For example，Koetse notes that scores of different media have made statements that Weibo is on the verge of dying.That in itself is agenda-setting where the media is telling the audience about the piece of important news which is the death of the application.

In a bid to convince the audience，the media goes ahead to explain the reason which is the new rules that necessitate all users to register on Weibo with their real names."More people allegedly switched from Weibo to Weixin，media argued，and Weibo would soon be on the way out as online free speech becomes more and more limited"， says Koetse （Koetse 2）.The quote above also plays a role in telling the audience what to do，which is to shift from Weibo to Weixin if they feel that they do not want to register with real names.Nonetheless，it requires a keen eye for a media practitioner or student to make this analysis.If the agenda-setting theory was not to feature in the article，the author would have just talked about the verge of death without mentioning an option to Weibo （Russell 198）.

Although Weibo is not as well-known and used as it used to be，it is still alive and in the heart of China.Weibo's private dimension is talking amongst friends and it is a social media platform in the public arena.The platform is the most dominant news content source in China as it provides a place for netizens to discuss the day's trending topics.Koetse notes in her April 30th article that Weibo has approximately 600 million users where 175 million are active users： about 70 percent of the daily traffic at Weibo comes in through the mobile application （Koetse 3）.The statement above means that people use it more on their mobile phones as opposed to other means like computers.

The media depicts Weibo as an objective social media platform，and this is evident in the article that Reuters published on April 14th this year （2018）.For example，the article，Weibo declares that intend to remove all gay content which includes text posts，cartoons，and pictures.According to Reuters，the social media platform will conduct a clean-up campaign for 3 months to ensure that all posts that promote such are removed.Reuters reports that the hashtag "I am gay" was forwarded nearly 110，000 times and it drew approximately 24，000 comments （Reuters 5）.Weibo made their announcement of the removal of such content on the administrator account claiming that they are doing so to comply with the new and stringent law on cyber security that demands data surveillance.

The second way in which the media portrays Weibo is that it is a good platform to make advertisements and perform other forms of marketing.Koetse explains in her April 30th article that Weibo has nearly 600 million users where 175 million are active users： about 70 percent of the daily traffic at Weibo comes in through the mobile application.The fact above goes to show that Weibo reaches a plethora of members of the public in China （Reuters 6）.For example，an advert posted in one of the hashtags has the ability to reach 600 million people，and this is an enormous crowd.Reuters also confirm this because their article on Weibo banning gay content observes that a single hashtag attracted 24，000 comments as well as 110，000 forwards （Reuters 6）.Organizations in China should make an effort of marketing their goods and products on the social media platform.

Conversely，the social media platform also claims that it intends to ban violent content because it could cause havoc.In the same article that Reuters published on the 14th of April 2018，violent content was doing rounds and it is quite a concern that it may result in unwanted acts （Reuters 7）.Weibo makes it easy for such content on violence to reach millions of youth who may not think rationally on a matter.For this reason，Reuters explains that the social media platform will remove all the violent content from the site as they remove the gay content as well.

The media portrays Weibo as a social media platform with a lot of potential.A good example that explains this is the article in Forbes Magazine by Yue Wang and Paul Armstrong published on the 6th of June 2017.The authors observe that Weibo is rising more than Twitter and that Twitter ought to learn a thing or two from the rival micro blogging site.Forbes magazine enlightens the audience that both platforms have similar features like a limit of 140 characters，but Weibo is leading in the user numbers and market influence.According to Wang and Armstrong，Weibo reports a rise of 30% in active users to 340 million in the first four months of 2017 （$16.4 billion capitalization） （3）.On the contrary，Twitter records 328 million active users （$13.5 billion capitalization） （Wang and Armstrong 3）.

Marketing is the other impact that the media has brought about on Weibo because of the many active users it has.The same Forbes magazine published by Wang and Armstrong on June 6th last year （2017） claims that advertisers are flocking to Weibo.For instance，the magazine observes that 80% of the firm's revenue comes from advertising online and a 67% increase in the total income was noted in the last quarter.Figures show that the 67% rise in the total income is equivalent to $199 million，and the firm released the above in its financial results （Wang and Armstrong 4）.The example above is enough testimony that the manner in which the media portrays the social media platform has earned it a good name and reputation all over the country because the net income was 561 percent to $47 million during the same period （Wang and Armstrong 5）.

The media is important in every nation because it helps in providing information to the members of the public.The manner in which the media portrays anything comes about with different consequences as highlighted in the case of Weibo.The agenda setting theory is one of the theories that depict the influence that the media has on its audience.As discussed in the research，the media portrays Weibo in different ways.As a result，there are impacts that emerge from the portrayal as the paper points out.Nonetheless，it is imperative that the media becomes keen on the information posted because it could cause war or other unwanted effects.

References：

[1]Koetse，Manya.Top 10 Of Chinese Apps By What'S On Weibo[EB/OL].https：//www.whatsonweibo.com/top-10-of-chinese-apps-by-whats-on-weibo/，2018-05-11.

[2]McCombs，Maxwell E.，Donald L.Shaw，and David H.Weaver.New directions in agenda-setting theory and research[J].Mass communication and society，2014（17）：781-802.

[3]Wang，Yue，and Paul Armstrong.The Rise Of Weibo： Lessons Twitter Can Learn From Chinese Upstart[EB/OL].https：//www.forbes.com/sites/ywang/2017/06/06/the-rise-of-weibo-lessons-twitter-can-learn-from-chinese-upstart/#5258382420b0，2018-05-11.

[4]Reuters.China'S Weibo To Ban Gay，Violent Content From Platform[EB/OL].http：//www.scmp.com/tech/article/2141722/chinas-weibo-ban-gay-violent-content-platform，2018-05-11.

[5]Russell Neuman，W.，et al.The dynamics of public attention： Agenda-setting theory meets big data[J].Journal of Communication，2014（64）：193-214.

[6]GT Henry， MM Mark.Toward an Agenda for Research on Evaluation[J].New Directions for Evaluation，2010（97）：69-80.