Microblogging Public Opinion Opinion Leader

This dissertation focuses on opinion leaders of public affairs on micro-blog platform, tries to look into the emergence of the new group and their impact on China’s current political communication system. Starting with the macroscopic elaboration of the new system of China’s current political communication, this dissertation puts opinion leaders of public affairs in the background of technical, social, and cultural change, aiming to study the opportunity the emerging group gained from the social structure. After defining the development and the connection of "opinion leader" concept under new ICT environment, this study presents the main body of the new power and the way they construct themselves. Furthermore, the study shows how opinion leaders play a role in public affairs through Internet and other media platform, and focuses on its mechanism and action strategy. In the end, it reveals what impact opinion leaders bring to China’s political communication, political system and the nation. Through collecting and looking through data and case studies, this study selects and reviews the cases which present special meaning, shows the subtle and complicated functions of this group in the new communication system, and tries to provide an explanatory framework for the rise of the new power.Along with the changing of network application and the significant growth of people’s requirement for their own citizen right, the Internet opinion leaders are getting powerful. It’s a unique phenomenon in China. Opinion leaders on micro-blog have a greater number and bigger impact than before. In the introduction section of the dissertation, the research examines the existing studies of opinion leaders in the micro-blog space, and clarifies the research objects and research questions.The nature of political communication as humanities and social science determines that it is changing along with the social, political, cultural, technological environment. However, a "system" consists of political advocates, professional agents, audience and the environment stays the same. The first chapter examines how opinion leaders emerge in China’s new political communication system from the perspective of political communication.Chapter2and Chapter3of this article make clear the main body of opinion leaders and reveal the mechanism and strategy of their action on internet. By connecting public opinion and public policy, they play a long-term, meaningful political role in the process. This part of the dissertation will demonstrate and describe the characteristics of opinion leaders and the changing role of them along with the internet appliances updates.The last Chapter illustrates the influence of opinion leaders. By encouraging public conversation, opinion leader make a difference when it comes to political communication and politics as a whole. In the stubborn but subtle political communication environment in China, to build an institutionalized mechanism to assure the formation of public opinion to connect to public policy making is essential to the legitimacy and stability of China.In conclusion, the main idea is summarized and we discuss more about what is the main role political communication may play in China, the answer is making conversation and representing different variety of voice.