Effective Guiding Of Network Forum Opinion

The emergence of the network forum provides the public with an alternativechannel through which the users can obtain varieties of information from home andabroad. In the forum, netizens enjoy the freedom of discussion, expressing their ownopinions at will. The interactive commenting offers immediate feedback to everyoneconcerned. The use of virtual identities often makes people less rational andirresponsible in spreading news, making it difficult to keep to the Mean Doctrine.Extreme opinions are easy to gain popularity. Studies by experts onmass communication show the tendency of“group polarization”on the Internetdoubles compared with off the net. Network forum opinion guidance is to study hownetwork public opinion is abnormally amplified and distorted under the influence ofcertain“stereotypes”and how public opinion can be propelled to ferment or clear up.Network public opinion can have great impact on the realistic society, leading toeither catharsis of discontented mood or anomy in the society. Once it forms, it willsoon be like surging torrents, whose impact and inertia have incredibly great influenceon the realistic society. Any decision maker, organization or individual cannotpossibly remain unmoved in face of network public opinion concerning him/her/itself.They must adjust his or her cognition and behavior in order to win the understandingand acceptance of the netizens and the general public. This is how the power ofnetwork public opinion works.Ever since the 1990s, China Network Forum has remained another name fornetwork opinion, a brand-new field in the press campaign structure where the newform of media confronts the traditional form. Therefore, dealing with the networkforum is also a focal point in guiding public opinions. Statistics on 77focus incidents in 2009 collected by The People.com.cn public opinion inspectionroom shows 18 of the incidents came from public forums, accounting for 23% of thetotal number, while in 2011, under the“converging attack”by new carriers like Weibo,the number of focal incidents first exposed in the network forum apparently declined.According to the Statistical report on Internet development in China released byChina Internet Information Center, the network forum occupating coefficient in 2012is 28.2%, showing a decline in the level of activity.Suitable for expounding views and analyzing problems, the network forum willstill possess special vitality in dealing with future focal incidents in the society. Soresearch on the law of the outbreak & development of social incidents in the networkforum and other channels is particularly important.This article attempts to summarize through case studies the regularity of networkforum information spreading and find out the generating scheme of network opinionand related guiding approach, and to test the validity of the approach by means ofexperiments, thus offering reference for cybertime public opinion guidance.