Microblog’s Communication Effect In The Public Crisis

Nowadays we are in an informative, digital and networked age, crisis is no longer random and accidental. Instead crisis has become a very important part of our life, and it has been deeply rooted in each piece of our body and every nerve in the modern society. Faced with the frequent public crisis events, the management of public crisis is imminent. A large number of practices show public crisis management is always accompanied by crisis communication. Crisis communication is the core of the public crisis management. It is conducive to control the nature of crisis communication through the analysis of the crisis information. By doing so, we can build and optimize the national public crisis communication system and running mechanism, enhance the emergency response ability of the public crisis communication system.Microblog, as a representative of the new media which is in the form of network application, its outstanding real-time update ability and convenient operation mode has greatly changed the communication way when people facing the public crisis. Microblog occupies a more and more important position in the public crisis communication.This study puts forth the Lushan earthquake happened in Sichuan province, discusses microblog’s function in the public crisis communication by using the method of data analysis and comparative analysis. It is found that in the middle of the crisis, microblog plays the function of the environmental monitoring and social mobilization, while during the period of crisis recovery, microblog has the function of agenda-setting and mobilization. This study also analyses the communication effect that the governments’microblog and microblog’s opinion leaders show in the crisis. It shows that different bodies have different emphases in crisis communication, and microblog has strong appeal in crisis communication. In the process of crisis communication, microblog plays the positive function of environmental monitoring, social mobilization and agenda setting, but microblog has some limitations as well. The study at last puts forward countermeasures from three dimensions:the government, the media and the public. The research is helpful for people to learn more about microblog’s communication characteristics, and then develop them in the crisis communication. By doing so, people can fully use microblog during the crisis communication and make public crisis events turn the corner as soon as possible.