The Study On Public Opinion Functions Of Social Q&A Community Zhihu Illustrated By Wei Zexi Event

Zhihu is the most representative social Q&A community in China,which is located in "sharing knowledge,experience and opinion with the world",and it is an indispensable role in the field of knowledge sharing.In the past year,"Wei Zexi event" "Lei Yang event" and other public events originated from Zhihu,and aroused extensive discussion in social media public opinion field such as microblog and WeChat.As a new public opinion field,Zhihu began to play an important role in the generation and dissemination of these public affairs' public opinion,and has presented a new discourse system and transmission path.This study focuses on the new function and trend that social Q&A community like Zhihu has shown in public opinion,and introduces public opinion of public affairs into the study of social Q&A community.The study takes “Wei Zexi event” as an example,and uses the research methods such as social network analysis,content analysis,case analysis and network field observation,which is integrated application of quantitative and qualitative methods.It summed up the characteristics of Zhihu public opinion elements such as the subject,topic and the form.And it summed up the unique public opinion formation and dissemination mechanism of Zhihu by observing and comparing it with microblog and WeChat public opinion field.On this basis,it concludes the public opinion functions of social Q&A community represented by Zhihu and discusses problems it faces.Through the study,it is concluded that there are the following public opinion functions of Zhihu in the dissemination of public events: it has a self-made public opinion system and sets the public agenda;it provides comprehensively and rationally facts and opinions,which helps correctly guide the public opinion;it benefits the growth of ordinary public opinion leaders,and promotes the rise of civic discourse.