scholarly journals Public Opinion About E-Cigarettes on Chinese Social Media: A Combined Study of Text Mining Analysis and Correspondence Analysis (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Di Wang ◽  
Joanne Chen Lyu ◽  
Xiaoyu Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Text Mining ◽  
Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Electronic Cigarettes ◽  
Public Discussion ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
Period 2 ◽  
Chinese Public

BACKGROUND Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have become increasingly popular. China has accelerated its legislation on e-cigarettes in recent years by issuing two policies to regulate their use: the first on August 26, 2018, and the second on November 1, 2019. Social media provide an efficient platform to access information on the public opinion of e-cigarettes. OBJECTIVE To gain insight into how policies have influenced the reaction of the Chinese public to e-cigarettes, this study aims to understand what the Chinese public say about e-cigarettes and how the focus of discussion might have changed in the context of policy implementation. METHODS This study uses a combination of text mining and correspondence analysis to content analyze 1160 e-cigarette–related questions and their corresponding answers from Zhihu, China’s largest question-and-answer platform and one of the country’s most trustworthy social media sources. From January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2019, Python was used to text mine the most frequently used words and phrases in public e-cigarette discussions on Zhihu. The correspondence analysis was used to examine the similarities and differences between high-frequency words and phrases across 3 periods (ie, January 1, 2017, to August 27, 2018; August 28, 2018, to October 31, 2019; and November 1, 2019, to January 1, 2020). RESULTS The results of the study showed that the consistent themes across time were comparisons with traditional cigarettes, health concerns, and how to choose e-cigarette products. The issuance of government policies on e-cigarettes led to a change in the focus of public discussion. The discussion of e-cigarettes in period 1 mainly focused on the use and experience of e-cigarettes. In period 2, the public’s attention was not only on the substances related to e-cigarettes but also on the smoking cessation functions of e-cigarettes. In period 3, the public shifted their attention to the e-cigarette industry and government policy on the banning of e-cigarette sales to minors. CONCLUSIONS Social media are an informative source, which can help policy makers and public health professionals understand the public’s concerns over and understanding of e-cigarettes. When there was little regulation, public discussion was greatly influenced by industry claims about e-cigarettes; however, once e-cigarette policies were issued, these policies, to a large extent, set the agenda for public discussion. In addition, media reporting of these policies might have greatly influenced the way e-cigarette policies were discussed. Therefore, monitoring e-cigarette discussions on social media and responding to them in a timely manner will both help improve the public’s e-cigarette literacy and facilitate the implementation of e-cigarette–related policies.

scholarly journals Public Opinion About E-Cigarettes on Chinese Social Media: A Combined Study of Text Mining Analysis and Correspondence Analysis

10.2196/19804 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. e19804
Author(s):  
Di Wang ◽  
Joanne Chen Lyu ◽  
Xiaoyu Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Text Mining ◽  
Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Electronic Cigarettes ◽  
Public Discussion ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
Period 2 ◽  
Chinese Public

Background Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) have become increasingly popular. China has accelerated its legislation on e-cigarettes in recent years by issuing two policies to regulate their use: the first on August 26, 2018, and the second on November 1, 2019. Social media provide an efficient platform to access information on the public opinion of e-cigarettes. Objective To gain insight into how policies have influenced the reaction of the Chinese public to e-cigarettes, this study aims to understand what the Chinese public say about e-cigarettes and how the focus of discussion might have changed in the context of policy implementation. Methods This study uses a combination of text mining and correspondence analysis to content analyze 1160 e-cigarette–related questions and their corresponding answers from Zhihu, China’s largest question-and-answer platform and one of the country’s most trustworthy social media sources. From January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2019, Python was used to text mine the most frequently used words and phrases in public e-cigarette discussions on Zhihu. The correspondence analysis was used to examine the similarities and differences between high-frequency words and phrases across 3 periods (ie, January 1, 2017, to August 27, 2018; August 28, 2018, to October 31, 2019; and November 1, 2019, to January 1, 2020). Results The results of the study showed that the consistent themes across time were comparisons with traditional cigarettes, health concerns, and how to choose e-cigarette products. The issuance of government policies on e-cigarettes led to a change in the focus of public discussion. The discussion of e-cigarettes in period 1 mainly focused on the use and experience of e-cigarettes. In period 2, the public’s attention was not only on the substances related to e-cigarettes but also on the smoking cessation functions of e-cigarettes. In period 3, the public shifted their attention to the e-cigarette industry and government policy on the banning of e-cigarette sales to minors. Conclusions Social media are an informative source, which can help policy makers and public health professionals understand the public’s concerns over and understanding of e-cigarettes. When there was little regulation, public discussion was greatly influenced by industry claims about e-cigarettes; however, once e-cigarette policies were issued, these policies, to a large extent, set the agenda for public discussion. In addition, media reporting of these policies might have greatly influenced the way e-cigarette policies were discussed. Therefore, monitoring e-cigarette discussions on social media and responding to them in a timely manner will both help improve the public’s e-cigarette literacy and facilitate the implementation of e-cigarette–related policies.

What the Public say about E-cigarettes on Chinese Social Media: Combining Text-mining Analysis and Correspondence Analysis (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Chen Lyu
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Text Mining ◽  
Correspondence Analysis ◽  
Electronic Cigarettes ◽  
Public Discussion ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
Period 2 ◽  
Access Information ◽  
Chinese Public

BACKGROUND Electronic cigarettes have become increasingly popular. China has accelerated its legislation on e-cigarettes in recent years by issuing two policies to regulate their use; firstly, on August 26, 2018 and secondly, on November 1, 2019. Social media provides an efficient platform to access information on the public opinion of e-cigarettes. OBJECTIVE In order to get an insight into how policies have influenced the reaction of the Chinese public to e-cigarettes, this study seeks to understand what the Chinese public say about e-cigarettes, and how the focus of discussion might have changed in the context of policy implementation. METHODS This study used a combination of text mining and correspondence analysis. From January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2019, Python was used to text mine the most frequently used words/phrases in public e-cigarette discussion on Zhihu, China’s largest question-and-answer platform and one of the country’s most trustworthy social media sources. Correspondence analysis was used to examine the similarities and differences between high-frequency words across three time periods (i.e., 2017/1/1-2018/8/27, 2018/8/28-2019/10/31, 2019/11/1-2020/1/1). RESULTS Results showed that the consistent themes across time were comparisons with traditional cigarettes; health concerns; and how to choose e-cigarette products. The issuance of government policies on e-cigarettes led to a change in the focus of public discussion. The discussion of e-cigarettes in period 1 mainly focused on the use and experience of e-cigarettes. In period 2, the public’s attention was not only on the substances related to e-cigarettes, but also on the smoking cessation functions of e-cigarettes. In period 3, the public shifted their attention to the e-cigarette industry and government policy on the banning of sales of e-cigarettes to minors. CONCLUSIONS Social media is an informative source which can help policymakers and public health professionals understand the public's concerns over and understanding of e-cigarettes. When there was little regulation, public discussion was greatly influenced by industry claims about e-cigarettes; however, once e-cigarette policies were issued, these policies, to a large extent, set the agenda for public discussion. In addition, media reporting of these policies might have greatly influenced the way e-cigarette policies were discussed. Therefore, monitoring e-cigarette discussion on social media and responding to it in a timely manner will both help improve the public's e-cigarette literacy and facilitate the implementation of e-cigarette related policies. CLINICALTRIAL Not Applicable.

Profiling the Users of High Influence on Social Media in the Context of Public Events

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-49
Author(s):  
Lu An ◽  
Junyang Hu ◽  
Manting Xu ◽  
Gang Li ◽  
Chuanming Yu
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Opinion Leader ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Events ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Influential Users

The highly influential users on social media platforms may lead the public opinion about public events and have positive or negative effects on the later evolution of events. Identifying highly influential users on social media is of great significance for the management of public opinion in the context of public events. In this study, the highly influential users of social media are divided into three types (i.e., topic initiator, opinion leader, and opinion reverser). A method of profiling highly influential users is proposed based on topic consistency and emotional support. The event of “Jiankui He Editing the Infants' Genes” was investigated. The three types of users were identified, and their opinion differences and dynamic evolution were revealed. The comprehensive profiles of highly influential users were constructed. The findings can help emergency management departments master the focus of attention and emotional attitudes of the key users and provide the method and data support for opinion management and decision-making of public events.

Multidimensional influencing factors of public opinion information dissemination in social media: Evidence from Weibo dataset

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (31) ◽  
pp. 1950375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guanghui Wang ◽  
Yufei Wang ◽  
Kaidi Liu ◽  
Jimei Li
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Information Content ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Channel Network ◽  
The Public ◽  
Information Characteristics

The factors influencing the dissemination of public opinion on social media, the main carrier of public opinion, are diverse, complex and changeable. Existing studies of influential factors of public opinion dissemination focus on the information itself and information sources in the dissemination process, failing to consider the comprehensive influence of multidimensional factors, such as information content, sources and channels. This study takes the identification of multidimensional influential factors of social media information dissemination as the research object and comprehensively sorts out the influencing factors of public opinion. To improve the scientific basis and accuracy of the research, multidimensional factors, including information characteristics, dissemination network structure and user-level attributes, are selected to analyze the effect of influential factors in different dimensions on the dissemination of social media public opinion information using econometric models. Three main conclusions of this paper are as follows: (1) The traditional information characteristics (information content) and information source attributes (user-level factor) are not the only key factors affecting information dissemination, while the information channel (network structure) is worth more consideration. (2) Netizens tend to pay more attention to the psychological and emotional attributes of information when forwarding public opinions. The communication mode in which offline social elites enlighten the public no longer exists; whether a user is a network celebrity or lives in the central area no longer significantly affects public opinion dissemination. (3) The higher the total amount of information users release, the more the information would interfere with the public opinion. This is mainly because users with a higher level of activity may release more invalid information about advertising that has nothing to do with public opinion events.

The Role of User Comments in Estimation of the Public Opinion Climate and Perceived Support for One’s Opinion

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 569-585
Author(s):  
Oren Soffer ◽  
Galit Gordoni
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Perceived Support ◽  
Online Experiment ◽  
Public Discussion ◽  
The Public ◽  
User Comments ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Negative Comments

Abstract This article examines how user comments influence assessment of public opinion climate and perceived support for one’s opinion. The effects of user-comment sentiment (positive vs. negative) and of user-comment content (with or without personal exemplification) were tested with an online experiment (n = 1,510). Results show that user-comment effects on estimates of public opinion depend mainly on the sentiment of the comments and not on their framing as opinions with or without personal exemplification. Negative comments significantly reduce readers’ estimation of public opinion support of the issue dealt with by the article and affect the perceived support of one’s opinion. Study results refer to the possible dangers in user comments deliberate manipulation in democratic public discussion.

scholarly journals Can online exemplars trigger a spiral of silence? Examining the effects of exemplar opinions on perceptions of public opinion and speaking out

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 1034-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Zerback ◽  
Nayla Fawzi
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Spiral Of Silence ◽  
The Public ◽  
Speaking Out ◽  
Modern Media ◽  
Media Environments ◽  
The Public Sphere

In modern media environments, social media have fundamentally altered the way how individual opinions find their way into the public sphere. We link spiral of silence theory to exemplification research and investigate the effects of online opinions on peoples’ perceptions of public opinion and willingness to speak out. In an experiment, we can show that a relatively low number of online exemplars considerably influence perceived public support for the eviction of violent immigrants. Moreover, supporters of eviction were less willing to speak out on the issue online and offline when confronted with exemplars contradicting their opinion.

scholarly journals A Study on the Topic-Sentiment Evolution and Diffusion in Time Series of Public Opinion Derived from Emergencies

Complexity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Meng Cai ◽  
Han Luo ◽  
Ying Cui
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Classification Model ◽  
Temporal Networks ◽  
Public Opinions ◽  
The Public ◽  
And Diffusion

With the development of the Internet, social media has become an important platform for people to deal with emergencies and share information. When a public health emergency occurs, the public can understand the topics of the event and perceive the sentiments of others through social media, thus building a cooperative communication network. In this study, we took the public health emergency as the main research object and the natural disaster, accident, and social security event as the secondary research object and further revealed the law of the formation and evolution of public opinion through the analysis on temporal networks of topics and sentiments in social media platforms. Firstly, we identified the derived topics by constructing the topic model and used the sentiment classification model to divide the text sentiments of the derived topics into two types: positive sentiment and negative sentiment. Then, the ARIMA time series model was used to fit and predict the evolution and diffusion rules of topics and sentiments derived from public opinions on temporal networks. It was found that the evolution law of derived public opinions had similarities and differences in various types of emergencies and was closely related to government measures and media reports. The related research provides a foundation for the management of network public opinion and the realization of better emergency effects.

scholarly journals Psychological Analysis of Jokowi’s First 100 Days and Nawacita from Text in Twitter

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Indro Adinugroho ◽  
Smitha Sjahputri ◽  
Judotens Budiarto ◽  
Roby Muhamad
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Strategic Plan ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Public Response ◽  
The Public ◽  
Psychological Analysis ◽  
Valence And Arousal ◽  
Negative Sentiment

In recent days, the public often uses social media such as Twitter for delivering critics; appreciation and campaign related to Government and political issues. The existence of Twitter is changing human behavior rapidly. This study aims to identify Twitter as a medium to generate public opinion concerning two political issues, the 7th Indonesian President first 100 days and public response towards his strategic plan, Nawacita. Method applied in this study is a combination of contemporary research instruments that combines technology and psychology. In this study, the authors examined conversation on Twitter by using Tracker and Algoritma Kata (AK, words algorithm). Tracker is used to collecting conversation on twitter regarding Jokowi’s first 100 days and Nawacita, whereas AK is applied to identify valence and arousal in each tweet collected by Tracker. The finding shows the domination of positive tweets in every week. However, there is a moment where the number of positive tweets was close to negative tweets. In Nawacita issue, law reformation and enforcement was the issue that has highest negative sentiment among others.

scholarly journals Social Media Affordances and Information Sharing: An Evidence from Chinese Public Organizations

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farhan Khan ◽  
Xiangyun Si ◽  
Kashif Ullah Khan
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Public Organizations ◽  
Middle Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
The Public ◽  
Chinese Public

Abstract The study aims to reveal the role of social media and its influence on information sharing within public organizations and emphasis on the distribution affordance to facilitate information processes. Existing literature emphasized different aspects of social media in the public sector to promote the relationship between government and citizens or provide better public service, for example, innovation, policies, openness, and communication. However, there is a wide gap in the literature to investigate social media use and information sharing within public organizations. The current study tries to accomplish the goal by conducting semi-structured interviews with 15 employees in public organizations in Chaohu city, China and applying content analysis on the interviews. Despite the existing literature, the targeted group for this study is divided into three levels (i) senior-level, (ii) middle-level, and (iii) junior-level employees to get a better view of social media. The study is based on grounded theory for coding analysis. We provide an overview of social media use within Chinese public organizations and discuss five social media affordances involved in the public organizations. Finally, we provide the implications, limitations, recommendation, and future research of this research area.

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