How Does the Government Crowd Out the Public? An Analysis of Networked Crisis Communication Patterns on Weibo during the Earthquakes of 2010-2019

Abstract

Under unprecedented conditions of increasing precarity in this century of disasters, changes in social media-based networked crisis communications are driving innovation in risk governance, public understanding of risk, and public online participation. We develop the concept of Networked Crisis Communications Pattern (NCCP) formed by online participation of and connections between different types of users in Weibo-based networked crisis communication. By analyzing 133,440 Weibo posts of six significant earthquakes between 2010 and 2019 through calculation of proportion and social network analysis, we present a new phenomenon: the Chinese government has “crowded out the crowd” by increasing users, posts, and positioning as distributors of crisis information. Although “crowding out” may constitute a missed opportunity for public online participation, this study draws a cooperative and collective relationship between the government and the public in Weibo-based networked crisis communication.