Peking University, Nov. 14, 2012: Six participants shared their thoughts, mostly about the consequences of social media’s emerge, on the panel session “Innovation and change in the age of social media” at Yingjie Exchange Center.

Confronted with the challenge of risk communication in such an age of social media, Professor Xu Jing from Peking University (PKU) shared a set of her analysis.

After general definitions of “social media” and “risk communication”, Xu underlined the social media’s crucial role as direct interactions with specified groups and people, as well as the characteristics of location-sensitivity and time-sensitivity. Similarly to her, in-public flows of information and opinions also serve as the hinge in the field of risk communication.

As social media have equipped almost everyone — who used to listen to the radio silently — with the chance to have a voice, Xu Jing pointed out the following change of risk communication models, that the role of the renowned has been underscored somehow. She asserted that the one-channel Technocratic Model, whose risk communication method was nothing but to inform or educate the public, is getting out-dated.

Instead, Xu later presented another, the “Expert-lay-discrepancy” model marked by a far more subjective perception of the public, where people would consider emergencies based on their individual experience and values. Accordingly, she urged more attention to the mass’s mentality rather than icy instructions or stiff comments.

One of the latest related cases was the Sina Weibo account of Zou Hengfu, where he was suspected to slander PKU and some of its staff at the Guanghua School of Management. Shocked by the propagation and destructive force of these irrational rumors, Xu alerted the attendees to the probable stains of social reputations.

Previously, another lecturer, Yi-Chen Wu from Fu-Jen Catholic University, seemed to respond the anxiety of Professor Xu with social media strategies for risk communication, such as the overall weigh of all the interested targets.

Reported by: Shi Hui

Edited by: Arthars