专业类-舆论及其影响

33、What is public opinion and what is your opinion on its influence?
Good morning, professors. Thank you for your question. Now I’d like to answer this question for you.
Professor ChenLidan believes that public opinion is the sum of people's opinions, attitudes and comments on social reality and various issues. The characteristics of public opinion includes publicity, urgency, evaluation and extensive.
I think that public opinion’s influences is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, public opinion has great influence which can make government and media involved and promote the solution of problem. What's more, public opinion can encourage public to behave in accordance with social morality.
On the other hand, the emergence of social media enables people have a voice channel, but at the same time, the information checks also be weakened. It is irrational for individuals to express their opinions based on emotions. This makes public opinion’s quality very low. In addition, the spiral of silence, group infection and group suggestion play roles in public opinion’s polarization tendency. Once opposition view appears, some extreme behaviors may appears.
Therefore, public opinion analysis and guidance are very important. Government and media can use big data, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to monitor public opinion. Responding to public concerns is also critical.
This is my answer to this question. Thank you for your listening.