Use Social Networking platform---for anti-corruption in China

SNA ---How to use Social Networking platform --for anti-corruption in China

Lan Ye

Exchange student

Proposed SNA blog post

Background:

  3 days, 63 hours, the departmental-level cadres---Lei GuanXi fell, the “spike” classical case of corruption by someone use the WeiBo to post the information for the Lei’s corruption, the most fast speed, make the onlookers exciting.  

 Nowadays, WeiBo—a kind of micro-blog, the users in China has more than 400million. The internet come from “E-era” to “Micro-era”, plenty of information has spread from different resources to different channels. WeiBo --- from a pure social networking tool has been upgrade increasingly to the new platform for citizens to express their feeling and show the civil rights of supervision. More and more Chinese government department has established the WeiBo account to make a more closer and convenient way with citizens.

Research Question and methodology:

How to use the WeiBo for anti-corruption in China?

Is it effect for citizens give the clues for government WeiBo platform?

How much it reliable for these clues?

The WeiBo users are willing to get involved in the anti-corruption case, which kind of role they are willing to play in these events?

WeiBo has been able to play a positive role in promoting anti-corruption due to its feature and public “anti-corruption hunger”. To look back each Weibo corruption event,  it can be easily found that a similar fermentation process: First, a person who register the account on WeiBo broke the news, then this WeiBo news widely forwarded, comments, later, follow by traditional medias and lastly will be involved the final official investigations. Where when massive forwards, comments have attract the eyes of public throughout the state of whole affairs, it will promote public opinion’s supervise climax. Such kind of point can be described as a turning point in the whole event developments.

A small picture, a fuzzy video, an ordinary speech, why it can be known around the world in just a few days, a few hours or even minutes? This is mainly due to the WeiBo’s unique advantage of new network media in public participation, information fission as well as transmission speed. Weibo---as a new internet media can give more convenient for government and citizens to communicate with each other and more supervise for civil servants. But how to calculate the effect for public supervise and how much positive application for anti-corruption in WeiBo. We need to design some questions and dates for social networking analysis. Here is the attributes we can use for discuss.Our survey group is all of the WeiBo users.

Attributes:          Gender

 

Education

Location

Age

Profession:

The connection frequency with government Weibo platform :( never, sometimes focuses on, always focus...)

Types of corruption attract you: bribery, abuse of power, misappropriation, and corruption. Etc

Way of expose the corruption event: Broke by own account or post comment on government WeiBo or send private information to government Weibo.( with real name or anonymity)

Roles in Weibo corruption events---Prosecutors, Forward, give comments (positive or negative), traditional media, investigator

Duration for final result: 1day, 1 week, 1 month, half-year or so on.

Reliable for the result: absolutely, ok but still more transparency for result, not reliable

Etc :( still need more attribute to be think out and discuss for more accurate analysis)

Hypothesis and question for further discussion

We think WeiBo act a real positive role in anti-corruption event. People are willing to act as WeiBo onlookers due to the individual moral conscience and detest the behavior of corruption. No matter what sense, corruption is tumor of society, are implicating violation of the citizens’ rights and desecrating the public power. Base on this, we use the survey to analysis the effect and efficiency of WeiBo anti-corruption with Government WeiBo platform and guide the correct direction for public supervision.

We need to get some result from the survey that those use WeiBo to expose the corruption is with high education and enough proof. The locations of the WeiBo user can help distinct which district has more willing to anti-corruption.

For types of corruption can indicate which one is the most common phenomenon in corruption.

From the way of expose corruption and roles in these news, we should know public attitude to these events and learn how to indicate the WeiBo users in right position and right distribute channel to express public opinion  

The final result duration shows the tolerance deadline and trust for government action. It’s an important signal to push government to make quick and effective action for such a WeiBo corruption event.

But we also need to realize the negative effect for WeiBo to public and government work. WeiBo may also as use as a tool for certain person with bad intentions. Some heavy traces of corruption are fictional, the rumor not only bring bad social influence but also may affect the government officers to perform their daily duties.  From a procedural point of view, the Weibo corruption event practiced the "presumption of guilt" process. Moreover, even if the Weibo broke corruption clues is true, might give whistleblowers people bring safety concerns at the same time, it may produce conflicts between personal privacy and the public's right to Know.

WeiBo anti-corruption may not only provide the clues but also a lowest cost for corruption event expose. The main battlefield should be relying on Discipline Inspection department. The government should combine the new public media channel and traditional ways. I think WeiBo anti-corruption should be powerful supported by government, but how to enable it to play a active and more important role, also to reflect the seriousness of the judicial, legal, timeliness and how organic combination do, also need more policy to standardize it.