Emotional resonance and rational reflection in hybrid space: a cross-platform study of public opinion evolution in youth digital collective action

Abstract Objective/Background Social media has become deeply integrated into urban life, and digital collective actions by young people rooted in physical spaces are becoming increasingly common, posing new challenges to urban governance. There is an urgent need to understand the dynamic evolution o...

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Main Authors: Jia Jia Hao, Xiaotong Dong, Yingyue Li, Shuang Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer 2025-08-01
Series:Computational Urban Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/s43762-025-00198-6
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author Jia Jia Hao
Xiaotong Dong
Yingyue Li
Shuang Li
author_facet Jia Jia Hao
Xiaotong Dong
Yingyue Li
Shuang Li
author_sort Jia Jia Hao
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Objective/Background Social media has become deeply integrated into urban life, and digital collective actions by young people rooted in physical spaces are becoming increasingly common, posing new challenges to urban governance. There is an urgent need to understand the dynamic evolution of cross-platform public opinion in such events to provide a basis for precise governance. Research process/Methodology Taking the “Night Riding to Kaifeng” incident as an example, this study integrated 27,216 data points from the Weibo (mass communication) and Zhihu (knowledge community) platforms. Using the life cycle theory to divide public opinion into stages, the study analyzed public emotions at each stage using the emotion dictionary and employed the LDA topic model to explore the evolution of themes. Research conclusion/Results The study found Weibo exhibited “emotional resonance” with dominant positive emotions, effectively mobilizing offline action, while Zhihu featured diverse emotional profiles with rational debate emphasis. Grounded in collective action theory and urban social movement theory within hybrid space, this research uncovered the organizational logic and cross-platform expression patterns of emergent youth collective action in social media contexts. Research value/Significance This study deepens understanding of public opinion complexity in collective emergency incidents within social media contexts, offering empirical and theoretical foundations for multi-tier early warning systems, agile collaborative governance, and youth-inclusive resilient urban development.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2730-6852
language English
publishDate 2025-08-01
publisher Springer
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series Computational Urban Science
spelling doaj-art-6ac2e044da1144f4bf7e3a86e4d8ebb62025-08-20T03:45:48ZengSpringerComputational Urban Science2730-68522025-08-015112110.1007/s43762-025-00198-6Emotional resonance and rational reflection in hybrid space: a cross-platform study of public opinion evolution in youth digital collective actionJia Jia Hao0Xiaotong Dong1Yingyue Li2Shuang Li3Economics Management School, Yanshan UniversityEconomics Management School, Yanshan UniversityChina Association for Science and Technology Service Center for Enterprise InnovationEconomics Management School, Yanshan UniversityAbstract Objective/Background Social media has become deeply integrated into urban life, and digital collective actions by young people rooted in physical spaces are becoming increasingly common, posing new challenges to urban governance. There is an urgent need to understand the dynamic evolution of cross-platform public opinion in such events to provide a basis for precise governance. Research process/Methodology Taking the “Night Riding to Kaifeng” incident as an example, this study integrated 27,216 data points from the Weibo (mass communication) and Zhihu (knowledge community) platforms. Using the life cycle theory to divide public opinion into stages, the study analyzed public emotions at each stage using the emotion dictionary and employed the LDA topic model to explore the evolution of themes. Research conclusion/Results The study found Weibo exhibited “emotional resonance” with dominant positive emotions, effectively mobilizing offline action, while Zhihu featured diverse emotional profiles with rational debate emphasis. Grounded in collective action theory and urban social movement theory within hybrid space, this research uncovered the organizational logic and cross-platform expression patterns of emergent youth collective action in social media contexts. Research value/Significance This study deepens understanding of public opinion complexity in collective emergency incidents within social media contexts, offering empirical and theoretical foundations for multi-tier early warning systems, agile collaborative governance, and youth-inclusive resilient urban development.https://doi.org/10.1007/s43762-025-00198-6Mass emergenciesEmotion analysisTheme miningHybrid space
spellingShingle Jia Jia Hao
Xiaotong Dong
Yingyue Li
Shuang Li
Emotional resonance and rational reflection in hybrid space: a cross-platform study of public opinion evolution in youth digital collective action
Computational Urban Science
Mass emergencies
Emotion analysis
Theme mining
Hybrid space
title Emotional resonance and rational reflection in hybrid space: a cross-platform study of public opinion evolution in youth digital collective action
title_full Emotional resonance and rational reflection in hybrid space: a cross-platform study of public opinion evolution in youth digital collective action
title_fullStr Emotional resonance and rational reflection in hybrid space: a cross-platform study of public opinion evolution in youth digital collective action
title_full_unstemmed Emotional resonance and rational reflection in hybrid space: a cross-platform study of public opinion evolution in youth digital collective action
title_short Emotional resonance and rational reflection in hybrid space: a cross-platform study of public opinion evolution in youth digital collective action
title_sort emotional resonance and rational reflection in hybrid space a cross platform study of public opinion evolution in youth digital collective action
topic Mass emergencies
Emotion analysis
Theme mining
Hybrid space
url https://doi.org/10.1007/s43762-025-00198-6
work_keys_str_mv AT jiajiahao emotionalresonanceandrationalreflectioninhybridspaceacrossplatformstudyofpublicopinionevolutioninyouthdigitalcollectiveaction
AT xiaotongdong emotionalresonanceandrationalreflectioninhybridspaceacrossplatformstudyofpublicopinionevolutioninyouthdigitalcollectiveaction
AT yingyueli emotionalresonanceandrationalreflectioninhybridspaceacrossplatformstudyofpublicopinionevolutioninyouthdigitalcollectiveaction
AT shuangli emotionalresonanceandrationalreflectioninhybridspaceacrossplatformstudyofpublicopinionevolutioninyouthdigitalcollectiveaction