Currently, the development of social media offers a wide range of benefits, e.g. a more cheap and efficient way of communication among citizens or between citizen and government, quickly spreading news around and so on.
In this blog, the issue what happened last year in my hometown turned out to be solved by social media successfully in some extent.
“China’s days of pursuing growth above all else are over. Protest upon protest over industrial projects that citizens see as damaging to health and the environment make that plain; people are no longer willing to put up with pollution and the consequences. Officials in the eastern city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province should have been aware of the need for changed ways, yet were unprepared for demonstrations over the planned expansion of a petrochemical plant that led to clashes with police at the weekend. They have halted the expansion, scrapping a controversial facility, and promised public consultations and greater transparency.”
Source: http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1072726/ningbo-protests-against-growth-any-costt
“Following several days of mass protests against two proposed petrochemical projects amid environmental and health concerns, officials in the coastal city of Ningbo announced late Sunday that the projects would be halted. The government’s announcement failed to deter protesters, however, who continued to gather outside the government offices Monday and demand that the city’s mayor step down.
Online, suspension of the projects was formally announced through the official social media account of the Ningbo government at 6:45 p.m. yesterday, October 28, 2012. The post read: “[We have] learned from a news spokesman from the Ningbo City Government that the city government has been decided after research with the project investor that: (1) the PX project will definitely not go forward; (2) preliminary work for the chemical refinery project will be halted and a scientific assessment redone.”
Source：http://cmp.hku.hk/2012/10/29/28267/
During the people were against to the project hold by the government, citizens used social media- Weibo to spread news and talked about their opinions. After citizens published a large amount of blogs, pictures, video and opinions in Weibo, it attracted the government’s attention to this issue. PX project should be considered again before putting into action. At the end, government gave up this project.
From my point of view, in this issue, citizens in China make a good use of social media- Weibo to show their opinions and try to communicate with government. And both party are involved and try to make the win-win decision. So in current society, social media is of huge benefits, which provide us a platform to communicate more efficiently. It is the age of Weibo in China.
