The Shaping and Challenges of Public Opinion by Social Media: A Multidimensional Exploration from Information Dissemination to Opinion Formation

Abstract

As an important platform for modern information dissemination, social media has profoundly changed the traditional mode of public opinion formation and has become the leading force of public opinion dissemination on a global scale. This study systematically analyzes the mechanism, process and main challenges of public opinion formation on social media from the multi-dimensional perspective of information dissemination to public opinion formation. First of all, the paper reviews and integrates the classical theories of communication, combines the particularity of social media, and puts forward the unique path of social media public opinion formation. The communication efficiency, communication power and guidance power of social media information are the core factors affecting the formation of public opinion. Through the combined effect of multiple factors such as algorithm recommendation, user participation and interaction, and content dissemination, social media platforms have formed a highly personalized information dissemination ecology. The study further explores how the algorithms of social media platforms push information according to user preferences, thus strengthening the transmission and guidance of information, but also exacerbating the phenomenon of information bubbles, echo chamber effects and information polarization, resulting in limited diversity of public opinion. In addition, this paper provides an in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by social media in the process of public opinion formation, including information overload, the spread of false information, platform manipulation and algorithm bias. Information overload makes it difficult for users to digest all the information in a limited time, and the spread of false information not only affects the objectivity of public opinion, but also may lead to emotional confrontation in society. Platform manipulation and algorithm bias may shape the public attention of a specific issue through the push mechanism, and further manipulate the direction of public opinion. In order to cope with these challenges, this paper proposes a measurement system of social media public opinion communication, which makes a quantitative analysis based on the dimensions of communication efficiency, communication power and guidance power, and discusses how to establish a more transparent and fair public opinion evaluation standard. Through case analysis, the research shows the diversity and complexity of social media public opinion in different countries and cultural backgrounds, and puts forward corresponding management and coping strategies. In the context of digital transformation, this study also explores how emerging technologies, such as big data, artificial intelligence and sentiment analysis tools, can contribute to the scientific management of public opinion communication, and predicts new trends in future social media public opinion research. Research shows that digital transformation not only changes the speed and scale of information transmission, but also gives public opinion communication more dynamic and complex. As an important front for public opinion guidance, social media needs to pay more attention to its social responsibility and ethical norms in the future to ensure the fairness and diversity of information dissemination.