Exclusive analysis of the "front-end real-name system" for all self-media on the Internet: causes and impacts

Recently, the news about the "front desk real-name system" has caused heated discussions on the Internet. Let's take a look at the author's analysis of the "front desk real-name system"~

Recently, Hong Rong, a well-known Weibo influencer, released a message about the "front-stage real-name system" for self-media, which triggered heated discussions among netizens. With the increasing popularity of the Internet and the rapid growth of netizens, the rise of self-media in the media ecology has brought about a series of complex phenomena. In response to the potential risks of false information, cybercrime, cyberbullying, etc., the state has introduced a series of policies to achieve stricter supervision of the Internet environment. Today, the "anonymous" background of social media is gradually fading. When the horn of the "front-stage real-name system" of the Internet is sounded, how should we respond to this policy change? How will it affect our daily lives?

A few days ago, a piece of online news about the "real-name system for self-media front desk" attracted attention from all walks of life. Hong Rong, a well-known Weibo influencer and founder of Hongda Education, said on Weibo: "The real-name system will be implemented for all self-media on the Internet, which means that the real name of the influencer will be displayed on the front page of the first-level page. Fans can know whether the influencer they follow is a man or a woman, and who they are in real life. It is estimated that some influencers will disappear."

He added implementation details in the comment section: "Before the end of October, self-media accounts with 1 million followers will display their real names on the front page; in December, self-media accounts with 500,000 followers will display their real names on the front page; self-media accounts with 100,000 followers will complete identity real-name authentication in the background and display their occupation information on the front page."

Subsequently, the news was confirmed by many well-known influencers including Weibo CEO Wang Gaofei (@来去之间).

In fact, as early as July this year, Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, publicly suggested that all millions of bloggers on various platforms should use their real names. Now, with the further tightening of Internet policies, this initiative seems to be gradually becoming a reality...

However, judging from the areas covered, the scope of the new regulation is limited. According to Hu Xijin, the real-name system for self-media platforms is currently limited to the fields of politics, finance, and entertainment. However, the fields of vlog daily life, food, technology, pets, and beauty will not be affected for the time being. Self-media workers who only focus on daily life and other content do not need to disclose their personal background information and can rest assured.

In addition, from the perspective of the number of fans, Weibo CEO Wang Gaofei (@来去之间) also made a clearer definition of the criteria for the front-end real-name system in the comment section. According to his reply, whether the front-end real-name system is required is considered from the perspective of the "media". Only those with a certain "media influence" will be required to display their real identity on the homepage. In terms of the number of fans of bloggers, the first round will only limit bloggers with 1 million fans, and in the future, the maximum number of fans will be 500,000. Ordinary people will still use the back-end real-name standard.

1. Why do we need to use real-name registration at the front desk?

In his 1959 book "Mass Communication: A Discussion of Its Functions", American communication scholar Wright summarized the "Four Functions Theory". He believes that the functions of mass communication include: environmental monitoring (dissemination of information), interpretation and regulation (guidance of public opinion), socialization function and entertainment function. Compared with traditional media and official media, self-media is a medium that disseminates facts and news in a private, popular, generalized and autonomous way, and also has the above four functions. With the help of the new field of the Internet, the four functions of self-media have their own uniqueness and limitations. Especially in the fields of current affairs, finance, entertainment, etc., its characteristics are more prominent.

1. Topicality and Attention

Whether a piece of content can arouse widespread discussion and then spread depends on the strength of its topicality. Compared with the fields of life, food, cute pets, technology, etc., the "information value" of current affairs news, entertainment information and other content is greater than its "display value", and its main purpose is to convey information to the public. Such social hot spots are related to basic livelihood issues, meet people's daily life needs for information, and are more likely to receive attention and discussion.

According to the "2023 H1 Weibo Hot Search Trend Report" released by Weibo, social hot topics and entertainment hot topics accounted for 70% of all Weibo hot searches in the first half of 2023, while other vertical fields such as technology and food only accounted for 30% of all Weibo hot searches. This also proves the strong "topicity" of news and entertainment.

2. Transmissibility and diffusibility

We-media platforms have endowed users with a new "dual identity". Thanks to the liberal and popular characteristics of the media, the Internet has challenged the high authority of official media, eliminated the one-way communication characteristics of traditional media, and achieved "decentralization". Users are both recipients of information and publishers and disseminators of information, breaking the relatively independent barriers between the two in traditional media. As an "open" platform, the Internet provides people with convenient channels to express their views and exchange ideas through topic diffusion methods such as "likes", "comments", and "forwards". Its social circle structure makes information easier to spread and diffuse. Therefore, this information dissemination model, with its "fast speed" and "wide range" characteristics, provides an opportunity for controversial topics to ferment rapidly in a short period of time.

In this process, self-media big Vs often play the role of "sentinels" by virtue of their huge influence. They can quickly make originally insignificant information public, attracting the attention and participation of a large number of users, just like lighting a "fire" on the vast grassland, making the topic spread and diffuse rapidly, and realizing the key to the transformation of events from "cold" to "hot". The event in which Hong Rong released the "big V front desk real-name system" information is a typical example.

It can be seen from this that the content influence of million-level big Vs in the topical field is extremely huge and should not be underestimated.

3. Authenticity and objectivity of information

As we all know, any information can only be confirmed as news facts after verification. It is impossible to judge the authenticity of information that has not been interviewed and authenticated. It is generally believed that authoritative traditional media can verify the authenticity of information through investigation, visits, and evidence collection. Their content is relatively more reliable, and the source of information can be traced. However, unofficial self-media bloggers do not have the right to "verify", and more often publish and re-disseminate existing news. Therefore, it is impossible to confirm whether the source of information is reliable and whether the information has been verified. Such dissemination is very risky, especially in the fields of current politics, finance, etc. that are related to people's livelihood issues.

At the same time, the autonomy of self-media platforms gives creators more freedom of expression, and their behavior and ethics mainly rely on "self-discipline." In the absence of constraints, there are many self-media that publish information without screening in pursuit of "timeliness." In many typical cases of rumor spreading, it is often found that influential self-media big Vs "add fuel to the flames", causing false information to spread widely and causing adverse social impacts.

In addition, the content published by official media is usually more objective and unified, while well-known Internet celebrities are not bound by so many "rules and regulations". Everyone has different standpoints, experiences, knowledge reserves, and thinking abilities when thinking about problems, showing the characteristics of individuality and diversity. As "opinion leaders" of self-media, when dealing with different events and topics, if celebrities do not have an objective and comprehensive vision, they are more likely to have deviations in their comments, and may have inappropriate standpoints, extreme angles, emotionality, and emotionality over rationality, and thus make inappropriate public opinion guidance on the topic.

4. Pan-entertainment and commercialization

Neil Postman wrote in "Amusing Ourselves to Death" that "the terrible thing about entertainment to death is not the entertainment itself, but the fact that people are gradually losing the ability to think seriously and make rational judgments about social affairs, and that the frivolous cultural environment has cultivated people into rational illiterates who are both ignorant and fearless without knowing it." The entertainment function is one of the subsidiary functions of mass communication. Entertainment news is usually oriented towards relaxation and entertainment. It is worth noting that the speech environment will subtly affect people's rational judgment and thinking habits. Therefore, the content form of topics in the entertainment field and the appropriateness of their appearance should also be controlled. In addition, under the influence of fan economy and fan circle culture, the content in the entertainment field often infringes on the privacy rights of topic figures, thereby causing trouble to their private lives.

Furthermore, the underlying reason for the behavior of "harvesting traffic and attracting attention" is mostly driven by profit. In order to pursue click-through rates, self-media bloggers often exaggerate and fabricate content. Such behavior not only seeks commercial benefits through improper channels, but also occupies social resources and causes harm to the parties involved.

It can be seen that the rise of self-media in the media ecology has brought about a series of complex phenomena, involving multiple aspects such as the topicality of content, dissemination power, information authenticity, and entertainment commercialization. The content in the fields of current affairs, finance, entertainment, etc., due to their "strong" topicality, should be subject to more constraints and regulations.

Looking back at the past, with the increasing popularity of the Internet and the rapid growth of netizens, the state has introduced a series of policies to address potential risks such as false information, cybercrime, and cyberbullying, in order to achieve stricter supervision of Internet users. Today, the clarion call for "front-stage real-name system" for Internet users seems to have been sounded. From back-stage real-name authentication, to the exposure of IP addresses, to the front-stage display of real-name information... the "anonymous" background of social media is gradually fading, and "surfing under a vest" has become history. "Openness and transparency" is the inevitable trend of regulating the network environment.

2. What impact will real-name registration have on the front desk?

So, what impact will this possible change have?

For the million-level self-media bloggers in a specific field, first of all, the front-end real-name policy will help improve the quality of their published content and standardize the accuracy of their content. The self-media real-name system requires self-media practitioners in related fields to show their real identities on the front-end, which will make big Vs more "cautious" when publishing content to a certain extent, thereby improving the credibility of information and reducing the adverse impact of the spread of false information on society. Bloggers will also be supervised by the masses, making them more responsible for their own words and actions, which will help reduce online violence, malicious guidance of public opinion and other behaviors.

Secondly, the front-end real-name system also further regulates the self-media big Vs to implement public opinion supervision, and encourages them to correctly play a social leading role. Public opinion supervision in self-media platforms often mobilizes the netizen audience. By mobilizing the "power of the masses", netizens can quickly collect and organize factual information related to the incident, and promote the deepening of supervision and public opinion. As a supplement to authoritative media, self-media should put itself in the right position and correctly play its influence.

At the same time, the front-end real-name system will also help curb the bad behavior of self-media bloggers in public opinion supervision: including but not limited to: using their influence to make profits, collecting and publishing some unverified negative information, malicious slander; threatening the supervision objects with exposure, blackmailing the parties involved, etc.

For ordinary users, the front-end real-name system provides the public with a "yardstick" to measure the accuracy of information. After the identity information is released, people can use it to judge the reliability and authority of the information, and then respond selectively, which is also another "screening" for the secondary dissemination of information.

For relevant departments, the front-end real-name policy requires self-media platforms to increase their review efforts to ensure that the blogger's real-name information is implemented and displayed correctly. This will undoubtedly increase the management costs of the platform because they need to invest more resources to enforce the policy to ensure that users comply with the regulations. In addition, relevant regulators should implement strong laws and supervision, improve the legal system, crack down on online violence, and impose sanctions on illegal acts such as abusing others' real-name information and infringing on others' private lives to ensure the safety and privacy of self-media workers.

3. Conclusion

In short, with greater influence comes greater responsibility.

In September this year, the Chinese Academy of Sciences issued new regulations stating that academicians cannot publish academic opinions that are not related to their own research fields. This measure standardizes the scientific research and social activities of academicians, reflects people's emphasis on the authority and credibility of information, and further emphasizes the public image and social responsibility of academicians. This is true for academicians and self-media people. Millions of self-media bloggers shoulder huge social responsibilities. Their responsibilities are not only to publish content, but also to assume corresponding social responsibilities and professional ethics, ensure the accuracy and credibility of information, abide by ethical standards, and adhere to the bottom line of the law, so as to promote social progress in a positive way.

The Internet is not a lawless place. Anyone who expresses his or her thoughts, personality or emotions should be responsible for his or her words and deeds.

We still have a long way to go.

Author: Tong Zhi WeChat Official Account: Cultural Industry Review