Ten Thoughts on the Internet

1 The internet is not virtual. Every voice on the internet has a basis in reality and reflects a real need.

2 The strength of an opinion on the internet is determined by how much time the internet users who represent that opinion spend online. Every view, like, and comment from those users adds momentum to it.

3 Because different groups in society spend different amounts of time online, online opinion cannot fully reflect public opinion across society. For example, opinions representing people who are not engaged in paid work, such as students, and the petty bourgeoisie will have a greater presence online than they do in real life. Ordinary workers, by contrast, work such long hours that their online voice will be smaller than their actual voice in society—though it will still be enormous.

4 The division of labor in contemporary society produces differences in people’s ideologies, ways of thinking, habits, and interests. When these differences appear online, they take the form of arguments and antagonism. Since these people would never spend time together in real life, their online antagonism seems all the more intense.

5 As long as the division of labor in real life remains intact, there will be no true mutual understanding between people, and online antagonism will persist.

6 Internet media cannot produce content entirely according to their own wishes. To survive, they must meet certain needs. They must either produce the content internet users want or put forward the views those users want to hear—in other words, serve as representatives of some users’ opinions, gain their support, and thereby attract traffic and earn revenue.

7 The diversity of real-world interests and ideologies has produced two results. First, arguments on public platforms never cease, gradually encouraging those platforms to develop differentiated recommendation systems and creating so-called “information barriers.” Second, an increasing variety of private-audience platforms has emerged. Public platforms include Weibo, Douyin, Zhihu, and Xiaohongshu; private-audience platforms include WeChat official accounts, Knowledge Planet, and WeChat groups. However, public and private are relative concepts that exist in different degrees. For example, although both are private-audience platforms, WeChat official accounts have a stronger public character than Knowledge Planet.

8 As long as the social formation itself remains unchanged, the current trend is for antagonism on public platforms to continue and information barriers to grow stronger, while private-audience platforms develop even more rapidly. This trend corresponds to the social reality of an increasingly specialized division of labor and diverse ideologies.

9 For most people, the approach that serves their interests is to discuss less on public platforms—or only join discussions where the prevailing tide is on their side—and find private-audience accounts that represent their interests. This allows them to get the most convenience from the internet while reducing the effort they spend thinking things through. In practice, this is what most people do.

10 Social science researchers should respect and respond rationally to the various voices on the internet, rather than arrogantly deciding in advance what is right and what is wrong. You may think you are impartially representing “advanced” views, but you too are an individual with interests of your own, representing only one group’s views. The internet reflects society as it exists, so it can help us understand that society better. A fuller understanding of society will, in turn, deepen our understanding of the internet. The internet also contains the seeds of new modes of production for a future society.