Inadequate Interactions and Unbalanced Power Between Scientists and the Public in Chinese Knowledge Sharing Network: Social Network Analysis of the Topic of Genetically Modified Food on Zhihu

Abstract

This study takes the scientific discussion about genetically modified food on Zhihu as an example, using the method of social network analysis to explore the interactions between Chinese scientists and the public online. The findings indicate that both scientists and non-scientists are inclined to interact with users with a similar identity. Cross-group interactions seem to be hard to achieve on Zhihu. Furthermore, compared with non-scientists, scientist users tend to hold significantly stronger digital social capital than non-scientists on Zhihu. It is suggested that the knowledge sharing network has not fully achieved the goal of effectively promoting equally science dialogue in China.