Media & govt carry the burden of responsibility

Becoming famous overnight in China is not a dream anymore. When China Daily photo editor Bruno Maestrini learned that a young American wished to be famous in China on the Facebook page "Praying for Dorian", dozens of colleagues jumped to help this little warrior who had been fighting cancer for four years.

We took a group picture on Jan 13 showing our support and put the story on China Daily's front page. We then left a message on his Facebook page, telling him that he would be very famous in China. The BBC website reported the story and used our group photo.

On the same day we took the photo we used our website and all our official accounts on domestic social media to spread Dorian's story. The news soon went viral. More than 3 million readers read our post and reposted it 35,000 times, including the US embassy in China.

The next day we shared on our Facebook page all the reactions to the boy's story and his wish to be famous, including the front page of the newspaper, a screenshot of the Weibo and WeChat pages and some of the messages our Chinese readers left, both on the Praying for Dorian page and on our page. A friend of Dorian's family left a message expressing her gratitude.

On March 10 we sadly lost Dorian. All our social media accounts posted farewell messages and told the story of his bravery, reaching more than 3 million readers.

This was the first time the China Daily newspaper, website and all its social media platforms pulled together to help a little boy fulfill his dying wish.

The harrowing story of another boy, a 3-year-old Syrian who drowned while seeking refuge from conflict last September, also illustrated the power of social media to move people in powerful ways. That story was captured in the shocking image of the boy's body washed ashore on a Turkish beach. It went viral and millions of people forwarded the photo overnight, making it a global focus in a short time.

Reposting messages not only spreads information, but also emotions. The wave of sympathy from online users prompted European authorities to review their refugee policies. This was a striking example of how in the era of new media, an eye-catching post can change events on a worldwide scale.

According to Facebook's latest quarterly report the social media site boasts 1.6 billion users globally. In China, WeChat, the biggest instant messaging service, has 600 million users, which means 90 percent of Chinese netizens are WeChat users.

Generally, netizens join a topic as mere spectators. However, if a specific hashtag is added on social media, each individual can become an independent participant, which allows the public to join the debate on major social issues.

When Nepal was hit by an 8.1-magnitude earthquake last year, some social networking websites quickly added functions for searching for missing people, helping people find their families.

Because social media spread news faster and in a wider range, people are more aware of information. Thus people with similar experiences or ideas can find each other more quickly and come together.

However, social media is a double-edged sword, and if manipulated with ill intent can have a catastrophic impact.

Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have become a major channel for extremist organizations to recruit their members.

Both media and governments need to look closely at how to play an appropriate role on social media.

The writer is deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily.