From silence to action: how weak-tie discussions facilitated cross-cutting participation on Chinese social media during and after COVID-19

Although the role of cross-cutting exposure in digital media has been extensively researched, the heated online debates surrounding COVID-19 issues in China may have altered the effect of this process. With the data gathered from two-wave surveys in COVID-19 pandemic time and post-pandemic time, this study constructs a moderated mediation model of pro-attitudinal selective exposure, online corrective participation, online cross-cutting discussion, and weak-tie discussion. The results indicate that individuals actively exposed to homogeneous media content during the COVID-19 pandemic were more inclined to participate in online cross-cutting discussions, consequently prompting corrective actions. Moreover, weak ties were found to enhance the mediating effect of online cross-cutting discussions, thereby breaking the silence of the opinion climate during COVID-19 pandemic time. Theoretically, this study provided a comprehensive picture of the underlying mechanism regarding cross-cutting discussion and subsequent participation by comparing two specific periods.