Setting Public Agenda on Social Media: Exploring How Nationalism Shape Trending Topics on Chinese Weibo During the 2024 Paris Olympics

Despite the extensive of sport and social media literature examining from foundations, functionality, and influence, one key feature is largely overlooked- trending topic lists on social media. Gathering from the most discussed subjects on social media, trending topic highlights the issues that dominate public attention at any given moment. To explore the most discussed topics during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, this study gathered and analyzed 5,362 trending topics on the leading Chinese social media outlet- Weibo. The findings revealed that nationalism significantly shaped the public discussion: Chinese audiences focused heavily on sports that China is traditionally dominated; Chinese athletes were mentioned more frequently than their counterparts from other countries; and even the most mentioned non-Chinese athletes were typically rivalries competing in these same events. Furthermore, the study also demonstrated that traditional media outlets still hold influence in the digital era, with more than half of the trending topics initiated by them on social media.