Platform Power and Digital Discourse: New Media Communication Strategies and Urban Online Voice in Maritime Silk Road Cities in Fujian, China

This study investigates how Taiwanese Internet users engage in discourse about Fuzhou, Xiamen, and Quanzhou—three historically connected Maritime Silk Road cities in Fujian—across news media, social platforms, and online forums. Drawing on data crawled from 2,962 Taiwan-based digital sources using 217 curated keywords, the study applies a pre-test/post-test design covering the baseline period of September–November 2018 and major event windows from April 2019 to April 2021. Sentiment analysis, descriptive statistics, ANOVA, regression analysis, and cross-platform comparison were used to examine how platform type, content format, posting frequency, and event timing shaped online voice and public sentiment. The findings show that news media generated broad visibility but limited interaction, social media amplified short-term emotional engagement, and forums produced the strongest sustained and participatory discourse. After major events, sentiment shifted from affective expression toward greater neutrality, indicating a process of discursive stabilization. Regional patterns further suggest that Fuzhou was more closely associated with institutional information flows, Xiamen with immediate platform-based engagement, and Quanzhou with grassroots forum discussion. These findings reveal a cross-platform agenda cycle in which institutional media initiate visibility, social platforms intensify affective circulation, and forums sustain deliberative engagement. The study contributes to agenda-setting research by showing how online voice is shaped by platform mechanics, user participation, temporal events, and regional cultural proximity.