The rapid development of communication technology has greatly changed the way of information propagation. While making use of positive public opinion information in online social networks (OSN) to create value, it is necessary to manage and control the propagation of public opinion. Considering the existence of both positive and negative public opinion, we proposed a tripartite evolutionary game model through identifying the relevant stakeholders involved in the public opinion spreading process, discussed the equilibrium conditions of stakeholders’ behavior strategies emphatically and carried out simulation experiments. Then, based on the experimental results, the management strategy and the key intervention points of public opinion spreading were proposed. The result shows that the key to management and control public opinion is realizing the interest balance of all stakeholders. That is, the government should increase the benefits of netizens and media spreading (reporting) positive public opinion, and at the same time strengthen the punishment of them spreading (reporting) negative public opinion. This paper further expands the research of public opinion propagation in OSN, and provides theoretical support and decision-making basis for the management and control of public opinion.

Purpose: In modern society, considering the multi-channel of public opinion information (public opinion) propagation and its strong influence on social development, it is necessary to study its propagation law and discuss the intervention strategy in online social networks (OSN).Design/methodology/approach: First, a conceptual model of double-layer OSN was constructed according to their structural characteristics. Then, a cross-network propagation model of public opinion in double-layer OSN was proposed and discussed its spreading characteristics through numerical simulations. Finally, the control strategy of public opinion, especially the timing and intensity of intervention were discussed.Findings: The results show that the double-layer OSN promotes the propagation of public opinion, and the propagation of public opinion in double-layer OSN has the characteristics of that in two single-layer OSN. Compared with the intervention intensity, the regulator should give the priority to the timing of intervention and try to intervene in the early stage of public opinion propagation.Practical implications: This study may help the regulators to respond to the propagation of public opinion in OSN more actively and reasonably.Originality/value: This research has a deep comprehension of the cross-network propagation rules of public opinion and manages the propagation of public opinion.

Online shopping has become a habit for consumers, who often make purchase decisions based on online reviews. However, the gradual accumulation of reviews has caused an issue associated with information redundancy. Therefore, recommending helpful reviews for consumers has become an urgent problem. Current research on the helpfulness of reviews is mostly at the level of analyzing influencing factors, and few studies have focused on the problem of ranking the helpfulness of reviews. Taking film reviews as the research object, we proposed a SO-ILES TODIM method (a TODIM method based on the intuitive language evaluation set of emotional and ontological features). This method takes into account both semantic indicators (emotional factors and ontological features) and statistical indicators (review length), considers comprehensive information in the review text and has better domain adaptability. First, an intuitive language evaluation set that considers emotional and ontological features was constructed based on statistical rules. Second, a quantitative calculation method that includes an index weight value based on the logit regression model was designed, and it can effectively avoid the subjectivity of the manual assignment method. Finally, based on the degree of membership deviation, the score function and the exact function were designed to realize a ranking of the helpfulness of reviews. Through a case simulation, we show that this method can prioritize reviews that directly evaluate the product. Through a comparative analysis and parameter sensitivity analysis, the stability and scientificity of the SO-ILES TODIM method was demonstrated. This paper broadens the research scope of reviews, enriches the research method of review helpfulness ranking and provides insights for merchants or third-party platforms to manage online reviews.

Under Omni-media environment, Online Social Networks (OSN) have gradually become the most momentous platform for information propagation. Considering the interaction and coexistence of both positive and negative public opinion information (referred to as public opinion), it is of great significance for social development and economic stability to understand the co-evolution process of competitive public opinion and compress the spreading space of negative public opinion. Allowing for this point, this paper constructed a two-stage spreading model of competitive public opinion combing with the actual case of public opinion propagation, analysed the main factors influencing the co-evolution process, such as netizens’ intimacy, network literacy, and so on, and redefined netizens’ state transition probability matrix with the help of Markov process. Then, the effectiveness of the spreading model was verified and the propagation rule of public opinion was discussed in open and closed OSN through simulation experiments. Finally, the intervention strategies were proposed and optimised with the limitation of cost. The results show that the propagation of public opinion mainly depends on netizens’ behaviour with low literacy and presents difference characteristics in two types of OSN. During the intervention process of public opinion propagation, there exists an effective intervention interval and the best intervention strategy varies with the change of network topology. Our research provided a cornerstone for further understanding of the co-evolution process of competitive public opinion and the research conclusions also provided a certain decision-making reference for enterprises, governments and other regulators to reasonably respond to the propagation of public opinion.