Research on the roles of multiple social media platforms in the evolution of public events

Purpose Social media platforms (SMPs) are pivotal in information dissemination and molding public opinion. Various platforms exhibit differences and characteristics. It is necessary to compare and analyze the roles played by different platforms in the evolution of public events. Design/methodology/approach This study develops a framework to evaluate the role of SMPs at different stages of public events. To calculate some of these indicators, the GPT-AP-TextRank topic model is constructed. The study further analyzes the correlation between indicators at different stages and SMP’s role and compares SMP’s different roles among the four stages. Findings The results reveal significant disparities in the role of different SMPs during public events. Weibo demonstrates notable performance during the outbreak, spread and recession stages of the event, exhibiting a strong influence on public event evolution. Bilibili, Douban, Zhihu and Baidu Tieba show relatively ordinary roles. In addition, compared to the spread stage, SMPs exhibit a stronger ability to influence event redirection in the initial stage, which is different from the original assumption of the study. Practical implications The findings expose the powerful roles of SMPs in event evolution, providing valuable insights for enhancing public event governance. Originality/value This study proposes an evaluation method for SMPs’ role and introduces a novel GPT-AP-TextRank topic generation model for the indicator calculation.