ONLINE NETWORK SIZE, EFFICACY, AND OPINION EXPRESSION: ASSESSING THE IMPACTS OF INTERNET USE IN

The severe internet censorship implemented in China naturally raises substantial doubt about the potential democratic functions of the internet. This study presents some initial empirical evidence for internet use’s impact on online opinion expression in Mainland China by analyzing three survey datasets collected by the World Internet Project in 2003, 2005, and 2007. Results reveal a positive relationship between internet use and online expression. The positive association is partially mediated by online network size, but not necessarily by internet efficacy. Although government censor-ship has in a measure successfully stifled people’s willingness to speak out, it is argued that the networking function of the internet could still bring incremental changes to the Chinese society through constructing loosely structured networks. The notion of democracy not only speaks to a form of government in which power is held by ordinary people (Dahl, 2000), but implies a civic culture where an active citizenry could be found (Almond & Verba, 1989). Despite the authoritarian government in China, the rapid spread of the internet in the most populous country seems to have gradually bred a universe of alternative discourses to official propaganda with a swelling rank of empowered consti-tuents. Lying at the core of the grassroots empowerment is a relatively less constrainable conduit for expression introduced by new communicatio