Research on the Evolution Logic of Controversial Campus Topics on Social Media: A Case Study of the "King Crab" Catering Incident in 2025

Wen Sun; Yining Wang; Xinyu Yang; Xin Gao

doi:10.70088/9ek44r16

Authors

Wen Sun Qilu Institute of Technology, Jinan, China Author
Yining Wang Qilu Institute of Technology, Jinan, China Author
Xinyu Yang Qilu Institute of Technology, Jinan, China Author
Xin Gao Qilu Institute of Technology, Jinan, China Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.70088/9ek44r16

Keywords:

Controversial Incidents in Universities, Topic Life Cycle, Topic Governance

Abstract

In the era of social media, the evolution of controversial topics triggered by campus incidents has become a crucial issue in global higher education governance. Based on the life cycle theory, this study takes the 2025 "999-Yuan King Crab" incident at Nanjing University as a case, crawls the relevant topic interaction data on the Weibo platform using the Octopus Data Collector, and constructs a sentiment analysis model with Python for text sentiment classification to systematically investigate the evolutionary stages and core characteristics of this controversial topic. The results show that the topic evolution of the incident follows a complete path consisting of four stages: incubation, outbreak, climax, and recession, with distinct characteristics in topic popularity, emotional tendency, and discourse themes at each stage. Meanwhile, due to China's unique social media ecosystem and the high social expectation for the public welfare attribute of universities, the topic has shown localized characteristics such as a short incubation period and a rapid outbreak speed, and the discourse logic follows a progressive path of "factual dissemination, value controversy, and rational reflection." This study verifies the applicability of the life cycle theory in the context of Chinese universities in the digital age, provides theoretical reference and practical experience for universities to carry out stage-based topic governance, and also offers cross-cultural insights for global higher education institutions to handle controversial campus topics.

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