A Study on the Mechanism of Online Platform "Seed-Planting" and Ecological Brand Public Opinion Communication from the Perspective of Online Communication and Social Network Analysis

Abstract

This study investigates the communicative mechanism underlying the online phenomenon known as 'seed-planting'-a strategic, often covert, form of digital brand seeding that initiates and shapes public opinion within social network ecosystems. Drawing on principles of online communication dynamics and structural properties of social networks, we examine how early-stage content dissemination by coordinated actors triggers cascading visibility effects, alters information diffusion pathways, and reconfigures audience perception over time. Through a multi-layered analytical framework, we identify three core operational logics: temporal priming, relational amplification, and semantic anchoring. Empirical analysis reveals that seed-planting efficacy is not determined solely by message volume or source authority, but rather by the strategic positioning of initiators within network brokerage nodes and their alignment with emergent interpretive frames circulating among micro-communities. The findings challenge conventional models of top-down brand communication and propose a new ecological paradigm for understanding brand-related public opinion as an emergent property of networked interaction rather than a static outcome of message design.