The Intrinsic Mechanism and Enhancement Pathways of Online Social Science Popularization Effectiveness

In recent years, social philosophy has emphasized that the popularization of social sciences is a crucial means to enhance citizens’ social scientific literacy and ideological-moral standards, promoting comprehensive individual development and the progress of social civilization. As an important channel for such efforts, online social science dissemination plays a significant role in advancing its reach. However, the current effectiveness of online dissemination still faces numerous challenges. Therefore, this study analyzes the weight of factors influencing online social science popularization based on questionnaire data and identified issues. Furthermore, drawing on DeFleur’s Interactive Process Model, a closed-loop framework is constructed, encompassing subject encoding, channel communication, audience decoding, and feedback regulation. This model reveals the interaction among subject control, channel algorithm optimization, and audience demand responsiveness. Based on the findings, solutions are proposed through three pathways: internal dynamics, external dynamics, and feedback regulation mechanisms. These include expanding the scope of popularization subjects via policy incentives, enabling targeted content delivery through technological empowerment, and establishing digital feedback mechanisms. The study aims to provide decision-making support for governments in optimizing resource allocation for social science popularization and setting technical standards for online dissemination, thereby contributing to rural revitalization and the improvement of citizens’ scientific literacy.