Hongcheon County to Monitor Online Public Opinion With AI; Full Launch in November

First Local Government in the Country to Begin Developing an "AI Online Public Opinion Trends Management System"
Analyzes public sentiment across blogs, online communities, social media, and YouTube...10 Keywords Can Be Changed in Real Time
Daily Situation Reports and Initial Response Suggestions...Immediate Email Alerts on Urgent Issues

Hongcheon County in Gangwon Province has begun developing a system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze residents' opinions scattered across online platforms and respond to everyday inconveniences and local issues. The system will provide daily reports on major public sentiment and immediately alert officials when it detects an urgent issue.

A view of Hongcheon County Office. Photo provided by Hongcheon County.

Hongcheon County announced on the 8th that it is developing and testing an "AI Online Public Opinion Trends Management System" and plans to launch it in November following a pilot operation. The county said it is the first local government in the country to pursue the system's development and testing.

The system collects and analyzes posts and responses from public online spaces, including online news outlets, blogs, online communities, YouTube, and Instagram. It is intended to reduce the burden on staff of searching multiple channels one by one and help them identify residents' concerns and everyday inconveniences at an early stage.

The system analyzes 10 key terms selected by the county. If officials change the keywords in real time to reflect emerging issues or topics of interest, they can closely monitor online responses to those topics and how they spread.

The results are compiled into a daily situation report covering major issues, online responses, and trends in how they spread. The report is emailed to senior officials every day at 7 a.m. If the AI classifies posts about disasters or incidents as urgent issues, it immediately emails alerts to senior officials and managers.

Officials can use the web-based system to review the original posts, their sources, how they have spread, and public opinion trends by keyword and topic. They can verify the facts and set response priorities with reference to classifications such as "urgent," "monitoring," and "for reference," as well as initial response suggestions from the AI. Final decisions and responsibility rest with the officials in charge.

The county plans to broaden the scope of analysis to include tourism and local issues, in addition to complaints about everyday inconveniences and responses to policies. Its aim is to connect emerging concerns and minor inconveniences with fact-checking and response reviews by the relevant departments before they spread.

A Hongcheon County official said, "There are limits to staff searching through blogs, online communities, and social media one post at a time. We will monitor responses from multiple channels in one place, summarize major trends and initial response options, and respond more quickly to residents' concerns and local issues."

Hongcheon County Governor Shin Young-jae said, "Listening to residents in a timely manner and quickly resolving their concerns are fundamental responsibilities of public administration. We will also take a broad look at opinions scattered online, identify issues early, and connect them with the necessary responses."

He added, "We will make practical use of AI analysis in the field while ensuring that final decisions and responsibility rest with the officials in charge, and use the pilot operation to refine the system into one that provides tangible benefits."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.