Abstract: With the widespread mobile terminals and the speeding of Internet, short online videos have become an important new media reporting method in the development of media convergence with the advantages of visualization for audience, fragmentation in social contacts and diversity in contents. The development of short online videos has also exerted a tremendous influence over news spreading, which results from the great changes of news spreading practices caused by the spreading feature of online videos and its combination with news spreading's inherent law. Among those reports of COVID-19, in order to meet the information needs of the public, short online videos have revolutionized the reach of public opinion influence, the means and contents of public scrutiny. Under the new media context, the short online videos have played a fundamental role in public opinions. Through good use of short online videos, gradually reforming transmission mechanism and improving the technology, the authority, the folks, the mainstream media and socialized media can realize public opinion resonance, to achieve information disclosure, guidance and supervision of public opinion, humanistic care and popularization of knowledge. 

Key words: new media context, short online videos, public opinions