China falls under the spell of the microblog

In China it has become the not-so-secret community where ideas and information get shared out of the reach of the censors and over jealous authorities. And - taking its lead from the global microblog Twitter - China's Weibo is providing a generation of internet users with access to news and comment about what exactly is going on in every corner of the country.

Weibo is the microblogging service set up in August 2009 by Sina.com following the mainland Chinese government's decision to block Twitter and other social networking sites (such as YouTube and Facebook) in June of last year. The fear was that these sites would be used to stage protests or gather people together to mark the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.

But the move has instead created a stream of similar local services that have in the past six months doubled their audience so that they now boast 103.1 million users combined.

And while the likes of internet providers Tencent, Sohu and Netease have their own microblog services, Weibo is proving by far the most popular, holding down 40 per cent of the market, according to internet trend watchers iResearch. And analysts are now predicting there will 253 million Chinese microblogs by 2013.

The problem for the authorities then is that as well as Chinese citizens, the Chinese media are using the microblogs to find out what is going on in a country that likes to keep a close check on exactly what information is released.

To keep the authorities happy, Sina.com, for example, says it has a team of "thousands'' monitoring content to keep controversies to a minimum. "Content monitoring is a headache,'' one Sina.com editor told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.

If something is deemed touchy, the blogger will be contacted and asked to voluntarily delete the posts. And if that doesn't work, Sina.com removes them.

With China's internet community now standing at some 420 million people, due to simple weight of numbers those stories are still getting out - a recent spate of Jiangxi province villagers protesting against forced eviction is one example that not only got blanket coverage in China, it eventually reached a global audience.

And just as Twitter has its "tweets'' Weibo has its own name for its postings. "Wei" in Putonghua means micro and "bo'' means blog but when put together "weibo'' sounds very similar to the word used for "scarf." And so it has come to pass that to post on Weibo - in 140 characters or less, as on Twitter - is to "knit a scarf."

How they line up ....

Twitter - 175 million registered users; 95 million tweets per day.

Weibo - 50 million accounts; 25 million daily posts.

MS

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

Is Ridley Scott the most macho man in movies?

Ridley Scott: The most macho man in movies?

His cinematic CV is unparalleled. Yet the Alien director is still obsessed with beating his rivals.
Being Gary Lineker: The clean-cut anchorman is this summer's Mr Sport

Being Gary Lineker

The clean-cut anchorman is this summer's Mr Sport...
Gallic gourmets are putting French cuisine back on the culinary map

Gallic gourmets put France back on culinary map

Overdone, out of touch and old-fashioned: French cuisine has never been at a lower ebb...
So Moorish: Mark Hix offers his own take on classic Moroccan dishes

So Moorish: Mark Hix's Moroccan dishes

Why not create a north African-inspired feast to share with your friends?
Sin and the single mother: The history of lone parenthood

Sin and the single mother

Maureen Paton explores the history of lone parenthood.
The outsider: Margaret Howell is British fashion's queen of minimalism

The outsider: Margaret Howell

The designer tells Susannah Frankel why she has never felt part of the fashion industry.
The 50 Best luggage

The 50 Best luggage

From chic cases to compact baggage, pack it all in this summer
For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos in Greece

For men only: A pilgrimage to Mount Athos

On a secluded peninsula in north-east Greece lies an enclave that's way off the tourist map, especially for women...
48 Hours In: Faro

48 Hours In: Faro

More than just the gateway to the Algarve, this city has much to tempt you off the beach.
Here, the coast is always clear: Celebrating sixty years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

60 years of Pembrokeshire's National Park

Mick Webb reveals a land of puffins, tanks and Hollywood blockbusters.
Free Range: Meet the designers of tomorrow

Free Range

Meet the artists of the future
Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?

As scientists at Rothamsted's GM trials plead with activists not to sabotage their work, Michael McCarthy visits the battle field
Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV

Deep in Cameroon's rainforests, poachers are killing primates for food. Evan Williams reports from Yokadouma on a practice that could create a pandemic
Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman

Government urged to take abuse more seriously as London study shows 41 per cent are harassed
Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Jailing of Maori separatists stirs colonial-era resentment

Militant Tuhoe tribe members defiant amid claims race relations had been set back 100 years