A photograph, a video or up to 140 characters of text – these are the tools of communication available to users of Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging service that commands a large and growing following on the Chinese mainland.
In August of 2009, the popular news and entertainment website Sina.com.cn launched a test version of “Sina Weibo,” becoming one of the first mainland web companies to experiment with a micro-blogging service. According to statistics from the CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center), by the first half of 2011, the number of Weibo users had reached 195 million, and this figure continues to grow.
The explosive development of Weibo has fundamentally changed the way people on the mainland acquire and access information. The service provides a platform for the expression of personal opinions and as such has brought about greater sharing of values and ideas. Weibo has profoundly influenced the way the average Chinese communicates and its effect can be felt at all levels of society.
All There to Share
In comparison to other social networking services such as SNS, BBS and Blog, Weibo offers a more streamlined, live-to-the-minute service and covers a greater range of subject matter. On Weibo, everyone can be a journalist or a whistleblower and is able to make his or her voice heard.
“Up to 140 Chinese characters can be written in any given Weibo post. People can share their latest thoughts or some snippet of information with colleagues and friends,” says Mr. Wang Yanshi, 46, a self-confessed Weibo addict.
On December 1, 2010 a website malfunction occurred and Weibo was unavailable for four hours. Users were predictably frustrated. One daily newspaper, Western China City Daily, subsequently conducted a survey through its own Weibo account on the question, “What did you do in those four hours?” Some answers read, “I couldn’t function normally, life is dull without Weibo,” or “What’s with testing our tolerance levels? For those four hours all I did was keep refreshing the browser window. I can’t live without Weibo,” and “I like to whine about things on Weibo and keep an eye on what my friends or some celebrities are doing. During the breakdown I was just really bored.”
Yao Chen, a popular domestic actress, has a big following on Weibo. She says that she started using Weibo two years ago as a bit of fun and also to keep a diary. She started off by writing the occasional thing about her life and home, and would sometimes open herself up to users with common interests. “But gradually it became more than that. For me it has opened up a new window through which I can see the world. It’s interesting to see how others think and react to different events, and also to see how they feel about my own ideas and values.”
Successful real estate developer Pan Shiyi is another avid Weibo user. This new way of communicating has had a big impact on his lifestyle. “I've made lots of new friends on Weibo,” he says, and points out that the shared opinions of 500,000 or five million people are much more influential than the dictates of a handful of experts or cultural elitists.
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