Why The Rest Of The World Should Sign On To Weibo

Oct 102012
 

China social media site Weibo is attracting a lot of attention from non-Chinese, particularly westerners. And it is well worth while for those interested in the region to pay attention to this window into popular opinion in China.

Ezine Business Insider suggests that westerners would do well to actually join the social networking site and provides what they call ” 7 good reasons for joining”:

1. It’s huge, and will probably get even bigger

2. It’s a window into what people think in China

3. It’s a window into Chinese government censorship

4. Weibo users are ingenious at getting around this censorship

5. The fascinating power of the “human flesh engine”

6. It’s actually really good

7. An English-language version is in the works

These reasons are expanded on below but it is a good point that Weibo and other social media sites have a multi faceted role in the social order. They provide information, reflect and can steer public opinion, affect official decisions and policy, expose corruption and finally and most importantly give a voice to those who would otherwise keep silent.

If  China is to evolve into a democratic, open society peacefully then social media is likely to be the vehicle. The alternatives of revolution or social upheaval are too awful to contemplate.

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“Who Guards The Guards”: Chinese Netizens Step Up To Hold Media To Account

Dec 082011
 

“Who guards the guards” is an old latin proverb about who or what is the overall watchdog in a society. Generally in a free democracy it is the people. A key part of their ability to fulfil that function is knowledge usually obtained through a free and independent media.

But in one party states like China which control a significant portion of the media directly and restrict the remainder via censorship and legal action the media is unable to hold up those institutions to the light.

The role is now falling to the country’s netizens and recently they demonstrated their power with a strong and comprehensive reaction to reporting in the state media about recent violent protests.

The China Digital Times reports that Hundreds of protesters gathered Oct. 26-27 in the streets of Zhili, a township in Huzhou, northern Zhejiang Province, to demand an end to tax hikes and various local “fees.” One such tax includes a “machinery head tax” on factories. Many turned violent, smashing windows and setting fire to cars. Rioters attacked an Audi while it drove by, forcing the driver off the road and leading him to hit ten bystanders. Riot police were called in to quell the protests.

What followed was an excellent example of people stepping up and creating an accurate record of what happened and how state policies were being skewed to the public.

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The Darker Commercial Side Of China’s Microblogging Boom

Oct 122011
 

Millions of people in China have embraced the Twitter like microblogging sites such as Weibo and there has been close  scrutiny of the political censorship and restrictions imposed but little has been reported about the dubious commercial practises that have accompanied the boom.

The political side of microblogging has become more an issue for he Chinese authorities since the Arab spring in which social media played a key role in toppling one party regimes in the middle east.

But there is another aspect of the microblogging scene that has stayed under the radar and that is the marketing campaigns designed to use microblogs to sell products.

A rate card obtained from a chinese tech company offers services including zombie followers, paid tweets and retweets  to make a product look far more popular than it really is says Kane Gao reporting in asian tech catalog Penn Olson.

Chinese blogger Wang Hero revealed the card from an un-named  “microblog marketing company.” There are some very interesting items on the list. Among them are:

  • Create and verify an official microblog account, and add up to 5,000 followers (5000 RMB per company)
  • Add a huge horde of zombie followers (10,000 followers per 200 RMB)
  • Add a small heap of real followers (1,000 followers per 100 RMB)
  • Paid retweets (1,000 retweets per 100 RMB, from different accounts)
  • Retweet to specified microblog users (1,000 target users per 200 RMB)
  • Management of official microblog account, with guaranteed 2 updates posted per day and at least 3,000 new followers per month (3000 RMB per month)
  • Retweet or endorsement by popular microblog users with 100 to 800 thousands of followers (500 RMB per retweet, 550 RMB per endorsed tweet)

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Chinese Authorities Getting Ready To Tighten Control Of Micro-Blogging With New Regulations

Oct 082011
 

The Chinese government appears  ready to take a serious hold of micro-blogging sites using new recently passed regulations.

Authorities in China have been wary of micro-blogging since its inception but even more so following the Arab spring which saw social networks and micro blogs play a key role in toppling autocratic regimes.

New regulations were issued relating to micro-blogging and now it seems they are to be enforced.

The China Digital Times said “Weibo” the Chinese version of Twitter, has become a mighty conduit for sharing information, expressing political views, challenging officialdom and spreading rumours. Efforts to quell those rumours are being seen by some observers as a bid to close an avenue of anonymous digital dissent on the mainland.

It quoted the South China Morning Post which reported the controls may include issuing licenses to those sites that “can effectively eliminate rumours”, Song said. “Just like a supermarket, the food safety watchdog would hardly allow the operation of a supermarket if it regularly sold counterfeit or poisonous food.”

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British Rockband And Vocal Human Rights Activists “Radiohead” Set UP Chinese Microblogging Site

Jul 042011
 

British rock band Radiohead has taken a tentative step into Chinese cyberspace, even though they have been critical of China’s human rights record.

Newsvine, carried a report from wire service, AP, saying “Radiohead recently launched a page on the “weibo” site of leading Chinese Internet portal Sina.com. “Weibo,” which translates as “microblog,” is the Chinese-equivalent of Twitter.

“But the band has only posted a single message on Friday. It says “testing the weibo.”

“Sina.com checks the authenticity of celebrity weibos and has certified the Radiohead weibo as genuine.

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Chinese Politician Caught In Micro-Blogging Sex Scandal

Jun 272011
 

A Chinese politician, without a full grasp on the workings of social media, unwittingly made public online conversations with his mistress and is now in trouble.

The China Digital Times reports    found himself in hot water after using Sina’s Weibo, a microblogging site similar to Twitter, to set up a liaison with a woman believed to be his mistress.

Apparently, Xie — the married head of the Liyang City Sanitation Bureau — did not realize that the messages sent on Weibo were public, but thought it was a private messaging service.

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China’s Sina Corp To Launch English Language Microblog Site But The Censors Will Still Be Watching

Jun 082011
 

China’s Sina Corp will launch an English version of its microblog, Weibo, by the end of the year for overseas users  but the service will still be subject to China’s rigorous censors.

Retuers news agency says “Sina’s Chinese-language Weibo product was launched about two years ago and claims more than 140 million users.”

Technology blog TechWeb reported on Monday that Sina was going to launch an English microblog in the United States in a few months to rival Twitter.

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