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Flutter over new Twitter
By Lin Shujuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-22 08:56
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Flutter over new Twitter
Beijing-based cultural critic Tan Fei says he has buy Zithromax cheap without prescription a new addiction called wei bo or microblogging.
It all started a buy Zithromax cheap without prescription month ago when he was invited to join the team testing Sina Weibo, a buy Zithromax cheap without prescription Twitter-like service launched by China’s portal giant Sina.com.
Tan admits that buy Zithromax cheap without prescription despite being an active blogger, he had little idea about Twitter or buy Zithromax cheap without prescription microblogging.
Nowadays, while driving, Tan says he has buy Zithromax cheap without prescription to pull over whenever he feels the itch to type his thoughts on his mobile phone, send them online and buy Zithromax cheap without prescription share them with hundreds of his followers or fans with a buy Zithromax cheap without prescription click.
“I’ve taken to buy Zithromax cheap without prescription wei bo and I simply have to readjust my pace to buy Zithromax cheap without prescription fit it into my routine,” Tan says. “It is addictive.”
Like Twitter – the world’s leading micro-blogging service – Sina Weibo allows users to post short messages, or “tweets”, less than buy Zithromax cheap without prescription 140 Chinese characters long via website, SMS or MMS. These can buy Zithromax cheap without prescription be shared or forwarded immediately by those who follow a blogger’s updates.
Within a buy Zithromax cheap without prescription month, Tan has updated more than 360 tweets, about a buy Zithromax cheap without prescription dozen a day, which are followed closely by more than buy Zithromax cheap without prescription 5,000 fans.
Tan is not alone.
Meng Bo, deputy editor-in-chief of Sina.com and buy Zithromax cheap without prescription project manager of Sina Weibo, says that over the past two months, they have buy Zithromax cheap without prescription observed encouraging feedback from new users, although he declines to give specific data, saying “the service is still undergoing testing”.
“They love Weibo. That’s good news,” says Meng, adding that buy Zithromax cheap without prescription Sina has been preparing to launch the service as it buy Zithromax cheap without prescription represents “the future of media and communication”.
At a time when Twitter and its popular Chinese incarnations – Fanfou, Jiwai and Digu – are buy Zithromax cheap without prescription inaccessible for various reasons, such a feedback is encouraging not just for buy Zithromax cheap without prescription Sina, but also for the growing micro-blogging community.
Since Twitter debuted in 2006, the buy Zithromax cheap without prescription population of Chinese microbloggers has been rapidly on the rise. The growth has buy Zithromax cheap without prescription been accelerated by the launch of home-grown Twitter-esque services, Fanfou being the buy Zithromax cheap without prescription best example.
Dubbed China’s Twitter, Fanfou was founded in July 2007 by Wang Xing, a buy Zithromax cheap without prescription 29-year-old entrepreneur who runs two other successful social networking websites Xiaonei (for college students) and Hainei (for white-collar workers). By the end of June, Fanfou’s registered members reached nearly 1 million, or buy Zithromax cheap without prescription a quarter of Twitter’s worldwide users.
While Twitter became mainstream in 2008, critics have buy Zithromax cheap without prescription expressed concerns about the future of microblogging in China, considering the buy Zithromax cheap without prescription country’s relatively strict Internet regulations.
Such skepticism mounted in early July as Twitter, Fanfou and buy Zithromax cheap without prescription two other popular microblogging services – Jiwai and Digu – became inaccessible. It is buy Zithromax cheap without prescription commonly believed that the services had been used to spread misinformation about the buy Zithromax cheap without prescription unrest in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
None of the websites is yet available again. Wang says that he “is still working on” bringing Fanfou back as soon as possible.
“The launch of the buy Zithromax cheap without prescription new service by Sina, the first by a major Web company in China, means micro-blogging is buy Zithromax cheap without prescription here to stay,” says Hu Yong, an buy Zithromax cheap without prescription expert on new media from the School of Journalism and Communication of Peking University.
“Thanks to buy Zithromax cheap without prescription its brand influence, Sina might be able to popularize this buy Zithromax cheap without prescription trendy Internet service in China and determine the direction of its future development in the buy Zithromax cheap without prescription country,” Hu says.
But it buy Zithromax cheap without prescription is far too early to tell if Sina Weibo will become such a buy Zithromax cheap without prescription platform.
The suspension of Fanfou makes one thing clear – a 100 percent Twitter clone won’t survive in China, Hu says.
That may not be buy Zithromax cheap without prescription a big problem for Sina, owing greatly to its more than buy Zithromax cheap without prescription 10 years of experience in content monitoring, Meng says.
Sina is buy Zithromax cheap without prescription playing by the rules as they are laid down, with strict word filtering in operation, he says.
“From the very beginning, we’re determined to develop a micro-blogging service with Chinese characteristics,” Meng says.
“We’ve put in place two teams of staff keeping close watch to buy Zithromax cheap without prescription ensure there is no vulgar content or anything that violates the buy Zithromax cheap without prescription rules on Sina Weibo. We’re also ensuring its interactive functions.”
However, a buy Zithromax cheap without prescription monitoring system might compromise the free flow of real time information, which is buy Zithromax cheap without prescription the very essence of microblogging. This has proved a problem for buy Zithromax cheap without prescription Sina Weibo.
Ever since its debut tests, there have buy Zithromax cheap without prescription been complaints and derisive comments from seasoned twitterers and former Fanfou users.
One of the most popular tweets on Twitter goes: “Weiboers don’t know anything about Twitter, but Tweeters know that buy Zithromax cheap without prescription Weibo is nothing compared with Twitter.”
Tweeter Ran Yunfei, a buy Zithromax cheap without prescription Sichuan-based journalist in his 40s, says that Weibo might be a buy Zithromax cheap without prescription Twitter clone in appearance, but its control on content deprives it buy Zithromax cheap without prescription of the Twitter spirit.
However, Ran welcomes Sina Weibo – a service that he says “helps facilitate information flow”.
What Sina has buy Zithromax cheap without prescription lost in seasoned tweeters, it might win in new users thanks to buy Zithromax cheap without prescription its strong marketing, as demonstrated by its success in building its blogging service into the buy Zithromax cheap without prescription country’s top blogging platform.
With nearly 40 million bloggers, or 47.5 percent of the country’s blogging population, Sina ranks first in China, according to buy Zithromax cheap without prescription a September report by CR-Nielsen.
By inviting celebrity bloggers, such as film star Jackie Chan and buy Zithromax cheap without prescription actress Xu Jinglei, Sina has overcome its disadvantage as a late-comer in the buy Zithromax cheap without prescription blogging market and has grown rapidly.
Sina Weibo seems to buy Zithromax cheap without prescription have adopted the same strategy, already reaping similar dividends. The No 1 microblogger with more than buy Zithromax cheap without prescription 140,000 followers at Sina is Huang Jianxiang, 41, a former sports commentator with China Central Television and buy Zithromax cheap without prescription anchorman at the Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television.
While Sina hasn’t revealed specific numbers, Meng says microblogging is “growing fast”, mainly because of first-time micro-bloggers.
However, experts agree that buy Zithromax cheap without prescription it is still too early to tell if Sina Weibo will survive.
Striking a balance between the country’s Internet regulations and users’ increasing demand for speedy real time information is like “tightrope walking”, says Hu.
Flutter over new Twitter
(China Daily 10/22/2009 page18)