Home-grown microblogs are succeeding where Twitter failed

in this country,same people ,such as 于建嵘, a famous political expert ,do believe that weibo is the hope of china ,maybe they believe weibo can change the country and make it better.

微博，what a satire in China！because of the gfw we have only the access to innernet.

In a way I believe that the Chinese government should keep an eye out for weibo. MacKinnon’s statement that microblogs wouldn’t be used by those who wished to start something “truly subversive” wasn’t completely valid. I see these small microblogs capable of starting perhaps “new possibilities of shaping China’s authoritarian regime.” The example given of the woman in Chongqing who “tweeted” that she was raising a banner to support Liu shows that people are already in favor of a more liberalized China; microblogs are merely starting to show that growing desire.
While microblogs aren’t huge actions such as those that occurred in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, I believe that these microblogs can be a spark. Dismissing them as an “experiment” seems unwise for the Chinese government to do; look at how degrading Facebook statuses here in the United States cause people to commit suicide for example. Needless to say, microblogs may in fact be the spark needed to change and liberalize China.

Yes, Yuna Park, suicide by Facebook revelation is a big, big problem in the US. I think there has been a total of about 1 in the years since Facebook has become popular. What about suicide in China--the highest anywhere in the world. Perhaps a more open Internet, a more open society, a people with a more open mind, all might relieve some of the problems associated with suicide. If people were more aware of the problems others face, maybe that could help change things. But under current conditions, the likelihood of this seems remote.

It is just insane to think an America and English -based website can be naturally successful in China.

@zippier
"Innernet". lol

@mostiafe
dude...seriously?
为什么中国不断的被美国小看？为什么Economist的写者不断的骂中国？看看你在写些什么．．．
Putting a knife upright on your chair, and then sitting down and complaining that it hurts...

@Martin de Mars
No, not American and English based, but Democracy and Freedom of Speech based.

I think China's access to Weibo and other microblogging sites is a good thing, despite the censoring and use of officials to track down dissenters. Weibo and other domestic microblogging netwroks allow the people of China to have access to the happening of their nation. More people are becoming aware of things their nation had tried to keep them blind from previously. The fact that word about Lui Xiaobo being the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize got out through microblogs is enough to demonstrate the lack of awareness of the majority of Chinese. As Yuna Park said, microblogs will definitely be a part of liberalizing China. But I don't believe it is exactly the spark. The concept of "universal ideals" supported by Mr. Lui is the original spark. More and more people want democratic policies in China---weibo itself being a censored form of freedom of speech. As Clockfish claims, many people including Chinese political experts believed weibo is a good thing. Perhaps a vehicle of change that will help instead of hurt China.

The introduction of Weibo in China is a good thing although quite restricting most of the time. The government believes that they will be able to keep up with what people are doing according to what they say but in all honesty people will find nicknames for people the government feels should not be talked about such as Liu the nobel prize winner. There will be people smart enough to be somewhat opened minded while still subtle; this way the government cannot delete their comment because it will not use any of the words that lead to automatic deletion. This can hopefully inform alot of the people in China of what is going on in their country and outside as well; they will be exposed to more opinions than simply that of China's current regime. That is a hopeful idea of mine but it will be difficult as China likes to crack down on such freedoms; but hopefully weibo can open some peoples eyes to what is going on around them.

Nice article on this rapidly growing activity...

I think China needs to be a little more open minded about this type of communication. With nearly 1.3 billion people, people are bound to talk about the government or political affairs, so why is the government cracking down on this? I think China should not have to deal with these little issues when they are bigger and more important affairs that the government must pertain to.
If China wants to become a world class leader, China needs to encourage their citizens to further express themselves. Communication is one of the most important characteristics of success in the business world. But how can the Chinese people do so if they are censored about everything? If anything, blogs such as weibo should be encouraged, not suppressed. According to a nationwide survey, 94% of weibo users have said that it has changed their lives. Perhaps this type of blogging could turn nationwide and give China even more opportunities to expand their social networking.

Although China’s eagerness to prevent its citizens from accessing websites such as Twitter and Google, the construction of the Chinese Weibo sites offer Chinese citizens an alternative method to express their opinions. Despite the government censorship of the website, it is better to have Weibo than have nothing at all. I agree with Hu Yong that the use of internet blogs such as Weibo amongst the Chinese population reveals gradual social progress. The mere instance that the news of Liu Xiaobo has spread online even with the government’s attempts to block the news shows the growing knowledge of users and the unexpected rising power of Chinese public as ardent internet users. Although Weibo is advantageous to the government as a device to track the actions of its dissidents, the use of the blog site is still a benefit to the public. In this way, China is able to allow its citizens to experience a democratic right such as freedom of expression to a limited extent. Therefore, the use of Weibo with its strong censorship does not backpedal China’s progress.

Although many Chinese people have found the means to get their opinions out, even on a microblogging site that employs a great deal of censorship, weibo still seems to be something that the Chinese government can largely control. That said, since people are determined to find ways around the censors, and even around the “great firewall” keeping sites like Twitter and Google out, it’s clear that many are still determined to express themselves.

In China, as well as the US and many other countries, it is the younger generation that uses these sites the most. The fact that many people in this younger generation are attempting to find ways to circumvent the censors illustrates their dissatisfaction with the current state of things in China. Because of this, I’m inclined to agree with Mr. Hu, who said that the use of weibo is “…promoting subtle social progress rather than lighting the fuse of a ‘Twivolution’”. Changes as far as the censorship of the internet is concerned, will very likely be gradual ones, but the allowance of a site like weibo in the first place – whether or not it can be easily monitored – shows that change is beginning to take place.

The Chinese are slowly moving from underneath their government. The once strong authoritarian rule seems to be diminishing in the past years. Chinese civilians were once restricted from accessing internet all together, but now have moved towards using tweeter and weibo. The progress here is a positive sign that the non democratic states are slowly losing their way, i.e. North Korea. Wiebo, and other micro-blogging tools will allow the Chinese public to unite together. In the US simply clicking “like” on a facebook status or group can show your support for it. If the Chinese public wants to plan stands against the government it can use these tools to do so. Micro-blogging also allows for a certain safety to the users, the chance of getting caught is slightly diminished. With such advanced technology some may be able to micro-blog from different locations simultaneously, not only placing pressure on the government but also using these new tools to produce something constructive.

I really don't understand the Chinese governments way of thinking. they feel the need to oppress the people and take away their ability to use services like twitter in fear that they may cause an uproar in China. They block out information in order to keep the people ignorant of what goes on. If the government really worked well then they shouldn't have to fear a few angry protesters. If the government was desirable for the people then the overall majority of people wouldn't want to protest. I understand the fear that a small minority can cause others to join in but that doesn't mean they can effect the majority if that small group has the wrong views. The reality though is that if the people of China were to find out what the government really does then they probably wouldn't want that and would want the system to change. It's not right for the government to oppress of what they want.

I just don't understand the obsession with the almost evangelical need to "Liberalizing" china.

Most time you feel you don't understand Chinese and Chinese government, just because you don't know mandarin. Press always has bias about the truth including Economist. Why must Twitter be success in China? Because Twitter is a very very very beautiful software or a very very very excellent company or whatever? Few years ago, a Chinese computer factory failed to be listed in procurement menu by the US government because of the "national security". It is normal when the local government decides what is the best for their people. Don't forget that when you point at the other with one finger, the other three fingers of your own are pointing at yourself. Why don't we just take care about our own politics and show some respect to the others? After all, it's their business.

Funny how when Weibo or Tweeter is mentioned, somehow a discussion of politics comes up. When in fact 99.99+% of tweets and weibo posts have nothing to do with politics or freedom.

This reminds when green mud horse was popular last year, the media here is went crazy on it is a subversive act against the government; where anywhere else it would just immature teenager doing creative stuff to say foul languages.

it's grass mud horse btw, i made a type

It’s not the Chinese Government you should blame, it’s the ones who caused the Riots in Wulumuqi and Lhasa and they sit in the State Department..

interesting...speed will bring big trouble to elephant