Sina Weibo

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• Wikipedia

• Twitter-like
• Additional functionality (like Instagram and Foursquare), Enterprise accounts
• Established in 8/09
• API 7/10
• Weibo means Microblog
• One of multiple "Weibos", market leader (3/11 56% Weibo users, 86% browser share)

• Users
  • Celebrities
  • Government Officials
  • Businesses
  • Academic Institutions etc.
  • Verfication program

• Top 100 users have 485m followers
• Top Users
  1. Chen Kun, 72m
  2. Yao Chen, 64m
  3. Amy Cheung, 61m
  4. Guo Degang, 58m
  5. Zhao Wei, 55m

• Numbers
  • 2014 IPO in US (Alibaba also has ownership stake)
  • Growth slowing (user numbers about half of Twitter)
  • Revenue 2013 $188m, tripling year before
  • Profit, lost $38m in 2013, but last 1/4 $44 profit

• Marketers
  • Starbucks
  • Nike
  • Adidas
  • Burberry
  • Lenova

• Censorship
  • Sina lost web licenses in 2014 re "Cleaning the Web 2014 Campaign"
  • Users migrate to WeChat due to Censorship
  • If something is reposted 500 times, seen by more than 5k users, scrutiny (rumor mongering)
  • Blocking of Foxconn worker's strike 10/12
  • Real names for Beijing users
  • Accounts tied to phone number or China Citizen ID number

• Sina Weibo, ‘China’s Twitter’, rings in 2014 with a record 808,298 posts in just one minute