Much the same as Twitter, the Weibo microblog allows users to post messages of 140 Chinese characters or less via the Web, SMS or MMS. Microblogging has become an Internet phenomenon since Sina.com started beta testing its microblogging service, Sina Weibo, in August 2009.

In 2011, microblogging showed explosive growth in China. Chinese microblogs now have more than 300 million users and 200 million posts a day, compared with 63.11 million users at the end of 2010.

Thanks to microblogs, the public now has more opportunities to get real-time information and voice their opinion as news occurs. Microblogging became an extremely popular way for netizens to voice their concerns during the Wenzhou train crash and Guo Meimei Red Cross scandal. Microblogging has also lead to the popularity of new patterns of expression on the internet, such as the "snarling style".

2011 has been called "Year of Government Microblogging in China." Data shows that the number of verified government accounts on China's leading microblog service provider, Sina Weibo, reached about 20,000 by the end of October 2011 with more than 10,000 accounts operated by government agencies and nearly 9,000 by individual officials.

"Ping'an Beijing," the Sina Weibo account representing the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, has become China's most influential government microblog in terms of followers and net traffic.

Microblogs are growing into an increasingly vital tool for the government to disseminate information, guide public opinion and interact with the public on equal footing.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao January 6, 2012)

微博是一個(gè)類(lèi)似于“推特”的微博客平臺(tái)，用戶(hù)可以通過(guò)網(wǎng)絡(luò)、短信或彩信發(fā)布消息，每次最多只能發(fā)送140個(gè)字符。自從2009年8月新浪網(wǎng)推出微博服務(wù)內(nèi)測(cè)版以來(lái)，這種網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)已成為一種社會(huì)風(fēng)尚。

微博在2011年進(jìn)入了爆發(fā)式增長(zhǎng)階段。2010年底，中國(guó)微博用戶(hù)數(shù)僅有6311萬(wàn)；而如今，中國(guó)微博用戶(hù)已超過(guò)3億，每日發(fā)布的信息量約為2億條。

現(xiàn)在通過(guò)微博，大眾有了更多的機(jī)會(huì)獲得突發(fā)事件的實(shí)時(shí)信息，并發(fā)出自己的聲音。從溫州動(dòng)車(chē)事故到“郭美美事件”，網(wǎng)民們?cè)谖⒉┥媳磉_(dá)自己對(duì)各種社會(huì)事件的關(guān)注，這已經(jīng)成為一種流行趨勢(shì)。微博還引領(lǐng)了“咆哮體”等各種網(wǎng)絡(luò)流行文體的風(fēng)靡一時(shí)。

2011年同時(shí)也是中國(guó)政務(wù)微博的發(fā)展元年。國(guó)內(nèi)最大的微博服務(wù)商新浪提供的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，截至2011年10月底，通過(guò)新浪微博認(rèn)證的各領(lǐng)域政府機(jī)構(gòu)及官員微博已近2萬(wàn)家，其中政府機(jī)構(gòu)微博超過(guò)1萬(wàn)家，個(gè)人官員微博近9千個(gè)。

北京市公安局在新浪網(wǎng)上的官方微博“平安北京”成為中國(guó)國(guó)內(nèi)最有影響力的政務(wù)機(jī)構(gòu)微博，在粉絲數(shù)及流量等方面都超出同儕。

微博正逐漸成為政府機(jī)構(gòu)進(jìn)行信息公開(kāi)和輿論引導(dǎo)的重要工具，為政府與群眾提供了一個(gè)平等的溝通互動(dòng)平臺(tái)。