Beijing Subway Launches Weibo Account

I wonder what kind of identification a subway system has to present to Sina in order to pass real-name registration. Whatever is needed, Beijing’s subway system has apparently provided it and officially launched its own weibo account. (I guess we call that a subweibo?)

As of this writing, the account has only been up for a couple hours, so there’s not much there. It has shared an interesting number from yesterday though: across all lines, Beijingers took a total of 5,492,500 trips yesterday. There are also a couple of celebratory posts about the weibo account launch.

The real value of this and other public transit microblog accounts, though, should be in its ability to save people time by conveying any information that might affect passengers on the subway. Prompt posts about line closings, delays, and other incidents could save commuters time. Real-time traffic reports could help people avoid subways at the most congested times and find alternate routes.

But let’s think outside the box for a minute. I think the best use of this weibo account — which already has more than 30,000 followers — might be to do what the Chinese call “ideological work” on Beijing’s passengers. For example, the subway account could post security camera footage to demonstrate how much easier the subway is for everyone when you line up and wait for people to exit the train before stepping on. Perhaps it could post shaming videos or photos of the people who ride the escalators and then come to a complete stop the second they get off, or people who place giant luggage items directly in front of the train doors.

That sort of campaign would be all in the execution; if it’s treated like just another propaganda campaign, it will get ignored. (To Beijing’s long-suffering denizens, most propaganda campaigns sound like the teacher from Charlie Brown cartoons). But if it was done with a sense of humor and a more tongue-in-cheek spirit, it might have a chance of becoming viral — think “Subway fails” — and actually getting through to people. That would be a victory indeed.

[via Sina Tech]