Sina Weibo Helps the Chinese Government to Tweet and Engage

Today, Sina (NASDAQ:SINA) rolled out a Government Edition of its Weibo microblogging platform that will help the Chinese government to get online and ‘tweet’ to its people. It’s a carbon copy of Sina Weibo’s brand-oriented Enterprise Edition that is used as a promotional and social engagement tool by everyone from Lenovo to Burberry.

It was unveiled earlier this afternoon by Sina CEO Charles Chao in a speech at a government-organized event called “Microblogging Serves Society.” An alternative name for that event might have been “Tone it Down or We’ll F*** You Up,” as many observers see this as an attempt by authorities to simultaneously mould Weibo to its ideals, whilst also seeming to be with it and digging Weibo with the kids. Nonetheless, it appears to be a tacit endorsement for microblogging by authorities who ordinarily loath unmediated forms of mass communication. That should assuage the fears of some Sina investors who might have dreaded its smash-hit social network being silenced.

The government Sina Weibo page of the province of Sichuan.

The Sina Weibo Government Edition is now live, after a month in beta. It brings some government departments onto Weibo, to promote their work as well as – in theory – to engage with other Weibo users. One example is the province of Chengdu in central China (pictured above), which now has this special-edition Weibo page replete with features that ordinary people don’t get, such as events listings, tags, and noticeboards. Some government offices have already signed-up to Weibo, and now will be able to upgrade their profiles with this new package.

Sina Weibo – and, to a lesser extent, its Tencent-made counterpart – has been under great scrutiny this year, as it pushed forward the news agenda in the immediate aftermath of the bullet train crash tragedy this summer. The outpouring of frustration and government criticism on the platform left some wondering if Weibo was sustainable in such a tightly locked-down media environment in China.

But now, as government departments get into the swing of tweeting, it looks like they’re having to learn to live with it.

[Source: Sina News transcript of Charles Chao’s speech – in Chinese; via iChinaStock – article in English]