China's Chairman Starts Microblogging

China's leader Hu Jintao recently started microblogging. His microblog on People's Daily's microblogging site gained over 14,000 followers since it was setup yesterday. For comparison, the next most popular microblog on People's Daily has about 2,500 followers.

From a Tom.com article published on Feb 22 (Chinese):

"Yesterday, a new special name appeared on the "People's Microblog" which was launched this month - the country's chairman, Hu Jintao."

"'Person' was marked on 'Hu Jintao's' microblog, showing that this user had been authenticated by People's Daily."

Many Chinese Internet users have been awaiting his first post. He hasn't posted anything yet.

People's Daily's microblog service is not one of the major microblogs in China, and I don't expect it to become one, despite apparently having Hu Jintao on board. The site is slow, awkward to use and People's Daily has relatively little traffic compared to major portals that have launched microblogs, such as Sina. You even have to login to view users' microblogs!

We'll repost translations of his first posts in the comments section. 

About the author

Tait Lawton is an online marketer focused on the Chinese market. He is the founder of Nanjing Marketing Group, a company that provides Chinese-language Internet marketing services to Western clients. Tait has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University of Alberta.
 
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