Microblogging in China The website's layout, API, and mode of use was highly similar to Twitter, which was created earlier in 2006. Fanfou's users increased from 0.3 million to 1 million in the first half of 2009. The users included HP China, the "Southern Weekly", artist Ai Weiwei, writer Lian Yue () and TV commentator Liang Wendao (). Some other weibo services, such as Jiwai, Digu, Zuosa and Tencent's Taotao were launched in 2006-2009. After the July 2009 Ürümqi riots, the CPC government shut down most of the domestic weibo services, including Fanfou and Jiwai. Many popular non China-based microblogging services such as
Sina Weibo monthly active users; 85% of them use Weibo on their mobile; there are over 100 million messages posted by users each day; 70% of Weibo's active users are at university level; 50.10% of Weibo users are male, 49.90% are female; with 90 million followers, actress Xie Na is the number 1 Weibo celebrity. Although the competition in China social media platforms is very fierce, Sina Weibo still comes out and becomes the most popular one. The wider use of mobile technologies in China also increases the popularity of it. After the July 2009 Ürümqi riots, China shut down most of