Microblogging in China Microblogging in China Weibo (微博) is the Chinese word for "microblog". It refers to mini-blogging services in China, including social chat sites and platform sharing. Weibo uses a format similar to its American counterpart Twitter, but used almost exclusively by Chinese language speakers; this has a direct impact on features such as hashtags on Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo, which both employ a double-hashtag "#HashName#" method, since the lack of spacing between Chinese characters necessitates a closing tag. Internet users can set up real-time information sharing communities individually, and upload and update information in 140 character blocks. A major difference
Sina Weibo might not always be in favor of government officials, many Chinese officials opened Weibo accounts as to give their own version of events. On 16 March 2012, all the Beijing users of Sina Weibo were told to register with their real names. From 31 March 2012, the comment function of Sina Weibo was shut down for three days, along with Tencent QQ. In May 2012, Sina Weibo introduced new restrictions on the content its 300 million users can post. An example of Sina Weibo's censorship and manipulation of discussion or public social activity was the blocking of Foxconn workers' strikes