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 also released a desktop client for Microsoft Windows under the product name of Weibo Desktop. Sina Weibo is available in both simplified and traditional Chinese characters. The site also has versions catering to users from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Weibo is now developing its international edition in English and other languages. On 9 January the company ran a week-long public test of its English edition. Sina Weibo's official iPhone and iPad apps are available in English language. Weilingdi (微领地, literally, "micro fief") is another service bundled with Weibo that is similar to Foursquare, a location-based social networking website based on