China's SNS sites emerge as key information source

HONG KONG, Aug. 26 (Yonhap) -- China's domestic social networking services (SNS) have emerged as a major source of information in the country, experts said Friday, suggesting that the Chinese people have more open access to information or news.
Microblogs, called Weibo in Chinese, have become the second-largest information source of public opinion on the Internet in China, Beijing-based Communication University of China said in a report on the Internet Real-time Public Opinion.
Only in about two years after the launch of the first Chinese microblog, they have become the most influential channel of information available in China after the traditional mass media.
Microblogging -- the sending of brief texts, audio files or video to select groups through the Internet -- has been growing rapidly in China, largely thanks to an explosive increase in the number of people using mobile phones with advanced features.
Popular U.S. social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, are banned for Chinese users. Most Chinese users opt for China's own social network service.
Chen Changfeng, a professor at Tsinghua University, said Weibo has helped many Chinese people to build a sense of ownership in the society they belong to.
"Traditional mass media started to pay attention to what has become the hot issue on Weibo. Weibo has often become the starting point of citizen activities," said Chen. "If it is well used, it could help meet the needs of people."
Weibo has grabbed the attention of many Chinese by breaking some big news stories, including ast month's crash of trains on the high-speed railway.