How Chinese politicians use Sina Weibo, the social networking tool.

摘要

With millions of registered users, Sina Weibo is one of the most popular social networking websites in China and is growing at a tremendous rate. It has made a significant impact on Chinese netizens and Chinese politicians. In this study, we are interested in how Chinese politicians use Sina Weibo. We read and coded the tweets posted by 185 Chinese politicians and 185 randomly selected non-politician Sina Weibo users. In order to analyze a similar time series of tweets, all the collected tweets were updated between February 1, 2014 and the day they created their accounts. Our analysis shows that Chinese politicians engage with Sina Weibo by posting more tweets about information, events, fundraising, online interview, congratulations, and blessings. In comparison to non-politician users, these politicians are also not fully active and use the service less for direct communications with others.