Chinese government use of social media: A case of Shanghai Weibo @Shanghaicity

Abstract

Weibo (i.e. microblogs pronounced in Chinese) surging to be the mainstream on the Internet, promotes the governmental progress of social campaigns, emergencies and public affairs. Thousands of Weibo accounts are created by government agencies and officials, and considered as a new-found channel for information dissemination and citizen service. Chinese government's confidence in social media grows beyond everyone's expectation for benefiting from the adoption of Weibo where public opinions emerges in an endless succession. This paper presents and analyzes a case of Shanghai government Weibo account @Shanghaicity on its definition, content design, characteristics, operation system and challenges to draw a tentative conclusion of Weibo management. The result aims to set an example for Chinese government use of social media in the changeable future.