Much the same as Twitter, the Weibo microblog allows users to post messages of 140 Chinese characters or less via the Web, SMS or MMS. Microblogging has become an Internet phenomenon since Sina.com started beta testing its microblogging service, Sina Weibo, in August 2009.

In 2011, microblogging showed explosive growth in China. Chinese microblogs now have more than 300 million users and 200 million posts a day, compared with 63.11 million users at the end of 2010.

Thanks to microblogs, the public now has more opportunities to get real-time information and voice their opinion as news occurs. Microblogging became an extremely popular way for netizens to voice their concerns during the Wenzhou train crash and Guo Meimei Red Cross scandal. Microblogging has also lead to the popularity of new patterns of expression on the internet, such as the "snarling style".

2011 has been called "Year of Government Microblogging in China." Data shows that the number of verified government accounts on China's leading microblog service provider, Sina Weibo, reached about 20,000 by the end of October 2011 with more than 10,000 accounts operated by government agencies and nearly 9,000 by individual officials.

"Ping'an Beijing," the Sina Weibo account representing the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, has become China's most influential government microblog in terms of followers and net traffic.

Microblogs are growing into an increasingly vital tool for the government to disseminate information, guide public opinion and interact with the public on equal footing.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao January 6, 2012)

微博是一個類似于“推特”的微博客平臺，用戶可以通過網絡、短信或彩信發布消息，每次最多只能發送140個字符。自從2009年8月新浪網推出微博服務內測版以來，這種網絡服務已成為一種社會風尚。

微博在2011年進入了爆發式增長階段。2010年底，中國微博用戶數僅有6311萬；而如今，中國微博用戶已超過3億，每日發布的信息量約為2億條。

現在通過微博，大眾有了更多的機會獲得突發事件的實時信息，并發出自己的聲音。從溫州動車事故到“郭美美事件”，網民們在微博上表達自己對各種社會事件的關注，這已經成為一種流行趨勢。微博還引領了“咆哮體”等各種網絡流行文體的風靡一時。

2011年同時也是中國政務微博的發展元年。國內最大的微博服務商新浪提供的數據顯示，截至2011年10月底，通過新浪微博認證的各領域政府機構及官員微博已近2萬家，其中政府機構微博超過1萬家，個人官員微博近9千個。

北京市公安局在新浪網上的官方微博“平安北京”成為中國國內最有影響力的政務機構微博，在粉絲數及流量等方面都超出同儕。

微博正逐漸成為政府機構進行信息公開和輿論引導的重要工具，為政府與群眾提供了一個平等的溝通互動平臺。