Chinese Microblog Use Fell 9% In 2013, Government Says

By Paul Mozur 

BEIJING--The number of Chinese using Twitter-like microblogs fell 9% in 2013 from 2012, according to a new government report, likely reflecting a recent crackdown by the government on the platforms and growing competition from popular mobile messaging applications.

According to a report released by the government established China Internet Network Information Center, total users of microblogs in China fell to 280.8 million in 2013 from 308.6 million in 2013, a trend which the center attributed to growing competition from social networks and messaging applications on smartphones.

The report comes in the midst of a renewed campaign to crack down on microblogs, which act like a virtual town square for many in China to voice their opinions about a range of issues from government corruption and environmental degradation to sports and pop stars. The government has long sought greater control over information distributed by microblogs, known as weibo in Chinese, and mandates that companies operating the sites closely monitor and censor content.

Though the report doesn't bring up the campaign--which has led to the warning and arrest of high-profile commentators and the expansion of criminal laws that make it easier to prosecute people for their online activity--many analysts have warned the crackdown would dampen the use of microblogs.

The report doesn't specify how the data about user numbers was collected or which microblogs the data references. Internet giants Sina Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. operate China's two largest microblog services. In the third quarter, Sina Corp. said daily active users grew 11.2% to 60.2 million by the end of September from the end of June. Tencent didn't release a figure for its Weibo users in earnings filings for the third quarter.

A spokesman for Sina Corp. said the numbers in the report didn't match statistics from its most recent earnings, adding that no organization had been in contact with them about collecting statistics on their user base. A Tencent spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment.

Though it is unclear what the numbers mean for the number of users on the two companies' microblogs, it is a strong indication that users are continuing to shift from Weibo to social media platforms used on smartphones. In particular, over the past two years Tencent's WeChat messaging service has grown quickly in popularity. At the end of September WeChat boasted 272 million monthly active users, more than double what it had at the same time a year earlier.

Beyond the declines in microblogging, the report said China's total number of Internet users continued to grow quickly. In 2013 the country added 54 million users, rising to a total of 618 million users by the end of 2013 from 564 million in 2012. The report also said that 73% of Chinese Internet users were getting online through their mobile phones, with the country's total number of mobile Internet users rising to 500 million at the end of 2013 from 420 million at the end of 2012.

Write to Paul Mozur at [e-mail]

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