Yunnan announces microblog for information transparency

• Source: Global Times
• [03:14 November 27 2009]
• Comments

Another Internet user was more radical, saying, "Those people who earn high salary do not sincerely care about the major public."

"We have made it a routine to check in the microblogging daily and report and discuss those remarks which we think are important," said Zhao Bo, another official from the department.

About 8,556 Web users have signed up on the blog as of 7 pm Thursday.

"Setting the platform is only the beginning and the more challenging work is how to make it work," added Zhao.

Hu Yong, a communication expert at Peking University, told the Global Times that it's still unclear if the microblog would be effective and if government could respond well to public scrutiny.

He said the blog should include real time news.

"What kind of information the government will publish is also a question," said Zhou Shuguang, a network engineer from Hunan Province.

Dry information, such as officials drafting some documents, might lead to loss of interests and trust on the microblog, Zhou added.

Microblogging, though a fresh thing in recent years, has become increasingly popular, especially among the young. Famous sites such as Twitter boasts over 44 million hits alone in June, the marketing research company comScore said in August.