China’s Weibo stirs to take on Twitter

Weibo.com Logo English (Photo credit: bfishadow)

When will china’s software companies stir from their sleep?  The signs point to Weibo.  What’s a Weibo? I haven’t heard of this Chinese software company until recently.  Out of all the software company in china, it’s no surprise that this company has entered the global market.  So I will simply give you a quick snapshot of this company.

Weibo is basically best described as Twitter that allows Facebook features.  This platform operates exactly like Twitter but here comes the part where its different.  It verifies the account if the user is a celebrity, allows you to insert emoticons, pictures, video and music files in each post.   Then last year it announced and launched an English version, the contents are still controlled by Chinese law.

Follow me on Twitter logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Twitter has made heavy losses for several years now.  With a host of celebrity accounts, it has been a valuable target that Google and Facebook want.  With its recent announcement of promoted tweets and it’s self-service ad unit used by Amazon.  It has tried to generate revenue from its platform.  However, with the recent acquirement of Posterous, it hopes to add a slick digital media sharing interface to its platform.  Why is that?

They are looking over their shoulder at Weibo.  It was reported last year that Twitter had 21 million active monthly users compared to Weibo’s  50 million active monthly users.  Weibo has recently improved their content delivery to iPhones and Ipads by joining forces with Flipboard.  This enables content to be tailored to the user by using information from the users interactions.  However, the most interesting fact is that the Chinese content is now available to users around the world.  Why should or shouldn’t Twitter be worried?

Contributing Articles

• “Weibo: The Chinese Twitter that dwarfs Twitter” by  Jemima Kiss
• “Twitter’s Financial Numbers Leak — And They’re Ugly” by Matt Lynley
• “Twitter’s Promoted Tweets go Mobile” by Christopher Heine
• “Twitter acquires Posterous” at Rueters
• “Flipboard launches in China for iphone, makes Chinese content available worldwide” by Hana Steward-Smith

About Christopher Seeto

A Brand Enhancer in Communications. I fit naturally with technology, curious about science and avid consumer of news to gain insights. You can follow me on Google+ , LinkedIn , Twitter .