A popular Twitter-like service in China expects to start making ad revenue next year, putting it on track to what might produce a successful business model for microblogging.
The Weibo microblogging service was launched in August 2009 by one of China's leading Internet portal companies, Sina, and has attracted more than 50 million users in just over a year.
The number is still small compared to Twitter, which had 175 million registered users as of September, but the U.S.-based company was launched back in 2006. Twitter has also been seen as slow to make big revenues, and only launched its first advertising model in April.
Sina's success with its microblogging platform comes more than year after Twitter was blocked in China. The ban on that site appears to stem from the Chinese government's attempt to stop the flow of information surrounding an ethnic riot last year.
More: http://www.pcworld.com/article/210902/
The Weibo microblogging service was launched in August 2009 by one of China's leading Internet portal companies, Sina, and has attracted more than 50 million users in just over a year.
The number is still small compared to Twitter, which had 175 million registered users as of September, but the U.S.-based company was launched back in 2006. Twitter has also been seen as slow to make big revenues, and only launched its first advertising model in April.
Sina's success with its microblogging platform comes more than year after Twitter was blocked in China. The ban on that site appears to stem from the Chinese government's attempt to stop the flow of information surrounding an ethnic riot last year.
More: http://www.pcworld.com/article/210902/