Managing micro blogs

The concern that Western media have expressed about the Beijing municipal government's efforts to advance administration of social networking services (SNS), such as the newly released rules that require users of micro-blogging sites to provide verifiable information about their identity, is largely misleading.

That the share price of Sina Corp, owner of Sina Weibo, the top micro-blogging platform in China, initially fell when the new regulations were announced but then rebounded shortly afterwards, shows that it is important to keep an open mind.

As with other SNS, Sina Weibo offers users great convenience as a communication and information-sharing platform. But keeping up with the booming popularity of SNS and preventing misuse is a new social governance problem.