This year, weibo, which translates as microblogging, has become a new fascination for netizens on websites like Sina Weibo.

Like Twitter - the world's leading micro-blogging service - Sina Weibo allows users to post short messages, or "tweets", less than 140 Chinese characters long via Internet, SMS or MMS. These can be shared or forwarded immediately by those who follow a blogger's updates.

In early March 2010, Sina's CEO Cao Guowei announced the site had registered 5 million users. Then, in mid-May, he said the "number of registered members has doubled over the past quarter".

Members use microblogging to share photos and stories with friends, follow news agencies, and even keep up-to-date with the latest celebrity gossip by following stars like Faye Wong.