2010 was the inaugural year of Weibo, and 2011 saw its rise.
According to the latest data from the Public Opinion Monitoring Room of People's Daily Online: the Weibo communication power of Zhejiang's party and government institutions and public servants has become the strongest among all provinces.
The brief finger exercise of 140 characters is opening up a new era of governance where "everyone has a microphone" with its advantage of "second-by-second interaction."
On August 25th, the first national "Government Weibo and Social Management Innovation Summit Forum" jointly organized by Tencent.com and People's Daily Online opened in Hangzhou. "Weibo experts" from all over the country’s party and government institutions and academic circles discussed around the new form of political participation by the masses - "Weibo politics," each expressing their own views.
Weibo politics has become an important channel for political consultation today.
"After experiencing the Guo Meimei incident and the high-speed train accident, Weibo reached a peak. More importantly, Weibo has shown tremendous social focus," frankly stated Wang Yukai, deputy director of the Electronic Government Expert Committee of the National Academy of Governance: "The rise of Weibo has had unprecedented influence on Chinese government management."
With the appearance of this "self-media" known as Weibo, individual netizens' right to free speech has been further strengthened. Political information spreads through real-time, fragmented, and relational chain-like dissemination, producing great social impact, making Weibo the most mainstream channel for political consultation today.
At the conference, the Public Opinion Monitoring Room of People's Daily Online released the "Research Report on Case Studies of Official-Public Interaction on Weibo" and the "Map and Index of Government Weibo." The report shows that currently, there are already 689 party and government institution and public servant Weibos with more than 100,000 followers nationwide. The Weibos of multiple individuals and organizations such as Cai Qi, Minister of the Organization Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee, Zhu Yongxin, Standing Committee Member of the National People's Congress, Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department, and "Micro Chengdu" all have more than one million followers.
These popular government Weibos either engage in candid and pragmatic conversations with the public or provide services in a life-oriented and functional manner, or offer care and local information like close friends.
However, they all share the characteristics of humanization and interactivity, shaping fresh and service-oriented images of government agencies and public servants among netizens.
"Everyone has a microphone" opens a new era of governance.
Since the birth of China's internet media, netizens' political consultations with the government have never stopped. From the "Wenchuan earthquake relief" to "hide-and-seek," from "Zhou Jiugeng" to "Zhou the Tiger," the internet has become an important channel for promoting government work and ensuring smooth expression of public opinion. It has also become an effective window for supervising officials' conduct and implementing government responsibility.
The China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) released the "28th China Internet Development Status Statistical Report" on July 19th, showing that as of the end of June 2011, China's internet user scale reached 485 million. The number of Weibo users increased by a staggering 208.9% from 63.11 million at the end of 2010 to 195 million, becoming the fastest-growing internet application model.
Weibo is increasingly favored by netizens, and under the new network environment, how should government officials and functional departments respond to changes in online public opinion? How can an effective communication mechanism be established to grasp public sentiment trends? These questions fully test the wisdom of governments and officials in governance and reflect the attitude of the ruling party towards the masses.
90% of the cadres in Zhejiang's organizational system have personal Weibos.
Innovative social management is becoming a consensus from the central to local levels, and innovative social management cannot be separated from innovation in virtual society management. Boldly innovative government Weibos can even act as the fulcrum Archimedes spoke of, using the virtual to drive the real, becoming an important weapon for current innovative social management.
In Zhejiang, provincial-level official Cai Qi, who has a million "fans," entered among netizens with a humble and sincere demeanor. Under his leadership, 90% of the cadres in Zhejiang's organizational system now have personal Weibos, with more than 3,000 cadres owning Weibos, forming a "Zhejiang contingent" on Weibo.
The ID of the Organization Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee is "Zhi Jiang Pioneer," which was opened on February 10, 2011, with 423,997 listeners and 901 broadcasts.
Zhi Jiang Pioneer mainly introduces Zhejiang's organizational work, understands public sentiment, strengthens interaction with netizens, and is mainly a government Weibo. It conveys party and government history and information through live broadcasts, introductions to party history, etc.
Besides Zhi Jiang Pioneer, the Talent Office of the Organization Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee launched the official Weibo account "Zhi Jiang Talent" in March 2011, mainly promoting Zhejiang's talent work with 647 broadcasts and 152,671 listeners.
At the same time, the organizational departments of various cities under Zhejiang Province are named after local characteristics plus "Pioneer," such as the Organization Department of the Hangzhou Municipal Committee being "West Lake Pioneer," the Organization Department of the Ningbo Municipal Committee being "Port City Pioneer," the Organization Department of the Jiaxing Municipal Committee being "Red Boat Pioneer"...
Typical Sample
"July 23" High-Speed Train Accident: Officials and Citizens Collaborate to Real-Time Build a Weibo Rescue Platform
At 20:50 on July 23rd, between Yongjia and Wenzhou South on the Hangshen Line, the D301 high-speed train traveling from Beijing South to Fuzhou collided with the D3115 high-speed train traveling from Hangzhou to Fuzhou South.
Weibo became the center of public opinion dissemination and played a powerful role in mobilizing emergency rescue and searching for relatives.
The active performance of Zhejiang's government Weibo cluster during the rescue, whether in event handling or public opinion influence, attracted attention and affirmation, becoming an important case study for how to use Weibo well in emergencies.
The Zhejiang government Weibo cluster performed actively during the high-speed train accident. Local officials in Zhejiang set off a wave of Weibo rescue efforts on Tencent Weibo, forming a confluence with netizen comments. The National Safety Supervision Bureau also announced in August that it would open an official Weibo account on People's Weibo to increase the speed of information release and promptly disclose details of the accident investigation and handling.
Some officials in Zhejiang also used Weibo to update the progress of the rescue. They, along with ordinary netizens, became an important force in spreading news about the accident, leaving a deep impression on netizens.
After the accident, Cai Qi, the Minister of the Organization Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee, who is active on Weibo, sent out 36 Weibo posts until 2:18 AM on the day of the accident, reporting on Zhejiang's rescue efforts and praising Wenzhou taxi drivers and passengers for volunteering to take guests to hospitals to donate blood.
The aftermath handling of the "July 23" high-speed train collision drew keen attention from netizens across the country.
Regarding the performance of the Ministry of Railways' press conference, there was much discussion online. On July 26th, Wang Zhenyao, who once served as Director of the Disaster Relief Department and Director of the Department of Social Welfare and Charity Promotion under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, followed two posts via Weibo late that night, appealing for "much difficulty in the world, but still love in humanity."
During the high-speed train accident, many netizens posted and obtained information through Weibo. Some netizens pointed out that many party and government institutions remain silent or react slowly when major emergencies occur.
The General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council have issued documents putting forward clearer and more specific requirements for further promoting government openness and information disclosure. The performance of Zhejiang's government Weibo cluster during the high-speed train accident undoubtedly left a bright spot in the accident handling.
The police system joined in the "Weibo anti-child trafficking" campaign, becoming a model of positive interaction between officials and citizens in the Weibo era.
During the Spring Festival of 2011, Professor Yu Jianrong of the Institute of Rural Development of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences initiated the "take photos at will to rescue begging children" activity on Weibo, triggering strong reactions online.
A large number of netizens participated in the "snapshots" activity. Chen Shiqu, Director of the Anti-Trafficking Office of the Ministry of Public Security, opened a Weibo account to support this activity. Thereafter, anti-trafficking departments of public security bureaus in various places, including the Anti-Trafficking Office of the Public Security Department of Jilin Province, dug up clues for anti-trafficking through Weibo, achieving numerous results in anti-trafficking. During this period, official-citizen interaction was particularly active. This incident became a model of positive interaction between officials and citizens in the Weibo era.
The police department accepted clues provided by netizens via Weibo and converted them into offline investigation actions, achieving practical work results. In frequent police-citizen interactions, not only were individual difficulties resolved, but the relationship between the police and the people was also strengthened.
Comprehensively looking at the main Weibo portals, there are more than 200 Weibo accounts named "anti-trafficking." The high enthusiasm of netizens reflects the enormous power of the internet in anti-trafficking. Public security bureaus in various places actively participate, utilizing the Weibo platform to collect anti-trafficking clues.
Not long after the "snapshot" activity was initiated, the Zhongshan Public Security Bureau of Guangdong Province announced on its official Weibo account that the Zhongshan police would immediately cooperate with urban management and civil affairs departments to carry out a city-wide clearance of begging children.
At the same time, the "Weibo anti-child trafficking" attracted the participation of a large number of well-known social figures. They built bridges between the police and the people, providing platforms for ordinary netizens to understand and participate in anti-child trafficking.