Weibo, tracked by the authorities with our blessing

I am very surprised. Last year Sina Weido was just starting and Tencent Weibo didn’t exist, yet Google was exiting the Chinese market because of disagreements with the Chinese authorities regarding censorship. Furthermore, Americans and Europeans were holding symposiums here and there condemning restrictions to human rights in China, which blocked and are still blocking major social media players such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and others. 2010 was both the year when social media experienced explosive growth in the West, and when China refused to bow to this western “democracy of the instant”. Compounding this was the massive western media campaign presenting Google’s and others’ problems in China as human rights issues.

While the Jasmin revolution in the Arab countries was showing the power of Facebook or Twitter in mobilising crowds and organising resistance, on the other side of the globe, Weibo was spreading like wildfire in China, promoting brands and star bloggers such as the Han Han and Hublot couple. Weibo was dedicated to mass consumerism, and was developping powerfully, while protected from western competition.

And now,  a dazed West discovers a Weibo that is more userfriendly and popular than Twitter or Facebook, and alliances are starting to take place between Weibo and Facebook. Worse, internet media are calling Twitter a copycat of the latest version of Weibo. Unbelievable reversal of fortunes in just one year, which a number of western brands are taking advantage of to penetrate the Chinese market. Yes, I was surprised in 2011 when, around December 20, in the People Daily, the Chinese government announced it was now mandatory to register on with the central government to own a Weibo. In short, the end of a world of innocence and Chinese grumbling about social media.

Virtually no media, even those who had so actively condemned the departure of Google from China, has echoed this incredible information : the Chinese must now send their weibograms under State surveillance. Not a single conference, not one news outlet to expose this news, which is so much more oppressing than the departure of Google. Fighting for human rights is a noble cause, but to ignore something of this importance is irresponsible. Weibo works and facilitates mass consumption, so why should anyone care if its users are monitored ? as long as they buy ? As we say in France, “different era, different values’”.