7 Differences of Twitter and Weibo
When it comes to social networking and the United States, Twitter is a site that enables you to share tidbits of information about your daily life. In China, Weibo is a site that's similar to Twitter and provides many of the same micro-blogging capabilities. Weibo has some of the same features but actually possesses more functionality than its American counterpart.
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Access
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One of the key differences between Twitter and Weibo sites is who can access them. Twitter was created in the United States and is very popular there. It's also available in many other countries and languages. Twitter isn't accessible in China, which created a need for a similar product to be developed. With Weibo, the Chinese can access a product that's similar to Twitter in the Chinese language.
Number of Users
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Another key difference between Twitter and Weibo is the number of users. Weibo has been around only for a short time, but it already has more users than Twitter. As of 2011, Twitter had about 20 million users in the United States, according to a May 2011 article on "Forbes" online. Weibo had about 140 million users at the same time. Weibo has grown quickly and new members are jumping in every day.
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Commenting
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One of the functional differences between Twitter and Weibo is the ability to comment. With Twitter, you can't directly comment on the post of another person. You have the option of re-tweeting the tweet to your friends. With Weibo, you can comment directly on the posts of others, similar to what you can do on Facebook.
Multimedia Content
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Another functional difference between Twitter and Weibo is the use of multimedia content. Twitter doesn't host any multimedia content. You can submit only links to photos, videos or audio clips that are hosted on other sites. With Weibo, you have the option of posting multimedia content directly to your profile.
Censored
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When you post something on Twitter, no one censors what the post says. You have the option of posting anything on your profile. With Weibo, the government of China censors posts. If it doesn't like what you have to say, your account can be suspended or shut down.
Revenue
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Twitter and Weibo also approach revenue generation differently. Twitter uses paid tweets to generate revenue. Weibo uses a broader revenue model that involves multiple sources of income. Weibo uses targeted ads and searches as well as games to generate income, like what Facebook offers in the United States.
Vote
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While using Weibo, you have the option of posting a poll that allows followers to vote. With Twitter, you don't have this option. This is another way that Weibo promotes interaction with followers instead of just broadcasting out information one way as Twitter does.
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