eMarketer: Chinese netizens love using Weibo

Social users interact with brands, they follow popular celebrities and stores

In China, most people access the Internet through mobile devices. The change in China's social media ecosystem is the rapid rise of mobile microblogging services, similar to Twitter. According to a new eMarketer report "China's Mobile Social Platforms: Marketing Opportunities and Challenges", the platforms that are quickly adopted by netizens in China are even surpassing most traditional social networks.

Because mobile social channels are growing so rapidly, they are attracting marketers seeking to engage with young digital audiences through mobile social channels. But the mobile social media phenomenon is still very new, and data on users and usage is relatively scarce—and sometimes contradictory. The composition of users, and even their location, is difficult to define. However, because the audience, while incomplete, is still large, marketers are flocking to mobile social platforms.

Because the Chinese government blocked popular Western social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, local services filled the gap. In China, Qzone, Renren and Kaixin replaced Facebook. Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo replaced Twitter.

Chinese netizens are not averse to the presence of brands on social channels. According to the China Internet Data Center, more than 80% of Sina Weibo users aged over 19 follow brand services, and in 2012, an average Weibo user followed nearly 8 brands.

In addition to following brands directly, Weibo users are also following celebrities, a change that has enabled marketers to no longer be ignored and turn to celebrities and other influencers to connect with a wider audience.

Chinese social media users not only follow brands, they also follow key opinion leaders. They follow each other, and they also care about what their friends say. In fact, social channels are more prevalent than other channels in the purchase cycle in China.