In July 2013, the government of Xinyu City, central China's Jiangxi Province, issued several posts via its microblog named "retweet to sell peanuts" after local officials found that peanut farmers in Nan'an Township couldn't sell their harvest. These posts attracted telephone consultation from more than 20 wholesalers, who purchased peanuts totaling around 1,000 tons from local farmers as a result of the posts.

The Communist Youth League of China Committee of northwest China's Gansu Province and the Gansu Youth Development Foundation launched the One Yuan for Anti-Drought donation program in April 2013 via their microblogs, which went on to raise more than 1 million yuan ($165,300) within a few months.

The Supreme People's Court opened its microblog account on Sina Weibo on November 21, 2013, following 13 provincial higher people's courts and more than 120 intermediate people's courts at prefecture level.

As a relatively new practice, posting the trial proceedings of cases with above-average public attention in real-time through courthouse microblogs has been gaining ground.

On August 22, 2013, the Jinan Intermediate People's Court in east China's Shandong Province used its Sina Weibo account to deliver a running account of the trial of Bo Xilai, former Party chief of Chongqing. The number of followers of its microblog page jumped from less than 10,000 the day before the trial to more than 300,000 by 7 p.m. on August 22. This is the first time details of a trial concerning a former senior official have been released real-time to the public. In the past, such high-profile court trials took place behind closed doors, with details being released only after sentencing.

Many experts commented that microblogging Bo's trial opened a new era for China's judicial transparency.

According to statistics from Sina.com, courts in nearly 20 provincial-level regions have dabbled in the "live blogging" of trials. For example, Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court requires every collegiate bench to select at least one high-profile case annually for a live microblog account of the trial every year.

Quantity vs. quality

Despite the explosive growth of government microblogs, not every account is able to play its due role of communicating with the public.

For example, the microblog of the Environmental Protection Bureau of Shaoxing, east China's Zhejiang Province, was accused by its followers of "selectively" releasing air quality information by only forecasting "fine" or "excellent" air.

There are also a large number of "zombie accounts" that haven't published a single post since going online. Some other accounts only issue weather forecasts, tips for daily life or positive comments on the organization's internal affairs.

During the Spring Festival holiday in 2012, Sanya on the southern island province of Hainan, drew attention as rampant price-gouging scandals tainted the beach city's reputation as a winter resort. Following many media organizations' coverage, Internet users also vented their grievances online, some posting personal experiences of being overcharged when shopping or dining in Sanya. However, the Information Office of the Sanya City Government posted a message on its official microblog on Sina Weibo on January 29, 2012, saying that the local government "received no complaints from tourists about food hygiene or being cheated during the week-long Spring Festival holiday, which shows that the tourist market has maintained an excellent order." The post was immediately retweeted more than 18,000 times and attracted more than 14,000 comments, most of which expressed disdain over the government's cover-up efforts.

The torrent of online criticism unleashed by the response eventually forced the office to issue three more posts the next day, updating complaint figures and apologizing for erroneous information earlier. This account has been inactive since then.

"With the rise of social media, government microblogs are charged with the responsibilities of releasing information, responding to public concerns and conducting other forms of interaction with the public," said Han Lixin, Vice Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication of Hebei University.

According to Han, many government departments fail to run useful microblogs due to their failure to understand the influence of microblogging or lacking genuine care about the public's opinion on the government or just an unwillingness to release certain information. He said that the fundamental cause is that some government departments are not committed to providing information to the public.

"Government microblogs should become an interactive platform where the government releases information and people voice their opinions," said Pang Hurui, a media content analyst with the website of People's Daily. He believes that in this new era of Internet development, government microblogs will play an increasingly important role in dealing with emergencies, improving the communication between the government and people and serving as a trial in innovating approaches to governance.

Some local governments have realized the importance of successful microblogging. The Beijing Municipal Government held a meeting on running government microblogs on October 24, 2013, which put forward requirements for its subsidiary departments to issue more posts on the latest policies concerning people's daily life. It's stipulated that these posts should account for at least 60 percent of their total microblog posts.

At the meeting, Fu Hua, a senior official with the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC, said that government microblogs should be updated daily, use simple and up-to-date language and avoid passing the buck when dealing with concerns expressed by netizens.

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