Chinese govt gazette opens microblogging account

BEIJING - The gazettee of the State Council opened its account on China's Twitter-like service Sina Weibo on Saturday, following thousands of government administrations that have showed willingness to engage with the public via social media.

The gazettee Weibo account will be used to publish the country's major policies and guidelines in a timely and accurate manner, according to an advance notice released on the Sina Weibo on Friday.

Its first Weibo messages released on Saturday are a number of government decrees and regulations on waterway management, automobile recall, education, and green food as well as the reshuffle of government officials.

The account was followed by 190,000 fans as of 10 am Saturday on Sina Weibo, which is used by more than 300 million Chinese Internet users.

More Chinese government administrations and agencies have resorted to microblogs to interact with the public, as microblogging services are gaining increasing popularity and influence among the country's 500 million Internet users.

Government administrations and agencies use microblogs to offer information, answer queries, address complaints, and sometimes provide credible responses to rumors.

The number of government microblog accounts registered at Sina Weibo reached 50,947 by the end of September, an increase of more than 6,000 compared with three months ago, according to a Sina Weibo report released in October..

China's government microblogs have entered a stage of stable development and effective operation and become a priority channel for authorities to communicate with the public in case of emergencies, it said.