3 ms·

Why do authors like to use headlines like "China's version of Twitter" or "China's version of Facebook"? What is wrong with just simply calling it "What is not

Why do authors like to use headlines like "China's version of Twitter" or "China's version of Facebook"? What is wrong with just simply calling it "What is not allowed on Sina Weibo" or "What is not allowed on Chinese microblogs"?

tikhonj 15y ago
You have to write to your audience, and if your audience is primarily American or European, chances are they don't know what "Sina Weibo" is but do understand what "China's version of Twitter" is.
- MengYuanLong 15y ago
  It is possible to write an article targeted toward a particular audience while simultaneously educating them. For example, I think a statement like: "The U.S. House of Representative, a governing body similar to the British House of commons, held a vote..." is preferable to the alternative: "The U.S. version of the British House of Commons held a vote..." Regardless, why not just take it out of the title and throw it in the about section.
- moreorless 15y ago
  I think I will order myself Italy's version of Chow Mein for dinner.
joshuacc 15y ago
Because for most Americans, the names of the services are meaningless. The comparisons convey more information about the story's context. And a generic term like "microblogs," while somewhat better, doesn't capture information about the relative importance of the service.
- moreorless 15y ago
  Mark Zuckerberg's version of MySpace. :)
seanmcdirmid 15y ago
Even China Daily used to call micro-blogging "Twitter" before they were rebuked by government censors. The simple fact is that Weibo is and always has been a clone of Twitter with Chinese characteristics. The government's move to enforce Real IDs will probably basically lock out all foreigners or anyone without Chinese ID numbers (including even citizen overseas Chinese), making Weibo even more obscure outside of China.
- jpalley 15y ago
  While at its inception Weibo was a "twitter clone with Chinese characteristics"; it most certainly is not. IMHO, and in the opinion of everyone I talk to who has access to both, Weibo has created a "Microblog experience" that is fundamentally different (and for many more engaging) than twitter. For example, Weibo has included inline images and videos from the get go - making your weibo stream a cross between twitter and pinterest. They have "badges", "real time chat" and other features found in other SNS applications but adapted to the microblog format. Their iPad app is beautiful - flipboard for the "microblog" format. And so on. If you look at how people use the services, I think you'll find that Weibo users spend more time engaging with the platform than Twitter users. Its an all engrossing source of digital information, content and entertainment. For anyone looking to put a "stream" into their app (which we are working on) its very interesting to explore the experiences and choices of both. They are not the same. Having said that, Twitter has a far more open and accessible API and yes, it goes without saying, its not censored.
  - seanmcdirmid 15y ago
    They've definitely piled on the features for weibo to suit the Chinese audience; most of this innovation is local. The nice thing about Twitter was its simplicity, that you don't have to load pics in the tweets you receive, that the visual design is simple, and you don't have any pointless reputation side games to distract you. Weibo goes and adds those features, I don't think it makes it better than twitter in anyway, although it is definitely different. Couple that with the fact that 140 ideographic Chinese characters is much more information than a 140 phoentic letters (say 1.5, 2 times as much) along with threaded discussions, and weibo begins to look more like full on social networking than just microblogging. The way weibo has bitten into Kaixin and Renren is evidence of that. However, I wouldn't call "Weibo" more than a Twitter clone until they are allowed to compete head-to-head with Twitter by the Chinese government. Weibo is simply Twitter in China because Twitter isn't allowed to exist.

tikhonj 15y ago

You have to write to your audience, and if your audience is primarily American or European, chances are they don't know what "Sina Weibo" is but do understand what "China's version of Twitter" is.

MengYuanLong 15y ago
It is possible to write an article targeted toward a particular audience while simultaneously educating them. For example, I think a statement like: "The U.S. House of Representative, a governing body similar to the British House of commons, held a vote..." is preferable to the alternative: "The U.S. version of the British House of Commons held a vote..." Regardless, why not just take it out of the title and throw it in the about section.
moreorless 15y ago
I think I will order myself Italy's version of Chow Mein for dinner.

joshuacc 15y ago

Because for most Americans, the names of the services are meaningless. The comparisons convey more information about the story's context. And a generic term like "microblogs," while somewhat better, doesn't capture information about the relative importance of the service.

moreorless 15y ago
Mark Zuckerberg's version of MySpace. :)

seanmcdirmid 15y ago

Even China Daily used to call micro-blogging "Twitter" before they were rebuked by government censors. The simple fact is that Weibo is and always has been a clone of Twitter with Chinese characteristics. The government's move to enforce Real IDs will probably basically lock out all foreigners or anyone without Chinese ID numbers (including even citizen overseas Chinese), making Weibo even more obscure outside of China.

jpalley 15y ago
While at its inception Weibo was a "twitter clone with Chinese characteristics"; it most certainly is not. IMHO, and in the opinion of everyone I talk to who has access to both, Weibo has created a "Microblog experience" that is fundamentally different (and for many more engaging) than twitter. For example, Weibo has included inline images and videos from the get go - making your weibo stream a cross between twitter and pinterest. They have "badges", "real time chat" and other features found in other SNS applications but adapted to the microblog format. Their iPad app is beautiful - flipboard for the "microblog" format. And so on. If you look at how people use the services, I think you'll find that Weibo users spend more time engaging with the platform than Twitter users. Its an all engrossing source of digital information, content and entertainment. For anyone looking to put a "stream" into their app (which we are working on) its very interesting to explore the experiences and choices of both. They are not the same. Having said that, Twitter has a far more open and accessible API and yes, it goes without saying, its not censored.
- seanmcdirmid 15y ago
  They've definitely piled on the features for weibo to suit the Chinese audience; most of this innovation is local. The nice thing about Twitter was its simplicity, that you don't have to load pics in the tweets you receive, that the visual design is simple, and you don't have any pointless reputation side games to distract you. Weibo goes and adds those features, I don't think it makes it better than twitter in anyway, although it is definitely different. Couple that with the fact that 140 ideographic Chinese characters is much more information than a 140 phoentic letters (say 1.5, 2 times as much) along with threaded discussions, and weibo begins to look more like full on social networking than just microblogging. The way weibo has bitten into Kaixin and Renren is evidence of that. However, I wouldn't call "Weibo" more than a Twitter clone until they are allowed to compete head-to-head with Twitter by the Chinese government. Weibo is simply Twitter in China because Twitter isn't allowed to exist.