China’s ‘Twitter’ to Expand

Sina Corp, China’s premier social media company, hopes to expand its offerings from a Twitter-like site to a more integrated Facebook-like outlet, reports the Wall Street Journal.

After earning more than 140 million users in under two years, Sina Corp holds an estimated 87 percent of China’s microblog activity.

Charles Chao, CEO of Sina Corp, hopes to capitalize on this momentum and introduce a new version that would include games, additional applications, and more complex networking services that allow users to more clearly define their online relationships with other users.

The Chinese government blocks the majority of dominant U.S. Internet sites like Facebook, Twitter, and even Google, thereby creating space for domestic Internet companies to compete for market share.

Though Chao recognizes the competition his site will face, he is optimistic about his site’s potential to become for China what Facebook has become for the United States. Sina Corp.’s re-vamped site will allow for “stronger social relationships based on new applications” that enhance “end-user experience.”