Thaindian News

Beijing, April 12 (IANS) Over 70 percent of web users in China feel their growing interest in politics was thanks to microblogging, reveals a survey.

A Global Times survey showed that 71 percent of Chinese web users have attributed their growing interest in politics to microblogging, but over half of them were unhappy over the lack of interaction on government blogs.

Microblogging gained momentum in China in 2010 with President Hu Jintao registering his own microblog in February that year.

The poll was conducted from March 25 to April 5 during which 1,285 people were surveyed.

As many as 59.3 percent of the respondents said they became more inclined to express their political views on microblogs.

Regarding favourite topics, 36.6 percent cited social news, followed by 23.1 percent choosing politics and 19.6 percent going for daily-life subjects like fashion and health.

Global Times reported Tuesday that the poll also showed that male bloggers voice their political opinions more often than their female counterparts. Also, middle-aged web users were most active on political topics.

Microblogging site provider, sina.com.cn, said there are over 1,300 government blogs on its servers. Of them, 692 are for public security services, 216 are operated by government bodies and 426 belong to politicians, the media report said.

The poll showed that 72.1 percent of the respondents were in favour of politicians opening microblogs, while 65.6 percent complained that current government blogs were merely publicity stunts without timely responses to inquiries.

“If politicians fail to address netizens’ concerns in a timely manner on their blogs, they may lose public trust and may provide fuel for false rumors that could mislead the people,” Liu Xiaoying, a professor, told the Global Times.