As one of the most influential social media platforms in China, Weibo has reached 222 million monthly active users as of September 2015 and trillions of data generated on the platform. Search is one of the most important feature to get useful content on Weibo.
Daily active searches exceeded 200 million by the end of November 2015 on Weibo. Users over 18 years old are the driving force of Weibo search activities and the number of female search users are much more than male ones.
Beijing Weibo search users account for 6%, followed by Guangzhou (4%) and Shanghai (4%). Search users in top 10 cities make up 31% of total search users in China.
Most Weibo searches are conducted on mobile devices. The number of mobile Weibo search users are as much as 6 times of PC search users.
Android system in China’s smartphone market is expected to account for 81.36% and iOS 11.00% in 2015. However, Weibo search users on iOS and Android operating system are almost the same.
Weibo users share, communicate and comment on various information on the platform from celebrities to travel and from news to shows. About 34% searches are related news information and celebrities, 25% searches are related shopping, cosmetics, 3C, education and lifestyle service, and 17% are related TV programs, travel and music.
Weibo is a social platform for sharing information, disseminating and receiving news. Real-time capacity, free expression of views, sociability and individualization are major characteristics. As China’s Twitter, government, celebrities, institutions, companies, executives and others set up Weibo account to communicate with Weibo users and generate public concerns.
Weibo marketing is a marketing way through the platform for businesses and individuals to create values. Weibo marketing involves authentication, effective fans, topic, blogger, open platform, the overall operation and alike. Sina Weibo launched a platform for company marketing with relevant and quality content and engagement campaigns in 2012.
Apart from current marketing ads available on Weibo with geographic, demographic and device targeting options, Weibo projects to launch video advertising. The new advertising will appear in the users’ Weibo news feed and display less than 10 seconds. New video ads will automatically play under Wi-Fi environment.
Also read: China Social Media Users Insights in 2015