Chinese Microblog Use Fell 9% in 2013, Government Says

Updated Jan. 16, 2014 5:22 p.m. ETBEIJING—The number of Chinese using Twitter TWTR +5.20% Twitter Inc. U.S.: NYSE $63.72 +3.15 +5.20% Jan. 17, 2014 12:10 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 16.26M P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $33.63 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $267,231 01/15/14 Nestor: The New Tweeter 01/12/14 What’s the Deal 01/09/14 Twitter Downgrades Defy Wall S… More quote details and news » TWTR in Your Value Your Change Short position -like microblogs fell 9% in 2013 from 2012, according to a new government report, which comes amid a recent crackdown by the government on the platforms and also reflects growing competition from popular mobile-messaging applications.
According to a report released by the government-established China Internet Network Information Center, total users of microblogs in China fell to 280.8 million in 2013 from 308.6 million in 2012, a trend which the center attributed to growing competition from social networks and messaging applications on smartphones.
The government has renewed a campaign to crack down on microblogs, which act like a virtual town square for many in China to voice their opinions about a range of issues from official corruption and environmental degradation to sports and pop stars. Beijing has long sought greater control over information distributed by microblogs, known as weibo in Chinese, and mandates that companies operating the sites closely monitor and censor content. Though the report doesn’t bring up the campaign—which has led to the warning and arrest of high-profile commentators and the expansion of criminal laws that make it easier to prosecute people for their online activity—many analysts have warned the crackdown would damp the use of microblogs.
The report doesn’t specify how the data about user numbers were collected or which microblogs the data references. Internet giants Sina Corp. SINA -5.57% Sina Corp. U.S.: Nasdaq $76.09 -4.49 -5.57% Jan. 17, 2014 12:10 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 4.61M P/E Ratio 1511.60 Market Cap $5.38 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $94,877.2 01/07/14 Booming Tech Sector Redraws th… 01/07/14 Alipay, Sina to Launch Online-… 11/16/13 Chinese Balk at Child-Rearing … More quote details and news » SINA in Your Value Your Change Short position and Tencent Holdings Ltd. 0700.HK +3.22% Tencent Holdings Ltd. Hong Kong $529.00 +16.50 +3.22% Jan. 17, 2014 4:01 pm Volume : 6.75M P/E Ratio 51.37 Market Cap $954.33 Billion Dividend Yield 0.19% Rev. per Employee $2,888,150 01/07/14 Alipay, Sina to Launch Online-… 11/13/13 HEARD ON THE STREET: High Pric… 11/04/13 China Buys Its Way Into Silico… More quote details and news » 0700.HK in Your Value Your Change Short position operate China’s two largest microblog services. Sina said in November in its most recent earnings report that daily active users grew 11.2% to 60.2 million in the third quarter from the second. Tencent didn’t release third-quarter figures for its weibo users.
A spokesman for Sina said the numbers in the government report didn’t match the trend Sina reported as part of its most recent earnings filing. He said he wasn’t aware that any organization had been in contact with Sina about collecting statistics on its user base. A Tencent spokesman didn’t respond to a request to comment.
Though it is unclear what the numbers mean for the number of users on the two companies’ microblogs, it is a strong indication that users are continuing to shift from Weibo to social-media platforms used on smartphones. In particular, over the past two years Tencent’s WeChat messaging service has grown quickly in popularity. At the end of September, WeChat boasted 272 million monthly active users, more than double what it had at the same time a year earlier.
Beyond the declines in microblogging, the report said China’s total number of Internet users continued to grow quickly. In 2013, the country added 54 million users, for a total of 618 million users by the end of 2013 from 564 million in 2012. The report also said that 73% of Chinese Internet users were getting online through their mobile phones, with the country’s total number of mobile Internet users rising to 500 million at the end of 2013 from 420 million at the end of 2012.
Write to Paul Mozur at paul.mozur@wsj.com

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