China Crackdown Boosts Mobile Messaging

Even before Beijing's campaign against online rumors accelerated, Sina's popular Weibo microblogging service was losing ground to Tencent's WeChat mobile messaging service.

The WeChat app began as a way for users to chat with each other free on smartphones, but quickly ballooned into a full-scale social network. While Weibo users usually must have a large number of followers to get responses to posts -- which are broadcast publicly -- on WeChat, users can directly chat with groups of friends, or comment on photographs. Despite investor hopes, which have pushed Sina's share price up 40% since April, others question how many people will continue to use Weibo if the crackdown on rumors continues. Though analysts say those on Weibo use the service with widely varying interests and motives, one of Weibo's strongest appeals has been the openness with which it enabled its users to discuss sensitive issues.