The very popular Chinese microblog service, Sina Weibo, is planning to launch an English version to compete with Twitter, which is blocked in China:
Technology blog TechWeb reported on Monday that Sina was going to launch an English microblog in the United States in a few months to rival Twitter.
Access to Twitter from within China is blocked by the Chinese government.
Sina’s spokesman Liu Qi said an English microblog was in the works but its release was not catered to a particular market.
“We won’t be launching it in one particular market, the idea is to have the English version to cater to our many overseas users,” Liu told Reuters, adding that more than 10 percent of Weibo’s users are based overseas.
The English version will launch by the end of the year and will be subject to Chinese regulations, Liu said.
