John Kennedy

Opinion | Who are the top movers and shakers of Chinese social media?

Under internet celebrities, while the majority on the list are entertainers, Sina's use of a formula instead of follower counts alone presents an interesting mix of top tweeters.

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Who are the top movers and shakers of Chinese social media?

John Kennedy

Published: 12:52pm, 15 Jan 2013Updated: 12:56pm, 27 Aug 2013

Sina Weibo yesterday published a list of its most influential users for 2012, in categories which include internet celebrities, media, education and government.

Former head of Google China and current venture capitalist Kai-Fu Lee tops out the first and all the other categories with a score for the year of 1,322 - calculated with Sina's own "precision" algorithm, which takes into account variables such as the number of original tweets, retweets, comments, the downstream 'influence' of users retweeting those tweets and leaving comments, as well as the ratio of active:inactive followers of the user being evaluated.

For comparison, the 'corporate' list is headed by the account for on/offline photo editor freeware Meitu Xiuxiu, which earned a score of 1,063, equivalent to 19th place in the online celebrity list. Many see Meitu Xiuxiu as China's answer to Instagram.

Back under internet celebrities, the list of 100 comprises 45 actors and singers, 24 TV news, writers and boardroom types, 8 authors, 6 users from the IT and business community, 5 academics, 3 stylists, 2 real estate developers and 2 religious figures, bottomed out by another VC, a lawyer, an astrologist, a doctor and a cartoonist.

For reference, Sina Weibo's top 15 internet celebs of 2012 are:

1. Kai-Fu Lee