Tencent Weibo is a Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 microblogging

Microblogging

Microblogging is a broadcast medium in the form of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregate file size...

 (weibo

Microblogging in China

Weibo is the Chinese word for "microblog". It usually refers to one or all of the China-based microblogging services, or one's account at these services.-Terms:...

) website launched by Tencent

Tencent Holdings Ltd

Tencent Holdings Limited is a publicly owned holding company whose subsidiaries provide Internet and mobile phone value-added services and operate online advertising services in the People's Republic of China. Its headquarters are in Nanshan District, Shenzhen....

 in April, 2010, and is still currently under beta testing. Users may broadcast a message including 140 Chinese characters at most through the web, SMS or smartphone.

Features

Words using in Tencent Weibo comparing to those in Twitter

Tencent Weibo	Chinese	立即收听	收听	听众	广播	n条广播	转播	对话	名单
	Translation	Listen	Listening	Audience / Listeners	Broadcast	n broadcast	Rebroadcast	Talk	List
	English ver.	Follow	Following	Follower(s)	Post	n post(s)	Repost	Reply	List
Twitter Twitter Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...		Follow	Following	Follower(s)	Tweet	n tweet(s)	Retweet	Reply	List

History

Early in 2007, Tencent launched a microblogging-like website Taotao.com. However, due to some operating problems, on January 26, 2010, Tencent announced to shut down and merge the website into the Qzone

Qzone

Qzone is a social networking website, which was created by Tencent in 2005. It permits users to write blogs, keep diaries, send photos, and listen to music. Users can set their Qzone background and select accessories based on their preferences so that every Qzone is customized to the individual...

. Later in March, Qoocu.com (a blog focusing on products of Tencent) released some screenshots of the internal beta test of Tencent Weibo. On April 1, Tencent began its public beta test, people with an invitation code might take part in the test. And on the same day, Tencent released its QQ2010 version Beta3, with the microblogging feature included.