Handout for a presentation (http://www.slideshare.net/minghuiyu/weibo-in-china-weibo-vs-twitter) . Weibo vs. Twitter in terms of functionalists. Comparisons were based on Weibo's and Twitter's official functions as of Sep 2013.

1. In Twitter, it is: In Weibo, it is:
Each entry Tweet Weibo
Republish Retweet
Retweet, not RT
Forward
In Chinese, it is 转发
To avoid confusion and make it simple, I will call individual Tweet/Weibo “entry” and
Retweet/Forward “Republish”.
All features comparisons below are based on official web version of Twitter/Weibo.
Features only available in custom Twitter/Weibo clients are not considered.
Twitter Weibo
Length limit of each entry
(Figure 1)
140 characters 140 characters
But Weibo has more tricks
Republish own entry No
A user cannot Retweet his own
tweet
Yes
Republish an entry
multiple times
No
A user can only retweet a tweet
once.
Yes
Original entry show one
time only
(Figure 2)
Yes
Original tweet appears just once
even it was retweeted by
different users on your following
list.
No
If n users on your following list
forwarded a Weibo, that
original Weibo appears on your
homepage n times.
Republished entry
appears on top
Does republished entry have a
timestamp of when the original
entry was published or when it
was republished?
No.
Timestamp of original entry
published
Even if one of your following
users just retweetted one, the
one doesn’t appear on top of
your homepage.
Yes
Timestamp of republished
moment
Forwarded (original) Weibo is
always bumped up.
Republish credit gives to
(Figure 3)
The first user on your
following list who
republished it
All users on the
republishing path

2. Just leaving comments?
Can you just comment on an
entry? (Figure 4)
No
When a user comment on a
tweet, the comment becomes
this user’s tweet and is available
to this users’ followings
Yes
A user can comment on a Weibo
but not forwarding it
Republish with quotes
(Figure 5)
No
Retweet is exactly the same as
original tweet.
Yes
Users can add own quotes (e.g.:
comments) when forwarding a
Webo.
Republish path
(Figure 6)
Not very clear
Click “Retweeted by …” can
reveal the order of retweeting
Very clear
Forwarding path is clearly
indicated
Text as Image
(Figure 7)
No Yes
Users can write a long Weibo
(up to 10,000 Chinese letters)
and converted it as an image
that will be embedded in Weibo.
Group management
(Figure 8)
Basic
Twitter’s List provides basic
group management features.
But “Lists are used for reading
Tweets only. You cannot send or
direct a Tweet to members of a
list, for only those list members
to see.”
Advanced
Can do all Twitter’s List can do
plus users can publish a Weibo
to specified users only.
Protected Entry Yes No

3. Figure 1
Each Tweet can contain up to 140 characters. The definition of “Character” is explained at
https://dev.twitter.com/docs/counting-characters
Weibo has similar definition but it is more flexible. For example, when you input a URL, no
matter how long the URL is, it will only be counted as 10 characters.Iimage below shows that
when you input http://www.sina.com.cn (22 characters by Twitter’s definition), it is only counted
as 10 in Weibo.it is because Weibo uses short URL and does not count beginning http:// either.
For example, http://www.sina.com.cn is converted to http://t.cn/h5mh9 and t.cn/h5mh9 has 10
characters.
In Twitter, http://www.sina.com.cn is exactly counted as 22 characters.
Similarly, when you input an emotion icon using Weibo’s syntax, for example: [good] for
Thumb Up , it is only counter as 3 characters instead of 6.

4. Figure 2
This Weibo user (A) follows 人民日报 (B) and 红拂丽丽 (C).B’s original Weibo was forwarded
by C. Consequently, on A’s homepage, A will see the original Weibo twice: once from B directly,
once through C’s forwarding.

5. Figure 3:
This Twitter user follows both Gregor Robertson and QI Vancouver, who both retweeted one
tweet from Kevin Quinlan. On this user’s homepage, retweeted credit is given to QI Vancouver
instead of Gregor Robertson because QI Vancouver retweeted this tweet earlier than Gregor
Robertson
In Weibo, however, credit is given to all users who are on the path of Forwarding. For example,
this user (A) follows both “nadiaxiao” (B) and 加西网 (C) but not Gregor Robertson’s Weibo
account 罗品信 Gregor (D). The path of forwarding is C  B. The AT sign gives credit to both B
and C.

6. Figure 4
In Weibo, a user can just leave comments on a Weibo. There is a check box that allows a user to
leave comment and forward his comment to this user’s timeline as well (aka Republishing with
Quotes).

7. Figure 5
Unlike Twitter, Weibo by default allows quoted forward. Users can add own quotes, usually
comments as well, when forwarding a Weibo. The length limit of all quotes (can be from multiple
users) is also 140 Chinese letters.

8. Figure 6
Information below shows that among all my following users, QI Vancouver first retweeted the
original tweet, followed by Gregor Robertson.
In Weibo, it is easier to find forwarding path. Image below clearly indicates the original Weibo
from Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia, was first forwarded by A, then B and
finally by Gregor Robertson.

9. Figure 7
Weibo has a built-in function to allow you publish a long Weibo, or blog (up to 10,000 Chinese
letters). Text will be converted to an image and embedded in Weibo. Summary (first 140 Chinese
letters) and thumbnail will be generated automatically. Screenshot below is the edit interface
when adding a long Weibo.
Screenshot below shows how the long Weibo looks like:

10. Figure 8
Twitter’s group management is through “Lists”.
Weibo has more advanced group management. Like Twitter’s Lists, Weibo’s Group allows you to
create groups freely and add users to groups. You can read Weibo from specified groups only.
Weibo also allows you to publish Weibo to specified groups only. For example, you can publish a
Weibo to your co-workers only.