China bolsters government presence on WeChat

A screen shot of a WeChat TV commercial, which features Argentina football star Lionel Messi. [Screen shot/ Youtube.com]

BEIJING - Chinese government agencies are opening more accounts on WeChat, an instant messaging application, to increase their online presence in a fast-changing age of social networking.

According to a report released on Sunday by the Communication University of China (CUC), there were 3,600 governmental WeChat accounts at the end of 2013, and the number was nearly 6,000 at the end of March 2014.

The report said that governmental WeChat accounts have mushroomed in the past year, as both central ministries and lower-level government agencies have been using WeChat to interact with netizens on public issues.

The country's public security system holds 30.3 percent of total governmental accounts, the largest portion, said the report.

The report listed several cases in which governments are using innovative measures to interact with netizens. For example, police in Shouguang county of Shandong province even issued an order for arrest on WeChat.

However, problems still remain in operation, such as timely information disclosing, and interaction with netizens, the report said.