Man uses Weibo to bring town global fame
Source: Xinhua |
April 22, 2013, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
WHEN he was deputy chief of Bama Yao Autonomous County government, Huang Lei opened a microblog account called Happy Bama at China's Twitter-like Tencent Weibo in August 2011.
He is happy that the account, now with more than 70,000 followers, has drawn legions of tourists from faraway places, including from overseas, to this "town of longevity" in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Bama, about three hours drive from the region's capital city of Nanning, has many local citizens who have led extraordinarily long lives, apparently due to the unique climate, a healthy diet and a peaceful life.
After starting with a public account to help netizens, Huang also opened a personal account. He posted pictures of local cuisine and landscapes.
A policeman from Dezhou, in east China's Shandong Province, contacted Huang after reading his posts. Shortly after that, he and 20 relatives and friends came to Bama on summer vacation. Liu Yan, a visitor from southwest China's Guizhou Province, came to Bama during the National Day holiday in 2012. "Happy Bama brought me here," Liu said.
As the number of followers grow, Huang began to offer more information, including weather information and travel tips, as well as debunking false health claims of some bogus products purported to be from Bama.
"In addition to unique landmarks, a city should also have its own microblog," said Tang Xiaoyun, deputy editor of the education channel of Sina.com.
"This microblog should help outsiders quickly walk into local lives and culture through reading its posts, viewing its pictures and clicking its links," she said.
Aside from Happy Bama's 70,000 followers, and Huang's personal microblog account with the screen name Huang Lei has more than 110,000 followers.
As social media is gaining popularity among the country's 513 million Internet users, "using it could boost officials' governing capacity and help them better meet people's reasonable needs," said Luo Guoan, an expert from the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences.
Huang, who has now been promoted to a higher government position, said Weibo presents an opportunity for relatively underdeveloped areas to get linked to the outside world efficiently and cheaply.
"Microblogs could bring the abundant resources and beautiful scenery of these regions closer to the outside world," Huang said.
He is happy that the account, now with more than 70,000 followers, has drawn legions of tourists from faraway places, including from overseas, to this "town of longevity" in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Bama, about three hours drive from the region's capital city of Nanning, has many local citizens who have led extraordinarily long lives, apparently due to the unique climate, a healthy diet and a peaceful life.
After starting with a public account to help netizens, Huang also opened a personal account. He posted pictures of local cuisine and landscapes.
A policeman from Dezhou, in east China's Shandong Province, contacted Huang after reading his posts. Shortly after that, he and 20 relatives and friends came to Bama on summer vacation. Liu Yan, a visitor from southwest China's Guizhou Province, came to Bama during the National Day holiday in 2012. "Happy Bama brought me here," Liu said.
As the number of followers grow, Huang began to offer more information, including weather information and travel tips, as well as debunking false health claims of some bogus products purported to be from Bama.
"In addition to unique landmarks, a city should also have its own microblog," said Tang Xiaoyun, deputy editor of the education channel of Sina.com.
"This microblog should help outsiders quickly walk into local lives and culture through reading its posts, viewing its pictures and clicking its links," she said.
Aside from Happy Bama's 70,000 followers, and Huang's personal microblog account with the screen name Huang Lei has more than 110,000 followers.
As social media is gaining popularity among the country's 513 million Internet users, "using it could boost officials' governing capacity and help them better meet people's reasonable needs," said Luo Guoan, an expert from the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences.
Huang, who has now been promoted to a higher government position, said Weibo presents an opportunity for relatively underdeveloped areas to get linked to the outside world efficiently and cheaply.
"Microblogs could bring the abundant resources and beautiful scenery of these regions closer to the outside world," Huang said.
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