Diandian Guo, whatsonweibo.com
On April 12, Beijing time 10:12, world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking published his first post on China’s biggest social media platform Sina Weibo in both English and Chinese. In his debut post, Hawking announces his appearance on Weibo, recalls his two previous travels to China, and expresses his wish to continue communication with his “friends in China”.
Hawking’s first Weibo post soon attracted hundreds of thousands of re-posts and comments. ...
For foreign politicians and international celebrities, China and the Chinese public is becoming increasingly relevant. Politicians engage with Chinese social media as a type of public diplomacy, striving for a better public image of the countries they represent. For businessmen, sportsmen and movie figures, Weibo is a new platform for public relations to promote themselves and their businesses to a huge Chinese market. Whether it is for the sake of diplomacy, marketing purposes, or for boosting personal careers – international famous people have found their way to Weibo.
Hawking’s Weibo debut, however, seems to differ from that of his predecessors. The scientist has no specific country to represent, no apparent diplomatic purposes to fulfil, nor any explicit business intentions. As he said in his first post, he would like to share his life and his work with his audience, and learn from them through replies. To what extent Hawking’s Weibo account will actually stimulate intellectual exchanges remains to be seen, but his first steps on Weibo seem promising: China’s netizens have welcomed Hawking with open arms. ...
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