As micro-messaging spreads overseas, the threat of censorship looms in certain parts of the world. Yesterday Plurk, a micro-messaging service that competes with Twitter, discovered that it is being blocked in China. According to Plurk’s lead developer Amir Salihefendic, “We at Plurk still don’t know why we are banned and we did not get any warnings from the Chinese government or have been in contact with them.” But a quick test confirms that the site is not available in China.
Plurk is a micro-messaging site where each message appears on a timeline. It never really caught on in the wake of Twitter, but it does have a core group of loyal follower, and is showing some very early growth. Plurk seems to be hitting a chord in Asia though. It is like the Friendster of micro-messaging services in that regard. The top five countries where Plurk’s traffic comes from, according to Google Trends for Websites, are Indonesia, Taiwan, the Philippines, the U.S., and China, in that order. China is No. 5. Salihefendic says that Plurk has “tens of thousands” of active users inside China and “hundreds of thousands” of unique visitors, “so this is a big issue for us.”
So even if you have never heard of Plurk, it appears that the Chinese authorities have and they don’t like what they see. Is this an isolated incident, or is this what the Chinese government has in store for Twitter as well?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Twitter is next. After all, Twitter is more and more becoming a platform of choice to get the latest news, from the source, faster than most online media.
Unfiltered information that is and THAT is problematic with China government who wants to control the information.
totally…what the hell is CHINESE government thinking????full of shxt? now i am in Sha but cant link to plurk & plurk there anymore…DAMN !!!!
Michi, why you go china? Is plurk paying you something to help them promote their website?
nope, anson, of course not…sigh.
Plurk is good stuff to connect you & friends& other places. It’s quite pity that Chinese government blocked it easily just because it’s too much freedom there, maybe, or due to Taiwan issue like terry or leo wrote (referred to below comments).
Maybe it is because their icon looks like a food dog?
Really possible.
The number of users from China on Twitter has been growing fast recently.
Indeed. It’s been growing a lot recently – how sad.
who’s on Plurk?
I am
This is not all that surprising. As someone who communicates with people in China on a daily basis, it is quite common to see sites be blocked for no apparent reason for varying lengths of time. A few months back, we did a test of over 100 blogs over a few day period and we were blocked from more than just a few of them.
what’s on twitter? http://www.yout...fmvkO5×6Ng
I just wrote about this on my website Plurk Layouts: http://plurklay...k-banned-china/
As a user of Plurk, I can’t imagine how annoying it would be to be banned by it – I think it’s awful that China ban so much… but what I don’t understand is why Plurk was banned before Twitter.
This is ridiculous!
They block Youtube and now Plurk? Oh well…
matt
Twitter probably paid off the Chinese government. What’s the best way to get rid of your competition, other than have their site blocked in the second most populous country on Earth?
Sorry I meant to say first.
I doubt Twitter find Plurk a big enough threat.
I wonder what makes them decide what to block and what not to. Funnily enough an article in which I strongly criticized the Chinese government for the stuff they do to Falun Gong people on my blog is still accessible just fine from China
zuosa is a chinese twitter knockoff that is doing great .. i think no worries there … http://zuosa.com
That’s terrible. Plurk is better than Twitter too.
The internet is what brought the Berlin Wall down. That’s what the authorities are afraid of. They don’t want their people to see how everyone else lives.
plurk is wayy better than twitter.
I didn’t realize that many people used plurk in China. As a far as I could tell, I was the only person writing in English from China–and I didn’t see that many frequent users in Chinese (mostly from Hong Kong and Taiwan).
not hard to see this coming. everyone knows Chinese government is all about controlling its citizens thoughts and words. Tianmen Square, anyone?
There’s a rather large community of Second Life avatars that use Plurk as an alternate means of communication when they can’t get in-world, and this development will not be welcome for Chinese users. Come to think of it, why hasn’t China blocked Second Life? If you can share short text messages with Plurk, you can share a heck of a lot more with SL. Hmmm…
Twitter gets most of its traffic form the USA, so this isn’t really a big deal .Twitter will continue to thrive and is worth $11 billion at least. http://iamned.com/blog/ overhyped recession already over
Well too bad for China …
Never been to China, and you should say nothing…
first of all, taiwan isn’t a country but a Chinese province. don’t take my word for it, the US adminitration and they will tell you so as well. that’s the most sensitive issue. nothing special, just like talking about nine eleven to Americans. you are likely to be banned if you list it as a separate “country”.
for those who crictize the Chinese government for not being “free” or “democratic” surpresses “people’s will”, please think about the population in China. if Chinese are all living like we do in the US, you really think there will be enough resource on earth to support that?
so, come on, just for once, be objective, all right?
and to be reasonable, does a government have to report to YOU? the company isn’t even registered in China to operate, so the government owes you nothing. the white house wouldn’t tell you they had a turkey for dinner last night.
OMG……..
taiwan maybe not a country to China, but it is to some extent, but DEFINITELY NOT one of CHINESE PROVICE. Please wake up,and admit how sad that ppl live in China, i think chinese ppl really deserve to see the truth, and at least have right to choose what they want or not!!!HOW SAD now i live in CHina, damn it!it socks
so pathetic…
if you are so sad, why are you still living there, huh
i doubt you have ever even been to mainland China, buddy.
right, everyone in China is in hell. so all the VCs are so dumb to put themselves in hell rather than living in paradise like silicon valley, lol…
就是沒有腦袋才會被封鎖還高喊萬歲 跟狗計較幹麻呢…
I’d like to say, compare to hell, mainland China should be a little bit better.
See, there are always some people, like this guy, enjoying to find excuses for the gov.
Yesterday, they blocked youtube, today, they block plurk, tomorrow, what next?
Seems that you really enjoyed being ruled as a “屁民”， as the governer Lin said.
R u in mainland now? if not, back here, enjoy this shit hole, enjoy the high price of house. 不要在国外站着说话不腰疼
well i am in china now, no doubt & that’s why i am so MAD! But dude, the pathetic one is you actually (of course i am not CHINESE, fortunately, just work here coz obivously my ability is needed here).it’s not the point, though. i just feel so sad for chinese ppl, and of course, for those ppl live in china now, who should’ve had right to choose & to do something which almost 90% of other coutries have done for their ppl already, somehow maybe your government wants to control everything and lack of confidence of their ppl, which you should be sad abt. Sincerely hope you got my point, LOL!
This Terry Li, either he works for the government or his father does. 还有另一种可能：你妈跟狗做爱不小心生下了你。
plus..if i have offended you then I can apologize..but if you can’t understand why I said this..then it’s really pointless for us to argue here..
if you don’t think freedom of speech is important..how can you attack me right after you read what I wrote? admit it..you enjoy freedom of speech as much as I do. RIGHT? you jumped into conclusion too didn’t you?
i certainly appreciate freedom of speech. there might be mixed concepts here. i am not sure if you can read Chinese, but if you do, you can certainly check the Chinese news portal sites to see how free it is. i can say the same thing that i said before in any website in China and not been blocked. also, if you can read Chinese, you can go to many forums and news portal to find comments with outrage against certain government practice and officials, just like the rest of the “free world”. emiman could sing a song and knocked on doors by FBI while british tv shows can ditch the prime minister however they want. it’s just a matter of tolerance.
back to the population issue. if 5% (which would be a very small percentage) in China is not satisfied with something and let their voice been heard through non controllable ways, that’s 75 million people, as 1/3 of US, around the same as all of Germany, 20% more than UK and France. now imagine the whole UK is mad at you. But in China, it only represent 5% of the voice.
michi, i really would love to share my point of view and experience of China with foreign friends. i signed in with facebook account, you can always add me if you are comfortable to do so.
for the ones replied after michi, i do live in China, am in Shenzhen right now. Futian district, huaqiangbei. and yes i have lived in the US for 8 years and now back here for 3 years already. i love it here way more than anywhere i have been to.
What if Facebook is blocked tomorrow? It’s not registered locally. Will you think the same?
Try googling plurk and you’ll see in the quick links plurk treats Taiwan as a country. I think that’s the reason why it got banned.
Do they really think the Chinese gov is giving them a notice or warning before blocking them? lol
And please dont compare it with “the friendster of the microblogging services”. Friendster is the number 2 social network in most south east asian countries these days. After FB yes.
Well…… I must say this person named “Terry Li” is just crazy or he works for the government. A company isn’t registered in China so the government has right to block it without any notification?
Even Iran will show why it’s blocked.
Yes, everyone have freedom of speech, but can you praise racial discrimination in America? See what people talk about Jackie Chen recently.
不要像成龙一样，生活在自由世界却去奉承专制
i could be crazy, but i’m crazily inspired by the change i see in China’s improvement over the past few years. and as i said before, i work in huaqiangbei, which there is no government agency around. and i don’t really think the american way is THE WAY for everyone. every country faces problems and difficulties. for now, to be able to feed all those mouths is number one objective and China has done just that. I’ve never said it’s perfect. I just think China owes plurk no explanation as to why they are blocked because they are not even a legal entity in China. same would go for if i want to do business in anywhere in the world, i would have to register to operate.
i for one don’t like jackie chen at all because he’s got no virtue.
and in case you didn’t see it, i live in Shenzhen. which in your point of view is also a “dictatorship zone”. but i’m enjoying it.
大陸或許有進步…可是人民還是無腦無法獨立思考 政府已經如此蠻橫了然後人民還捧著LP高喊萬歲 真是匪夷所思
I agree with the improvement that has been happening in China and I never meant to use the democracy standard in USA to judge China’s government….but one thing I would like to remind you, first of all, you were the first to pull Taiwan into this and second of all..just because the govenmernt has the “right” (i still don’t agree no matter what reason there is) to block whatever unregistor website) You still can’t stop people from expressing their feelings..just like I can’t stop you to think Taiwan isn’t a country. It’s sad enough that people in china couldn’t see or hear whatever they wish (for some ppl like yourself, it doesn’t matter maybe), should we at least give them the voice to express their thoughts?
You can live in the place without freedom, it’s your choice, but it doesn’t mean other people need to be like you otherwise they are not objective. In a way, don’t you think you’ve been brain washed a little too much? I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but it was you who didn’t see the real problem. Chinese people are not babies anymore, they can’t be controled like that no more. That’s why there are so many reforms within the communist party and that’s why there are so much improvement these years….
obviously there are wrongs that need to be corrected, and they are now gradually. So, you shouldn’t stop the complaints but to really think what is really good for Chinese people or at least. Give the benefit of the doubt on why people complains.
Come to live in Beijing, and see whether you would still enjoy it!
People in mainland tend to think that what they see in one city is what happens to the whole mainland. That’s not true.
If you want to talk about improvements, than I would say Beijing is 10 years behind Guangzhou or Shenzhen.
I am in china now, and everything is working fine. So I believe this guy just use some kind of dirty method to promote his website…
Terry Li is terrible. Chinese government should cherish you and have more confidence about their people, because you still love the xxxxing country that much, and won’t change your mind even you have been enjoying the freedom of speech & freedom of surfing all websites without being blocked by China government! it’s interesting….
OH i made a mistake that terry actually lives in China. Emm that makes sense then. No wonder.
However you are enjoying the terrible place doesnt mean others felt the same way. I represent “one” of the others, feel this kind of blocking thing SUCKS and shows no respect for “its” people.
I am truly sorry that you describe China as a terrible place even though you’ve never been in it before even for a second. I’m not defending my government, but the land is wonderful. And you really shouldn’t perfunctorily make a conclusion before actually experiencing it.
Sorry Leo i am now in China, and that’s why I named myself..
And i dont mean to be rude, i just want to express myself now as i really hate this kind of policy in China, which makes me isolated from other “world”.
Excuse me? What is wonderful? You meant polluted lands? Oh, I see. Sarcasm.
I’ve experienced the Olympics atmosphere, and I admit that it was the best we can have in Beijing. Then what? It gets worse again.
catchen, I fully understand what you mean, because i am also living in your surrounding..
Beijing? I’m also ashamed of talking about its environment because it really sucks there. In the meanwhile I don’t think your hometown Canton is someway better than Beijing. But you should see other places before referring this whole country as a polluted place.
End of discussion with you unless you get a little bit more comprehensive or come back to the real point, because we were talking about the government, not anything else.
I’d really like to hear Jackie Chan say something about this issue. (For those don’t know, a few days ago, he just said, “Chinese people needs to be managed. Hongkong and Taiwan had too much freedom…”
cause he doesn’t live in mainland China
This clearly proves that the Chinese government prefers nice birds rather than animals with their heads cut off. The Plurk graphic is in need of immediate reconsideration.
LOL
if I’m twitter, plurk or any social network startup I would start twitter.cn and make it a separate, chinese only, public timeline. then let the chinese government monitor it how it wants. at least it gets you access to the chinese population until the day when the censorship stops.
And then twitter.cn secretly banned poisonous words like 自由 or 民主, so people like Terry Li could think that they are as free the outside world?
totally, and they will be very happy. Neat!
Nice method.
Twitter is like a breath of fresh air on the Social Media scene. I have been on it for just a few weeks now and I have met several interesting people. It is a platform to network with people you would like to meet in real life.
http://Spryka.com
It should be noted China does not seem to ban websites on any kind of rational level. That is, unless a website has explicitly within its basic philosophy something the government has a standing case against (falun gong, for example) they won’t necessarily block it. However, if a user on that site posts something that criticizes the government, that warrants it for being in the queue for being banned, which then seems to get put onto a list of sites that are banned and when an agreed upon time passes, that site is unbanned if that information is no longer so accessible. Therefore, they ban on a reactionary and ideological level rather than a purely rational.
Therefore, they’ve got nothing to worry about unless some user starts splurting out random crass things about the government. Then, in a matter of time, they’ll be found and banned. (Most likely.)
And the answer is: yes.
Twitter.com, flickr.com, hotmail.com (and I assume more) are currently blocked from Shanghai, Beijing, and I assume the rest of China… Probably in preparation for the June 4th anniversary of the Tianamen Square protests. Pretty short-sighted for a country that wants to spawn the next silicon valley to hamstring one of the biggest tech business tools around…
Yeah, you’re absolutely right. Twitter has been blocked by GFW June 2nd, yesterday. What to say? What should say? What a sign! What a shit!
who can save me！
Who can save us, do you?
God damn！！
you are only in the us, right?