Sina launches paid micro blog membership

Sina Weibo, one of the country's most popular micro-blogging sites, has launched paid membership services at vip.weibo.com.

Users who pay 10 yuan ($1.57) a month for the VIP membership of Sina Weibo may enjoy 15 privileges, such as password resetting, homepage decoration and faster download speeds, according to the latest news from "Weibo Membership". Sina Weibo announced on Monday.

Members'services are classified into four categories including identity, function, mobile and security.

Other websites such as Netease, Sohu and Tencent have no intention to charge micro blog users, according to the Shanghai Morning Post.

"Sohu micro blog will never charge fees from its users," Fang Gang, the vice-president of the production department at Sohu, a major competitor to Sina, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Although paid membership was welcomed by some users, many users are afraid that excessive inequality may occur between ordinary users and the privileged members.

Charging membership fees is one of Sina's strategies to gain more profit from its micro blog service, according to analysts.