New-media use in govt surging in popularity

New media have become popular tools for communication between Chinese government departments and the public, according to a new report.

The Journalism and Communication Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said government departments and officials had more than 160,000 micro blogs as of October. The report, released on Wednesday, said the number marks an increase of 128 percent from the same period in the previous year.

The report also shows the registration of about 2 million public-service accounts, including government ones, on WeChat, a major mobile-based instant messaging platform, by the end of 2013, with about 8,000 added every day. About 6 percent of WeChat accounts are run by the government.