The gazette of the State Council opened its account on China's Twitter-like service Sina Weibo on Saturday, as thousands of government administrations showed willingness to engage with the public via social media.

The gazette Weibo account will be used to publish the country's major policies and guidelines in a timely and accurate manner, according to an advance notice released on Sina Weibo on Friday.

Its first Weibo messages released on Saturday are a number of government decrees and regulations on waterway management, automobile recall, education, and green food as well as the reshuffle of government officials. The account was followed by 218,000 fans as of 8 pm on Saturday.

More Chinese government administrations and agencies have resorted to micro blogs to interact with the public, as micro-blogging services are gaining influence among the country's 500 million Internet users.

They use micro blogs to offer information, answer queries, address complaints, and sometimes provide credible responses to rumors.

The number of government micro blog accounts registered at Sina Weibo reached 51,000 by the end of September, an increase of more than 6,000 from three months ago, according to a Sina Weibo report released in October.

China's government micro blogs have become a priority channel for authorities to communicate with the public in case of emergencies, the report said.

(China Daily 11/11/2012 page3)