Kunming Mayor Li Wenrong uses weibo to communicate with residents of the city, setting a good example of establishing effective communication between officials and the people, says an article in Guangming Daily. Excerpts:

Li is the first mayor of a provincial capital to use an official micro blog to communicate with residents of his city, and has thanked his weibo "fans", especially those who criticized him. He generated more than 9,000 comments within three hours of writing his first micro blog on May 17. Li has read the reactions and responded to public concern everyday since then.

In contrast, a recent survey covering about 6,300 people in 30 major cities revealed that only one-third of the respondents knew the names of their cities' mayors. This shows that many local officials don't communicate with the public and thus have no direct way of understanding what people need to improve their livelihood and overcome their difficulties.

The Internet has become a direct and effective tool for public supervision. Therefore, local authorities should change their mindset of blindly issuing orders and, instead, face the challenge of supervising the public with the help of the Internet. The key to improving an official's performance now depends on whether he/she uses the Internet to improve governance.

It's good to see officials such as Li using weibo to communicate with the public, publish authoritative information and dispel misunderstanding. And it's time other officials emulated Li's feat.