On 10 July 2018, the Workshop on Microblog for ASEAN Embassies and media was hosted by ASEAN-China Centre (ACC). ACC invited Mr. Zhang Xiaofei, Manager of Microblog Content Coordinator of Sina Company, Ms. Zhang Yihan, Director of Sina News and New Media Operation and Ms. Zhang Lulu, Senior Editor in charge of Operation in Sina Travel Channel to deliver lectures on the topics of “To Register and Verify Microblog”, “Development Plan: How to Make Your Microblog Account Popular” and “Tourism Ecology in Social Context” respectively. Attended the workshop were media officials from Embassies of Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, ASEAN journalists based in Beijing including Antara News Agency of Indonesia and the Star of Malaysia, representatives of Philippine Tourism Authority and ACC officers.

In the opening remarks, Mr. Vithit Powattanasuk, Director of Information and Public Relations Division (IPRD) of ACC, thanked Sina.com for its support to the workshop, and stated that ACC organized this workshop following the New Media workshop held at the Communication University of China in April 2018. In doing so, ACC hoped to further empower ASEAN Embassies and media to make effective use of Chinese social media network to meet the publicity needs of Embassies and promote the images of ASEAN in China. The IPRD team shared the practice of ACC’s Microblog operation and management. Mr. Vithit Powattanasuk said that ACC would give full play to its own advantages to help ASEAN Embassies and media in the use of Chinese social media, with a view to promoting ASEAN-China friendly exchanges.

Mr. Zhang Xiaofei introduced the registration process and requirements on application of Microblog official and personal account, and introduced the way to publish information and picture on Microblog. Ms. Zhang Yihan presented the practical guidelines and techniques to attract more Microblog followers and expand influence through clear content positioning and personalized way of content delivery and hot topic discussion. Ms. Zhang Lulu shared the cases of analyzing travel trends via Microblog and tourism marketing in mobile social time.

Following the lectures, the participants had lively discussions and thanked ACC for organizing the workshop. They said that the workshop offered practical guidelines for ASEAN Embassies to register Microblog account and gave timely and constructive suggestions for its operation and helped set up a platform of communication between ASEAN Embassies and Sina. They have benefited?significantly?from?this workshop.