Report examines texting trends

The Institute of Psychology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sina Weibo Data Center, and the Beijing Committee of the Communist Youth League of China recently released The 2013 Development Report about Micro Blog Usage among University Students.

The report analyzed how college students use micro blogs, and the influence of these blogs on students. The survey had more than 11,900 respondents. Micro blogs are an essential tool for students, the report found, not just as a way to express themselves, but for education, job-hunting and entertainment.

Sina Weibo's deputy general manager Wei Li said there are more than 30 million university users of Weibo, and micro-blogs have changed each student's life.

The report looked at the most influential official micro blog lists, such as the top 10 universities and the top 10 university associations.

The most popular universities that use micro blogs to communicate with students are Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Host He Jiong, A-lister Yao Chen and hostess Xie Na are the most popular micro-bloggers among university students. Except for former Google China head Kai-Fu Lee, the others on the top 10 list are singers, movie stars and writers.

The report shows that university students like to share their insights into their lives by texts, photos and telling people their location.

They often update after 6 pm, and especially between 10 pm an 11 pm, the hour usually after study.

Jobs, achievement, families and friends, entertainment, health, religion, and money are categories, arranged in order of decreasing popularity, that reflect the content of their texts.

They use more positive words than negative ones on micro blogs, the report found.

However, it turns out more than 57 percent of the texts express dissatisfaction with their lives.