Weibo puts the heat on officials over tragedy

Despite strong propaganda directives to the media and detailed instructions to downplay Saturday's high-speed train crash in Zhejiang province, a critical mass of internet users' questions and media coverage seems to have forced mainland authorities to supply more details about the accident.

Doubts over the death toll which officially stands at 39 were raised on Sina Weibo - the Chinese version of Twitter - which has become a driving force in providing accurate details on the accident that conflict with official accounts.

It has also been a popular platform to search for missing victims when no official channel was available for this purpose.

'The nature of Weibo's communication empowers the voice of internet users. It has pressured authorities to investigate further and answer questions raised by internet users,' said Song Shinan, a Chengdu -based media analyst at Southwest University for Nationalities.

'It's a victory for Weibo,' Song said. 'No one can afford to ignore Weibo now as it facilitates information flow and directly reflects public opinion.'

He said the authorities had to form an investigation team under pressure, abandoning their initial blame for the accident on 'equipment failure caused by a lightning strike'.

Internet users voluntarily collected names of the dead from the crash. They also urged the ministry to reveal the names of the dead, an increasingly sensitive and serious issue on the mainland after a contentious count for a Shanghai high-rise fire and the toll provided in a high-profile campaign by artist-activist Ai Weiwei for Sichuan earthquake victims.