Weibo

Weibo may refer to:

Sina Weibo

Sina Weibo (NASDAQ: WB) is a Chinese microblogging (weibo) website. Akin to a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook, it is one of the most popular sites in China, in use by well over 30% of Internet users, with a market penetration similar to the United States' Twitter. It was launched by SINA Corporation on 14 August 2009, and as of December 2012 has 503 million registered users. About 100 million messages are posted each day on Sina Weibo.

In March 2014, Sina Corporation announced a spinoff of Weibo as a separate entity and filed an IPO under the symbol WB. Sina retains 56.9% ownership in Weibo. The company began trading publicly on April 17, 2014.

Name

"Weibo" (微博) is the Chinese word for "microblog". Sina Weibo launched its new domain name weibo.com on 7 April 2011, deactivating and redirecting from the old domain, t.sina.com.cn to the new one. Due to its popularity, the media sometimes directly uses "Weibo" to refer to Sina Weibo. However, there are other Chinese microblogging/weibo services including Tencent Weibo, Sohu Weibo, and NetEase Weibo.

Lay (entertainer)

Zhang Yixing (born (1991-10-07)October 7, 1991), known professionally as Lay (Korean: 레이) as a member of EXO and (Zhang) Yixing for China-based personal projects, is a Chinese singer, actor, and dancer. He first became known after participating in the Chinese TV talent show Star Academy in 2005. In January 2012, Yixing debuted as a member of the Chinese-South Korean group EXO and its sub-unit EXO-M. In January 2015, Lay was ranked 5th on Baidu's "2014 Top 10 Most Popular Celebrities" list. In September 2015, he released his autobiography titled Standing Firm At 24, which broke several online book records.

Life and career

1991–2014: Early life and career beginnings

Zhang Yixing was born in Changsha, Hunan, China on October 7, 1991. In 2000, at 9 years old, he participated in a Chinese TV show as the fan club member of the actor and singer Jimmy Lin, giving him his first contact with the entertainment industry. Lay began his career as a local child star in the province of Hunan, after winning third place in a competition organized by the popular TV show Star Academy in 2005. He also appeared in an episode of Ce Yue Yue Xin Kai and Liu Na's variety show, Na Ke Bu Yi Yang between 2005 and 2006. In April 2006, he participated in auditions to star in the series The Duke of Mount Deer directed by Zhang Jizhong, and despite being among the finalists did not win the role. In 2008 joined S.M. Entertainment after a successful audition with the company's global casting system in Changsha. At the time of the auditions, he was 16 years old and was studying for his college entrance exams. In 2011, prior to debuting with Exo, he briefly worked for SHINee on their concert tour as Jonghyun's dance replacement.