Weibo's top opinion leaders ranked

Executive businessmen and people of the media are making the biggest splash as the nation's opinion leaders on Sina Weibo - China's response to Twitter, according to a top 100 list comprising the first kind of research on the subject by Fudan University.

Co-founder of real estate developer SOHO Pan Shiyi took first place, followed by Alibaba's CEO Ma Yun, independent property developer Ren Zhiqiang and Kai-Fu Lee, former Google China chief, who now holds the reins for technology-focused investment firm Innovation Works.　

Both a Shanghai and female presence were most lacking from list with each category failing to produce more than 10 percent of those who made the cut. At 24th place, Chinese fashion magazine iLook publisher Hong Huang was the highest-ranking woman.

Other media players included Hong Kong Phoenix TV journalist Lüqiu Luwei in 28th, and the editor-in-chief of Global Times, Hu Xijin, arguably best known to foreigners for his controversial remarks about China's position in the world.

Two foreigners also impressed researchers from Fudan University's Public Opinion and Communication Center, who spent six months last year collecting data for nominees based on various criteria, such as their number of fans and the frequency of their microblog posts being circulated or cited by media.

Japanese Kato Yoshikazu, a 27-year-old political commentator who specializes on Sino-Japanese relations, placed 51st, while Chinese-American columnist Anthony Yuen, editor-in-chief of Hong Kong Phoenix TV and current affairs anchor, just made the list at 99th.

Despite scholars holding their own ground on the list, with 26 experts in a range of fields named as opinion leaders, the report found that the public were more accepting of what businessmen had to say, over that from academics or people in the media, said Qiu Zhizhong, who contributed to the study.

Moreover, public reaction to fifty events last year has shown the true power of microblogging opinion leaders, he said.

"Opinion leaders are playing a more prominent role in shaping the mind-sets of the online community," he told the Global Times Sunday. "So, it's timely to look at the effects of such a powerful media tool."