Big part of Chinese social media research.

You can not talk about social media in China without mentioning GFW (Great Firewall)

There are some interesting articles in Chinese discussed the influence of GFW and some affected websites:

http://www.dasheyin.com/qing_bo_ke_fu_wu_tumblr_jie_feng.html#comment-114

http://www.managershare.com/2011/01/21/how-to-gain-competitive-insight-with-social-media/

Basically if GFW selected you, it is an endorsement and proves you are quite influential. And if it allows you to be visited by 1.5 billion people again, it means you are even more powerful and they can not simply block you. They have to selectively block part of you (Wikipedia was blocked from around 2003 to 2009, and Chinese now can access most part of it, their connection will only be reset if a political incorrect term or sensitive words is being accessed)