Sina, China’s biggest web portal, just released its own check-in service, namedWeiLingDi, which roughly translates to “Micro Territory.” It hopes to attract users with seamless integration to its microblogging service and by using celebrity endorsement with its “Star News” feature. LikeFoursquare, users can check-in at different places and get badges. It also doubles as a discovery service by letting users rate and recommend places to go to. As expected, WeiLingDi integrates seamlessly withSina Weibo, the biggest microblogging service in the country....

Sina Corp., one of China’s leading web portals, is said to be actively preparing to spin-off its Weibo microblogging unit, China’s Twitter so to speak, and has started talking to investment banks about the initial public offering, according to an unnamed Sina source. We may soon find out how much China’s hot microblog Sina Weibo, and it’s CEO and founder Charles Chao, is worth. The source told the Chinese newspaper21st Business Heraldthat according to some financial service institutions, Weibo has a bigger valuation than Sina’s traditional portal business, which is estimated at $2....

Technodereportsthat Weibo, the Twitter-like microblogging service of Sina, has been working on an official PC client. A screenshot of Sina’s official desktop client of Weibo was posted by Weibo user@quzheng. Based on the picture, it has user-friendly interface that gives users quick access to their contacts, as well as all of the other functions that are available for the web client. Launched in August 2009, the microblog site hasmorethan 80 million users posting millions of “tweets” per day, and is adding 10 million new users per month....

Sina Weibo has just launched its new Klout-like robust analytics tool for its 140 million users so that they can track and monitor data about their Weibo accounts. Accessible atdata.weibo.com, the analytics platform allows users to monitor their own accounts on a weekly basis that is presented in different categories. First and foremost, it offers an official user rating similar to Klout, which is based on influence, amplification, and reach....

According to research firm Hitwise, Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-clone so to speak, accounted for 1 in every 158 Internet visits in China, making it bigger than Twitter itself in any other country in the world. The data, accurate as of April 2011, shows that China is one of the most active micro-blogging nations worldwide, with a greater market share of visits than Twitter in the UK, US, France, Canada, Australia or India....