It isreportedthat Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, will shut its online e-commerce store,Youa, and migrate its users to other platforms. The company does however, claim that a new e-commerce platform is currently in the works. The shutdown will take effect in May and Youa’s existing merchants are given a month to migrate to Rakuten China and Yaodian100. Despitedominatingthe local search market with a 75 percent share, its e-commerce platform, Youa, failed to gain traction because majority of online users still preferred Taobao to buy and sell goods online....

According toChina Daily, China’s copyright authorities are urging Baidu to come up with a plan to properly overhaul its online literary database as the long-standing copyrightdisputebetween the company and about 40 Chinese writers continues. Yan Xiaohong, vice-director of the National Copyright Administration and deputy head of the General Administration of Press and Publication, said at a press conference: “Baidu’s free literary database is not a good business model because lots of works within that database have not been authorized by writers....

DigiChareports that Baidu is planning on relaunching its microblogging platform that uses real identities,Baidu Talk (百度说吧), as Baidu Weibo to give another shot at social networking. No details have been revealed thus far about the differences with the new microblogging service but it is said to be headed by Mai Tian, founder and CEO of Mayi.com, a social network acquired by Baidu in 2010. She is also the executive in charge of Baidu Talk....

Last week, Baiduannouncedits plan to completely redesign its Twitter-like microblogging platform, Baidu Talk, in an effort to jump back to the social networking scene. TechNodereports that today, Baidu released the new version of its microblogging service, also known asShuoba. One of the biggest changes is that it eliminated the need for real-name authentication, which definitely makes user registrations a lot easier. It is said that users would still need a mobile number to verify registrations via via SMS....

Baked goods company Entenmann’s has faced backlash from Twitter users after it used the #notguilty hashtag to promote its products. The #notguilty hashtag is a trending topic on Twitter at the moment, with users adopting it in relation to discussion around the not guilty verdict in the Casey Anthony trial. Entenmann’s social media firm, Likeable, hadn’t checked the meaning behind the hashtag before moving to capitalize on it, in an action Twitter users have deemed “insensitive....