LOCAL celebrities have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to growing their fan base on Weibo.

Fann Wong's fan base, numbering more than 100,000, might put her ahead of all her fellow MediaCorp artistes on the microblogging site, but the number is still a far cry from her Taiwanese and Hong Kong showbiz peers.

Popular Taiwanese talk show host and comedienne Dee Hsu (pictured top right), 32, is the undisputed Weibo Queen, with more than 4 million fans.

Hsu's extreme candidness on the microblogging site is what has made her popular with netizens.

She doesn't shy away from posting pictures of herself with her two children, as well
as unglamorous shots of herself without make-up, blowing her nose or pulling funny faces.

Over in Hong Kong, 29-year-old Cantopop singer-actress Gillian Chung (pictured top left) may have struggled to revive her career after the Edison Chen sex scandal, but on Weibo, it seems like her supporters remain unswayed.

Popular

Chung has more than 2.5 million fans, putting her on top of the list of Hong Kong-based celebrities, including Miriam Yeung (1.6 million fans) and Shu Qi (1.5 million fans).

On her microblog, Chung shows an immense fondness for taking pictures of herself, as well as shots with celebrity pals Joey Yung and Charlene Choi.

Hsu's older sister, actress Barbie Hsu, 34, used to be an active user of Weibo as well, at one point hitting nearly 3.5 million fans.

However, last month, after a harsh backlash by Weibo netizens (she was slammed as a "gold-digger" for getting engaged to Chinese restaurant heir Wang Xiaofei after just 20 days of knowing each other), Barbie could not take the heat and has since closed her Weibo account.

This article was first published in The New Paper.

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