Heard of Weibo but not quite sure what it is? Join the club. Despite having some 140 million users, most in China, Weibo has yet to penetrate the protective layers of self-absorption wrapped around most Laowai circles. But it has begun to gently probe my layers, and I decided to go find out what the buzz is about. To do so I met with two Laowais who have familiarized themselves with the Chinese version of Twitter.

1st is Dan Shapiro, front man for The Fever Machine and Shanghai based writer. Shapiro finds Weibo a useful tool for communication with Chinese fans, particularly because, unlike twitter, in Weibo you can embed tracks and video so people can listen right on their pages, without having to click any links.

For Shapiro, it is also a, “really good way to find out what is going on with real Chinese people who have progressive attitudes.” However, the Chinese menus can be difficult even for someone who, like Shapiro, is able to read and write Chinese. He states, “Weibo is the king of Chinese social media. Is it easy to use? No.”

The Fever Machine is fresh off a tour of South America and the U.S., organized with plenty of help from connections made through social media websites. Weibo might prove to be just as useful for bands looking book tours throughout China.

And here is their feed.

A real Weibo success story can be found in Shanghai based producer Conrank. Outside of producing sparklingly pristine dubstep tracks, Conrank also boasts a following of over 12,000 people.

Interestingly most of Conrank’s followers were culled in not through the ears, but the mouth. One night, he decided he to have a street food vendor teach him how to cook fried rice, sidewalk style. As he took over the cart, a crowd developed and a girl in the crowd filmed this Laowai with a wok crazyness. She posted the video on-line and it quickly went viral, with now more than 500,000 views.

Overnight, the number of followers jumped dramatically and continues to climb steadily. To satisfy his food fans, Conrank now often posts food porn pics he snapped from his phone with simple Chinese messages, such as 好 吃 (good eat) or 好 喝 (good drink.)

He is about to set off on an Asia tour with the good folks at Antidote. With an early tour date in Taiwan and likely later dates in other Chinese cities, he hopes that, “Through Weibo I’ll be able to get some people down to the party who would never have known, all through the power of fried rice."

I was at the first date of the tour at Dada, and the place was packed with both locals and expats. Weibo has helped Conrank to achieve something which many acts aspire to, a loyal Chinese fan base.

He also has started to cook his own brand of English fried rice, featuring Cheddar Cheese. On special occasions he holds a cook off. He’ll let you know about it if you sign up for his feed.