The justice authority in an East China city has begun to publish documents and notices on a micro blog, the country's first government organization to take such a step.

The justice bureau of Haining city, Zhejiang province, said on the city government website last Saturday it would launch a micro blog on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, to post the bureau's documents and notices.

On the same day, the bureau posted its first online notice that it sent to the city's judiciary offices on their workers' duties.

"The launch of our official micro blog aims to let the public know how the government works," said Jin Zhongyi, chief of Haining justice bureau, who opened his personal micro blog one and a half years ago.

"As there is a word limit on a micro blog, we will release clear and simplified documents on it, which has the same administrative effects as paper documents," said Jin.

All of the bureau's 14 judicial offices, one legal aid center as well as one notary office have launched micro blogs with 18 bureau officials owning personal micro blogs.

"We'd like to take advantage of the Internet to make our work more transparent and efficient by inviting experts and netizens to take part in online interaction," said Jin.

Weibo service was first launched by sina.com.cn, one of China's biggest web portals, in August 2009.

More than 5,000 companies and 2,700 media organizations in China are using Sina Weibo, according to Jin Taotao, a public relations officer of Sina Corporation.

"We're delighted that the government department tried to use Weibo as a new platform to communicate with the public, and we hope that more netizens and organizations will utilize the new media tool," he said.

The use of micro blogs among government organizations started with police using them to collect information on cases. Since police in Zhaoqing, Guangdong province, launched the first police micro blog in February last year, more than 1,200 police micro blogs have been opened.

For most netizens, micro-blogging has turned into an essential tool for news updates, gossip from friends and celebrities as well as information from the government.

"I've spent most of my leisure time writing and forwarding micro blogs, which are interesting news or updates from friends and celebrities," said Han Li, a Shanghai netizen.

Han added that the release of official documents on micro blogs will hopefully enable the public to access government documents and communicate more closely with officials.