In an interview with TechCrunch, Alibaba CTO Wang Jian spoke about the company’s recent acquisition of microblogging platform Sina Weibo and what it means for the service’s avid users in China.
“I think the best way to monetize Weibo is through eCommerce, not by ads,” Jian told the source.
The comments, while not setting the company’s direction in stone, would put the popular social network on a path away from advertising or sponsored stories, two of the primary ad-generating methods used by U.S. social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.