With a mission of "telling China's story well" to the world, the country's State-owned media outlets are interacting actively with the world's biggest social networks and gaining fans across the globe. According to Japan's Nikkei, these media outlets have boosted their presence on Facebook and the number of their followers has exceeded the very American media brands such as CNN and The New York Times.

The news channel account of the State-owned China Central Television has attracted more than 24 million followers, outpacing most mainstream Western media except the BBC (29.4 million).

Chinese media joined overseas social networks later than their Western peers. Therefore, the rapid growth in the number of followers has raised eyebrows. How did they achieve this? And what stories do they tell?

Several factors help drive international fans to engage with the Chinese media on social networks. With China's rising influence and the footprint of the Chinese people extending beyond East Asia, more people across the world are interested in learning about China. News about China, be it political, economic and cultural, has constantly made its way to foreign media outlets.

However, they often provide a partial, if not distorted, view of contemporary China. China's State-owned media, as a result, serves as an easy source to understand what is happening in China.

Telling China's story well is one of the key goals of Chinese State media's foreign mission. It means presenting diversified facets of China to global audiences. On social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, the Chinese media does not always focus on politics, but also links to more human interest stories. On Facebook, the People's Daily posts dynamic scenery from China. Videos of pandas on the Twitter account of the Global Times are wildly welcomed, all of which offer a close glimpse of all aspects of Chinese people's lives which enable foreign audiences to better understand China and its people.

The Chinese media is a newcomer to global social media, but they've established a good presence there. Other than financial input, the result demonstrates the flexibility and innovation of the Chinese media, which has the ability to set agendas to attract audiences. The key is to allow them to fully realize their potential. It is believed they can compete well with their Western counterparts in both the domestic and international public opinion arenas.