The coastal city of Yantai in Shandong province made the 2014 national list of top 10 cities with a great network image.

The appraisal was based on 3,050 sample administrative divisions and evaluations of their network images in five aspects, including government affairs, commercial affairs, social life and public sentiment.

Over the years, Yantai's government has stepped up its efforts to take advantage of existing new media platforms such as websites, micro blogs, WeChat and mobile apps. The platforms have since played a key role in raising Yantai's profile.

The WeChat account of the Yantai traffic police department ranked first among all government WeChat accounts in Shandong. And the city's public transport mobile client won critical acclaim from the public.

The ranking list was jointly released on June 30 by Xinhua Net, the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Center for Journalism Studies of Tsinghua University and China Statistical Information Service Center. It was released together with a report on the online image of nationwide cities and counties in 2014.