A study released on Wednesday claims China's blockade on Twitter has not prevented activists in the country from connecting with other people across the globe via the microblogging website. The study said "clusters" of people use different tools to get around the so-called 'Great Firewall'.

The research was conducted by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. The team behind the study said while they cannot determine the exact number of Twitter users in China, it is clear that the website is used by various people with diverse interests that gravitate towards three main areas: politics, technology, and entertainment.

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"For internet users that reside in mainland China, Twitter offers access to news from around the world and a wealth of ideas and perspectives that might otherwise be unavailable there, as well as a platform for building online communities that is not under direct control of the government," the study revealed.

Based on the study, there are "36 clusters that focus primarily on three areas: politics, technology, and entertainment."

"Journalists, lawyers, human rights activists, and scholars" are under the political group, who claim their freedom of expression on sensitive topics is being curtailed in the communist country.

The other clusters include a varied array of people like experts in software and technology, people who are into Apple products and services as well as those into anime and comics.

"The proportion of the Chinese populace with direct access to the debates, communities, and shared resources on Twitter is relatively small, and the avenues by which such discourse might find its way into mainstream political discussion are severely constrained," the study revealed. "The firewall between Twitter and the much larger social media platforms in China remains a formidable barrier."

The People's Republic has a renowned and complicated Internet filtering system. However, people have reportedly been able slip past the 'Great Firewall' by masking their identities and exact location through proxies or virtual private networks.

"The government has never succeeded in blocking all circumvention tools, and doing so would be harmful to online commerce," the study says. "However, jumping the wall entails investing time to identify and install tools that work and requires a level of technological sophistication...circumventing internet controls also implies a willingness to defy the government standards for acceptable speech and to take on any perceived risks associated with using circumvention tools."

As per the Berkman Centre, only a small fraction of the population use circumvention tools - estimated to be less than 5%.

TagsGreat Firewall, journalists, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University, China Twitter Users