By Alan Liu
Account Executive, Hill & Knowlton China
China has an estimated 137 million internet users, nearly half of whom are actively on message boards and a quarter who are blogging, according to the China Internet Network Information Center. The world’s most widely read blogger, Xu Jinglei, a famous Chinese actress, recently celebrated a landmark 100 million clicks on her blog in July. It is clear that China has embraced the internet as a dynamic form of communication.
The state of social media in China today
Despite being hampered by internet restrictions (anecdotally dubbed ‘The Great Firewall of China’), Chinese netizens have become increasingly independent and are now able to broadcast, pod-cast or publish online. The Ministry of Information recently abandoned plans to require blog service providers to log verifiable user information, increasing the freedom of bloggers and permitting them the option for anonymity, which is necessary for blogs to thrive.
Blogs in China range from the political to the personal to the weird and titillating. While the blogsophere has given some bloggers a platform to discuss social justice, others turn their gazes inward to discuss their favourite topic- themselves. Personal blogs capture the anxieties and preoccupations of modern Chinese youth who make up a large proportion of personal bloggers and open up their personal diaries to the world at large. Popular blogger Acosta’s page is filled with dozens of personal photographs and his musings on life, fashion and film, while controversial blogger Liu Mang Yan openly discusses her sexual history and attitudes.
Contrary to social media trends in the West, many internet users prefer to post on BBS forums as opposed to personal blogs. BBS forums on gaming and technology hold particular appeal to China’s increasingly tech savvy internet users.
A number of popular Chinese social media sites such as Chinaren.com and Mop.com have adapted quickly to the changing needs of their users by creating bookmarking functions, IM features and hosting blog capabilities.
When social media meets traditional media
Social media has already had an enormous impact on traditional forms of media. In a dipstick audit conducted by H&K China which asked China-based journalists their thoughts on new media, many admitted that they are increasingly using social media to gather information on opinions and trends, casting social media as a powerful source of data of public opinion.
Many Chinese journalists are supplementing their articles or columns with daily blogs that allow them to maintain a dialogue with their core audience and amplify their voice beyond the regional borders of many newspapers. Some have even become more influential online than offline. Earlier this year, CCTV anchor Rui Chenggang complained about the Starbucks in the Forbidden City on his blog, inciting a firestorm of interest in traditional media as well as on key internet portals.
Harnessing the power of the social media revolution
To adapt to this fast-moving trend, corporations have reached out over the internet to socialize with their consumers. They use corporate blogs to engage their target audiences and drive conversations and feedback on thought leadership, crises, advertising efforts and more.
Mr. Xiang Wenbo and his SANY Group, a heavy machinery maker, used blog articles to successfully stir up sentiment against the acquisition of XuGong, a construction-equipment maker, by U.S. investors. The issue also drew attention from mainstream media and proved to be a successful PR campaign in 2006.
It is clear that though China has leaped full-force into online communications, there are still significant hurdles to overcome.
Chinese online game developers such as Joy Life and HiPiHi are eager to follow in the footsteps of popular virtual world Second Life. However, their growth is stunted by the slow maturation of the Chinese game development industry and by the fact that the exchange of virtual currencies with RMB is prohibited in China.
The evolution of and access to the internet in China has created a formidable new voice that fractures traditional one way media communications. Opinions on anything from products to politics can have an enormous influence on virtual communities. To become a part of this evolution, marketers must be aware of how communications has shifted in China, and identify the opportunities and challenges it presents to users and companies.
Chinese blogs in English:
Danwei
Danwei is a website about media, advertising, and urban life in China. With frequent reference to and translations from Mainland Chinese media and a video section.
Virtual China>
Virtual China is an exploration of virtual experiences and environments in and about China.
China media project
The China Media Project leverages the University of Hong-Kong’s Journalism & Media Studies Centre's experienced staff, faculty and international advisors, its extensive contacts with mainland Chinese media and its unique position at the doorsteps of China to generate systematic, multi-facted research in the field of Chinese journalism.
China Digital Times
China Digital Times (CDT) is a collaborative news website covering China's social and political transition and its emerging role in the world. China Digital Times is run by the Berkeley China Internet Project out of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.