The key to this success has been reach and diversity of content, according to the site’s managing editor, Alan Soon. I caught up with Alan at the WPP Stream conference in Thailand.

For reach, Yahoo “introduces the human element” by engaging prominent bloggers in each market. These bloggers, in turn, pull in second-tier bloggers. The result is a growing and closely-knit community of influencers.

Rather than build niche markets, however, Yahoo aims to make content as diverse as possible. Instead of just news headlines of the day, for example, Yahoo Southeast Asia follows the lead of the Huffington Post in writing about a wide range of topics.

Yahoo’s importance as a portal has had no small effect on its success as a news site, but it is still surprising that traditional media have not been able to dislodge Yahoo as the leading news site.

Any theories why?

The future will rely highly on mobile and tablet devices, Gary said (see video below for more details), while adding that Tudou is currently working to make the entire video library accessible on these devices.

With Android, mobile devices in China are increasingly replacing laptops as the primary device and quite often as the only device. Chinese people think that mobile technology is smarter and more user friendly. Mobile devices are also much cheaper than laptops.

China is known for a more aggressive monetization policy than in the West and this is likely to continue. Mobile devices make micropayments a lot easier so we will see a strong increase on that front in China, Gary added.

If you try it out, do let me know what you think! I always crave feedback.

I have also started blogging on the Huffington Post, for things that I think will interest that community.

TheCrane.tv, Discovery Campus and Reelisor.com are hosting a film competition for creative talents from all over the world in the categories: Culture, Art&Design, Lifestyle, Fashion, Ideas, Travel and “Green”. We reward creativity and encourage you to offer fresh, insider perspectives into your topic of choice. We would like to feel inspired and enriched by your contribution.

Launch: 18th November 2008 at the International Film School Festival, Munich

Deadline: 28th February 2009

Films: There are no boundaries to your creativity. The short videos can be non-fiction, fiction, animated or could be in a journalistic or documentary style

Jury:

Ora Ïto (Product Designer, ORA-ÏTO)
Karl Lagerfeld (Fashion Designer, Chanel)
Flavio Albanese (Editor in Chief, DOMUS Magazine)
Fernando Sulichin (Film Producer, Central Films)
Kirill Razlogov (Director of the Russian Institute for Cultural Research)
Laurent Claquin (Senior VP CSR and Executive Committee member, PPR Group)

Specifications: Between 1 and 5 minutes long, preferably in English (or subtitled) and all standard file formats

Submissions: Electronically via the upload portal on www.thecrane.tv

The winning films will be selected by our accomplished jury and announced at the international launch of TheCrane.tv in March 2009. The rewards for Laureates include cash, equipment and TV broadcast. All entries will be available for viewing on www.thecrane.tv when the competition is over.