China
Demographics of China’s Twitter Users
In China, Twitter has taken an exceptional turn relative to other sites blocked by the government.
Properties like Facebook, YouTube and Flickr have languished when blocked by Beijing, but Twitter has continued to gain in popularity.
Since being blocked, Facebook usage in China has plunged from hundreds of thousands of users in mainland China to tens of thousands. Based on anecdotal evidence Twitter, on the other hand, remains a lively source of news, information and discussion from within China. (If anyone can provide reliable numbers on the growth Twitter usage in China, I will add them here.)
Microblogging itself is an interesting phenomenon in China, due to the nature of the written Chinese language: A Tweet in Chinese is almost a short blog post.
But the case of Twitter raises the question of why it has remained popular even as the inevitable government-compliant copycats proliferate.
In terms of why, for one thing Chinese users have found relatively painless ways around the Great Firewall. Having worked around the blockage, users may have developed an even stronger loyalty to the service. Some cross post using the Chinese services, while others have rigged up sites using Twitter’s API.
As to who is using it, that has been hard to say until a recent survey done by Kenengba that was picked up and translated by Oi Wan Lam in a post on Global Voices.
Sent out over Twitter, the 1,000 respondents to the survey were
…overwhelmingly male…
13% female
87% male
…in their 20s…
70% between 21-29
Youngest Twitterer 12 and oldest 55
…highly educated with interesting bump among High School students…
The majority have a bachelor’s degree and the second largest group is master degree holders followed by Twitters with tertiary education background. Interesting to note there is a bump among users in High School. If this is due to university authorities being more successful at blocking Twitter, what will happen when those High School students go to campus?
…based in wealthier Chinese regions, such as the capital and coastal regions…
More than half of the respondents come from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong followed by Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian… The 6 regions constitute 67% of the respondents. They are located along the coastal line and economically more well off.
…mainly students and techies…
The data shows that about 30% of the respondents are students followed by computer software and hardware sector (15%) and then Internet related production sector (12.5%). If we group the two into I.T industry, then we can see that students and I.T professionals are the key player in Twitter community as they together constitute more than 50% of the respondents.
…why do they Tweet?
1. To know the truth and open the horizon
2. To record and share my life
3. To get information and show my concern about democracy
4. Because Fanfou has been shut down
5. To get all the gossips in order to clear information for my colleagues who live in Mars
6. Follow the planet that I like and later fall in love with everything in Twitter
7. The exchange in Twitter is very interesting
8. No censor here and we can preserve the primary mode of communication here
9. To kill time
10. To follow uncle leg (@kcome)
11. I learn about twitter from kenengba and feel that as a party member I should learn more about this world
12. I can say what I want here without considering whether I should say this or how I should say this. Whether or not I would violate any law. This is the taste of freedom that I enjoy.
13. In an army school where ideological control is very strict, Twitter allows me to keep my independent citizen conscious.
14. University teacher introduces me here
15. Less liars here
16. Job requirement
17. An inevitableness choice for journalist student
18. Passion for new technology
19. At first I come here because I have a crush with a girl who is using Twitter…
20. Why not?
Popularity: 2% [?]
Europe’s Sharpened Stance on China
China can expect some pushback from Europe in coming months, warns Mark Leonard of the European Council of Foreign Relations in this video. His data points leading to the coming sharp shift in the EU-China relations:
1- French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s meeting the Dalai Lama caused China to cancel the EU Summit.
2- At the Climate Summit in Copenhagen, both Europe and China blamed each other for the absence of a deal.
3- The Google vs. China conflict.
4- The execution of the British citizen Akmal Shaikh in China.
The Economist this week has a similar take:
There is, however, a new self-confidence these days in China’s familiar harangues about anything it deems sovereign. That is the second trend: China, after its successful passage through the financial crisis of late 2008, is more assertive and less tolerant of being thwarted—and not just over its “internal affairs”. From its perceived position of growing economic strength, China has been throwing its weight around. It played a central and largely unhelpful role at the climate-change talks in Copenhagen; it looks as if it will wreck a big-power consensus over Iran’s nuclear programme; it has picked fights in territorial disputes with India, Japan and Vietnam. At gatherings of all sorts, Chinese officials now want to have their say, and expect to be heeded.
These events and attitudes on the part of Beijing have caused a shift in Europe’s view of China, so Beijing should expect a pushback from Europe over the next years, Leonard said. This could mean a hardening of Europe’s approach to various issues like Iran, climate and currency.
Popularity: 1% [?]
McKinsey: Rising power of Social Media in China
An annual survey of Chinese consumers by McKinsey took time to highlight the power of Social Media in China.
China really is a global-standard country in terms of involvement in Social Media by consumers. The landscape is, of course, radically different from other countries due to government censorship policies, but Chinese are incredibly involved in Social Media as a trusted source of information on many topics.
Samples vs Word of Mouth
The McKinsey study points to the influence of Social Media in terms beauty products in China, which is we at Ogilvy have found to be totally true.
McKinsey found: 66 percent of Chinese consumers would be influence in the purchase of a moisturizer by recommendations of friends and family, while just 38 percent would be in the US and UK. By contrast 66 percent of UK and British consumers say that free samples could sway them, compared with 20 percent in China.
Excerpt from the McKinsey report:
The Internet is an increasingly important marketing tool. All the online media vehicles we tracked in our survey, including online advertisements, product articles, blogs, and forums, have significantly increased their impact (SEE CHART ONE). Consumers even rate the credibility of blogs and online forums higher than traditional TV ads.
While overall penetration still hovers at just 19 percent, the number of Chinese Internet users is rising 56 percent a year, and stood at 253 million in July 2008. Chinese consumers are increasingly turning to the internet as a key source of product information. Today, only 9 percent of consumers would check a blog or online forum before purchasing a consumer electronics item, compared to 25 percent compared to 25 percent in the US. However, if internet penetration approaches the levels of developed economies, blogs and online forums will become the second most important media channel by 2020.
It will not come as a great surprise that younger consumers are more likely to go online to collect information before deciding to purchase something, nor that they are most likely to do so for consumer electronics purchases (SEE CHART TWO). Given the predicted increase in the importance of the internet, however, companies need to be very aware of how they are being talked about.
Online forums in particular are notorious breeding grounds for rumors that can spread rapidly through “offline” word of mouth. These concerns should be heightened in an environment such as China, where some people are skeptical of official sources and rely on word of mouth for information. Word of mouth has more credibility than any form of advertising, which is true in many markets but especially so in China. Indeed, when asked what would lead someone to buy a new moisturizer, almost two-thirds said the recommendation of friends and family was vital, compared with just 38 percent in the US and the UK. By contrast, free samples would sway two-thirds of British and US consumers, but only one-fifth of those in China.
Many Western companies are becoming more familiar with dealing with user-generated media, but they can still fall short in this unfamiliar environment. One company that got it right is Chinese soft drink manufacturer, Wang Laoji 王老吉. After the Sichuan earthquake, Wang Laoji donated 100 million renminbi during a charity telethon – substantially more than most other large companies gave initially.
This had an enormously positive impact for the company: word of mouth combined with 19,000 blogs encouraged drinkers to switch to Wang Laoji. One blogger developed the slogan: “If you’re going to donate, donate 100 million. If you’re going to drink, drink Wang Laoji.” This consumer-created ad was distributed widely online. The sales volume of Wang Laoji increased by 25 percent at one supermarket chain the month after the earthquake, and by 35 percent at one restaurant chain.
Popularity: 2% [?]
China’s Fickle Luxury Consumers
Excellent study by The Boston Consulting Group makes many excellent points about China’s consumption of luxury, but I found this graph particularly striking.
Those who come out worst are Chanel, Armani, Prada, Burberry and Max Mara. I wonder how much this is related to the lack of outlets and/or knock off versions of their goods?
As described by BCG, this graph shows:
Although top brands have put considerable effort into nurturing a strong following, such loyalties are still quite fragile. In each of the product categories we asked about, more than 60 percent of survey participants said that they could fi nd suitable substitutes for their favorite brands.
And when we compared the brands that consumers said they preferred with the brands they eventually purchased, we found significant mismatches. (See Exhibit 4.) In most cases, consumers defaulted to the most famous and so-called iconic brands when making their actual purchases.
Our data indicate that some brands win a considerable percentage of their customers at the point of sale by converting uncommitted shoppers—or even competitors’ customers. Such a tactic requires excellent sales skills, merchandise at the right price points, and compelling displays. Indeed nearly 30 percent of consumers told us that a window display had been responsible for their purchasing a brand that they hadn’t been considering.
Popularity: 1% [?]
China Youth: More Friends Online Than Offline
How many BFFs do you have?
Dunbar’s number is the famed 150 friends with whom humans are supposed to be able to keep close relations. For Asian youths, however, the average number of friends is 107.
Ian Stewart of MTV recently gave these statistics from an MTV and TNS study in a presentation about youth and social networking in Asia.
Thai youth are the friendliest, with young people having an average of 170 offline, online and close friends. More than twice as many as the 80 friends for youth in neighboring Vietnam have.
As for online friends, Korea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Australia and India all tend to have about 30 or fewer online friends, while Thai, Malaysian and Chinese youth all have more than 50 online friends.
The online friends number is not entirely related to broadband penetration or level of economic development. Young people in Australia, Korea and Taiwan have fairly low numbers of online friends.
One of the most striking cases, however, is China: The only country in Asia where people have more online friends than offline friends. This is yet another example of China tremendous engagement in Social Media and the Internet.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Chris Reitermann: China Internet Advertising
Chris Reitermann, President of OgilvyOne in China - Ogilvy’s direct response and digital advertising agency, discusses China’s online adspend and what media companies can do to grab a slice of the action. Although Chris - disclosure alert - is a colleague at Ogilvy, this is entirely independent of Ogilvy. Interview by Jeremy Goldkorn of Danwei and shot and edited by Eric Mu.
Miles Young, CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide added a few more numbers by email:
Overall, Ogilvy’s revenues from Digital are growing.
Digital business accounts for around 90% of OgilvyOne China’s revenues. Globally, digital accounts for around 60% of OgilvyOne revenues and 25% of O&M WW revenues.
Digital remains the most robust sector of the marketing communications pie, with search, mobile and video being strong performers globally. However, even digital is not immune from the effects of the global recession. In the first half of 2009, online display advertising revenue in the US was down 1% on the previous year, although this pales in comparison to the drop in all media which reached 15% over the same period. (Source: Nielsen)
Popularity: 1% [?]
Su Fei’s Diary and China’s Branded Entertainment
Normandy Madden, of AdAge China discusses the rising phenomenon of sponsored content in China.
The first such example was Ugly Betty, has been followed by Su Fei’s diary. Adapted from “Sofia’s Diary”, which ran in portugal, the plot is co-created with Internet viewers through a series of polls. The episodes, roughly 3 minutes each, are shown on major social portals such as Sina, Youku and others.
The overarching theme is that Su Fei is adapting to her life in Shanghai and faces decisions about how to deal with a problem at the end of each webisode. This experience of dealing with life in the big city is intended to resonate with China’s urbanizing youth.
Advertisers involved in the first season included 51job.com, Clinique, Sony Electronics.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Profile: Scott Kronick
Take the man out of Flint, Michigan, but send him to China and he may never come home.
Having first come to China in 1978, Scott Kronick, president of Ogilvy and Mather Group Beijing (Disclosure: A colleague), founded OgilvyPR’s offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in 1995 and 1996.
In his book, “My Thirty Years in China: 1978-2008”, Scott writes with pride at being among the first foreigners to purchase a house in Beijing. He made the purchase after having lived in the country for 13 years and at a time when all his friends called him “crazy” and told him to “kiss goodbye” to his investment. The investment paid dividends, Scott wrote his memoir, thanks to the great fengshui, which he claims also helped his career thrive.
A 21-year veteran of Ogilvy PR, he won a PR Agency Head of the Year award in 2008 for Olympics-related advertising and marketing campaigns for UPS, adidas, Volkswagen and Johnson and Johnson.
Scott’s writes that his relationship with China greatly deepened when Tsinghua Professor of Journalism Li Xiguang asked him to “brand China” for the Central government.
This gave Scott an opportunity to advise the organizing committee of the Beijing Olympics 2008. In his book, Scott talks about trying to turn Chinese government officials into professional spokespeople in a 10 session crash course.
Kronick graduated from Carman-Ainsworth high school in 1981 after playing on the school’s state championship-winning soccer team. After finishing his studies at Syracuse University, Kronick began working in public relations in New York and then Taiwan, where he met his wife.
Among his most embarrassing moments in China was a failed driving test in 2003 (test was in Chinese). It was tough breaking the news to his family, but after going back for a re-test Scott passed. He now describes himself as “one of the best defensive drivers in Beijing”.
Despite such setbacks, Kronick tells his parents that the American dream is alive and well and can be found in China.
- Profile by Bessie Ng
Popularity: 1% [?]
Is Tianjin REALLY China’s most liveable city?
UPDATE: I just learned (via ChinaHopeLive) that BusinessWeek declared Tianjin the 2nd worst place in China for an expatriate to live (and 13th worst in the world). Clearly BusinessWeek and The Economist were not working together on this!
The Economist today released their annual list of world city liveability. As someone who has lived in more than 8 cities and spent substantial amounts of time in many more, I always enjoy seeing how regions and cities stack up in The Economist’s view.
Number 1: Vancouver
Number 140: Harare, Zimbabwe
A few highlights:
Hong Kong: Tied for 39.
Dublin: 49
The World’s Capital (New York): 56
Bangkok: 100
This year, I disagree with their placing Asia so low on the list of live-ability. Bangkok, one of my favorite places to live, must have been punished in the rankings by the political instability.
I also take issue with Beijing (76) not being the best city in mainland China, beaten by Tianjin (72) and Suzhou(74). Sorry, Shanghai they ranked you 84.
For those interested in such lists, like me, please note that Munich, which topped the Monocle liveability index, ranks 28 according to The Economist
Some points highlighted by The Economist:
- Vancouver remains top with a rating of 98%. Only petty crime and the availability of good-quality housing present any challenges.
- There is little real difference within the top ten. Sydney and Zurich, in joint ninth, each have a score only around 2% lower than that for Vancouver.
- 64 cities achieve scores of more than 80%, while 13 cities occupy the very bottom tier of liveability, where ratings fall below 50%.
Any further thoughts?
Popularity: 8% [?]
Videos: Matt Mullenweg interviewed at AmCham Hong Kong
For three days running - Sunday, Monday and Tuesday - I moderated question and answer sessions with WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg during his visit to Hong Kong.
By the time we got to the AmCham yesterday, we had our act down fairly smooth and fortunately Hong Kong video production company APV was there to record it. (Apologies to readers in China, but this is only on YouTube.)
APV did a great job of breaking the event into digestible chunks, each of which would be worthy of a blog posting:
Opening remarks:
Questions and Answers:
- How would you compare Blogger and Wordpress?
- Blogging as a means of corporate transparency
- How does your company communicate internally? (Ans: P2)
- How do you drive traffic to a blog?
Popularity: 5% [?]
6 sites recommended by WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg
At yesterday’s WordCamp in Hong Kong I had the pleasure of interviewing Wordpress.com founder Matt Mullenweg about blogs, blogging and how he came to found one of the world’s largest blog-hosting companies. (WordPress.org is the open source blog and WordPress.com is one of Matt’s companies)
While it was difficult to take notes while interviewing Matt, I did jot down a few interesting sites he mentioned. I’ll be moderating a few more events while he is in Hong Kong, so hope to do a video or two before the week is out. Let me know if you have an specific questions.
Microblogging:
Matt says he is a great fan of micro-blogging and uses Twitter all the time. As for those to watch for the greatest innovation, Matt recommended:
Blogging:
Matt highlighted two sites as offering interesting new twists on blogging:
- Posterous - a site that allows you to collect items found while surfing the net, simply by sending in an email
- P2 - a site Matt advocates as a way to rid yourself of email clutter. P2 combines microblogging with a thread system, allowing you to share short messages among a small group
Asked by a member of the audience about the future of blogging, I limited Matt to the Twitter limit of fewer than 140 characters. His reply:
The future of blogging is Multimodal.
By that, he means that blogging will include more video, image and sound, to reflect the evolution of our online life.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Poll Result: Best VPN to leap China’s Great Firewall?
With the recent blockage of YouTube in China, I am once again searching for the best proxy service to allow full Internet usage from the PRC.
Based on a wildly unscientific poll this morning of those people who follow my Twitter feed (with more than 25 responses), here’s an overview of the services people use to get around the Great Firewall:
WINNER: Witopia - Undisputed winner. Quality of service, speed of surfing, though it is said to be relatively expensive at US$50 to US$60 per year.
- Hotspot Shield - Bandwidth limits can be painful. Force you to wait until the next month if you use it too much.
- Ultrasurf
- StrongVPN
Interesting to note that one person warned me against posting this, because the government might shut down their preferred service. Since these services advertise all over the place, I don’t think that should be too much of a concern.
Any other suggestions or views on these services?
Popularity: 16% [?]
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Thomas Crampton was a correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times for more than a decade, reporting from five continents, writing a column on Asia and covering Asian politics, economics and culture. Currently based in Hong Kong, he writes here about China, the Internet and New Media seen from Asia, while also advising companies on digital communication strategies. For more information click here...
