Hong Kong
Facebook Repeatedly Deleting Hong Kong Opposition Groups
Today’s South China Morning Post reports how Hong Kong’s political opposition has faced repeated deletion of their Facebook groups.
Read the article here (behind paywall), but some key points raised:
A Facebook group with 84,298 members formed to oppose the pro-establishment DAB was deleted
Kelvin Sit Tak-O, who runs a discussion group that opposes the pro-establishment party, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), said his group’s Facebook page was shut down without notice on Thursday. The group had 84,298 members and was aiming for 100,000.
How were they deleted?
The closures could have been triggered by opponents flagging the group as “abusive” with Facebook administrators, Mr. Sit speculated. A spokesperson for Facebook was not immediately available for comment.
This is not the first time it has happened to Hong Kong opposition groups
Controversial Facebook groups were closed in 2008 in the run-up to the Olympic torch relay passing through Hong Kong, as Beijing grew especially sensitive to issues such as Tibetan self-determination. Christina Chan Hau-man, a student protester who waved a Tibetan flag during the torch relay and used Facebook to rally support, had her account closed days before the event. At the time, she said she was told her page had been closed because of “persistent misuse of the site”.
Ironically, this comes as Hong Kong government is pushing to engage citizens online, with a 3-hour online forum taking place today.
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Hong Kong Twestival Supports the FCC Charity Fund
The Global Twestival, celebration of Twitter, is coming to Hong Kong and I am very pleased to say it is supporting the FCC Charity Fund. A great scholarship and language training program that I have been involved with for 7 years.
Here’s the details:
Following the success of the first global Twestival on 12th February, 2009, in which 202 cities participated, Twestival returns in September with a local twist on “Twestival” – the volunteer-run, charity fundraising events for people who know each other through the micro-blogging service twitter.com. The Hong Kong event will take place on 12th September, 2009 at The Culture Club Gallery and Guru raising funds for Hong Kong based FCC Charity Fund that helps educate Hong Kong’s neediest children.
The first 24 hour “‘tweet-up’ with a social conscience” inspired thousands and raised $250,000 for clean water charity, charity: water, and the next event Twestival Local, looks to be even bigger. Twestival Local again gives every city in the world the chance to hold their own Twestival and choose their own local charity. Twitter users in Hong Kong chose FCC Charity Fund based on an online vote, details of which you can see at www.hongkong.twestival.com.
Volunteer teams in Hong Kong and cities across the world are now coming together to survey their communities, nominate causes, plan events, gather sponsors and raise funds.
Hong Kong Twestival organizer Jay Oatway said “We’re so excited about the next Twestival in Hong Kong and working with our great team of volunteers and sponsors to raise funds for FCC Charity Fund. We’re hoping to see lots of Hong Kong Twitter users coming along to have an amazing time with us and generate lots of cash and awareness!”.
Details of the event:
Venue: The Culture Club Gallery and Guru (2 adjacent clubs)
Address: 13-15 Elgin Street (Lower), Soho, Central
Time: 8:30-11:30 pm on 12th Sep 2009
Features: Live music, DJs, comedians, big screens, instant twitter messages, attractive door prizes & luck draw prizes (including Raymond Weil watch, Skagen Watch, dine-dining coupons, etc).
Price: $150
Includes 2 Carlsberg beers, 1 raffle tickets, 1 goodie bag, donation and a lot of fun.
Tickets available at Amiando
About FCC Charity Fund
The ‘FCC Charity Fund’ has raised more than HK$23 million over the past seven years and awarded university scholarships to 63 students from Hong Kong’s low-income families through The Po Leung Kuk/Henrik Nielsen/Foreign Correspondents’ Club Scholarship Fund, as well as funding language training centres through The Po Leung Kuk/JP Morgan/Foreign Correspondents’ Club Language Training Program and The Po Leung Kuk/Merrill Lynch/Foreign Correspondents’ Club Children’s Learning Centre and Child Welfare Centre.
JP Morgan has generously partnered with the FCC Charity Fund since the first Language Training Centre (LTC) was established five years ago at the Po Leung Kuk headquarters in Causeway Bay, a facility that gives 300 PLK children in residence the chance to learn English and Putonghua. The unique and creative teaching style designed by the LTC team has made learning a foreign language easier and more fun for the children.
The FCC Charity Fund is proud to announce the opening last May of The Po Leung Kuk/Merrill Lynch/Foreign Correspondents’ Club Children’s Learning Centre and Child Welfare Centre in Lei Muk Shue in Kowloon. Initially, the centre is providing the much needed language course to 150 children from underprivileged families in that area. The FCC Charity Fund and its partner sponsors strongly believe that these language skills will help the children better cope with the challenging requirements of today’s business world.
In addition to financial support for its 63 university scholarship students, the Charity Fund assists its scholars with internships and employment support through the vast network of the FCC’s members who represent diverse industries and professions. FCC scholars are currently employed at Hong Kong’s top law firms as well as various media, hospitality, medical, technical and financial institutions.
Online donations page for the Language Training Program
For more information on, please see the contact list below.
Twestival Hong Kong:
Twitter: @twestivalHK
Web site: http://hongkong.twestival.com
Media enquiry: jay@charged.mobi , aquarius.chiu@gmail.com
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Jobs: TV Producers at Thomson Reuters Hong Kong
In this era of media cutbacks, nice to see someone hiring! There are 2 producer slots and one administrative assistant slot.
TV Producer, Insider, Hong Kong-NEW00000905*
Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world’s most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. More information about Thomson Reuters and its financial performance can be found on www.ThomsonReuters.com
.
*Responsibilities*
Reuters new financial video service is looking for an experienced financial TV producer to help steer and shape news programming for Asia. The producer will produce live shows from Reuters new Hong Kong studio, and work closely with a virtual team of Insider reporters/producers dotted across the
region.
This is a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of Reuters’ new multimedia push and provide a global audience of finance specialists with important financial stories emanating from Sydney to Seoul.
The producer will be responsible for getting Insider’s live programming to air, steering shows on financial topics ranging from foreign exchange to commodities and breaking general news.
Working on a new multimedia product, the producer should be able to take a fresh perspective on TV production, and be adaptable to new forms of video journalism incorporating the use of computer graphics and sophisticated data.
This position will be offered on local terms and conditions. Contact with questions: tara.joseph@thomsonreuters.com.
*Qualifications*
- Proven track record in live TV production
- Minimum 5 years financial news experience; focus on Asia a plus
- Ability to work under tight deadlines, digesting sometimes complex stories quickly
- Experience with digital editing systems, graphics systems, Reuters screens a plus
- Strong writing, organisational skills and teamwork skills essential
Thomson Reuters employees take pride in providing our customers around the world with information that is timely, accurate, unbiased and trusted. We have a profound respect for the professions and customers we serve and define our success in terms of their success. Our work environment is dynamic, innovative and entrepreneurial. We have a result-oriented culture that demands excellence, agility, and the desire to move quickly and precisely to seize opportunities. Our environment is both challenging and supportive - we give employees the opportunity to develop their skills and do their best work.
Thomson Reuters values diversity of culture and thought and seeks talented, qualified employees in all its operations around the world regardless of race, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age or any other protected classification under country or local law.
Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
*Job*
News/Editorial
* Primary Location
*HKG-Hong Kong-HKG-Hong Kong-10/F Cityplaza 3
*Organization* Markets Editorial Specialists
Schedule Full-time
Job Type Standard
Shift Day Job
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Meet Marko Ahtisaari: Dopplr co-founder and Internet visionary
It gives me great pleasure to announce that Marko Ahtisaari will be in Hong Kong tomorrow appearing at an event to discuss Dopplr, his start-up Web 2.0 travel service.
Well beyond Dopplr, the philosophy professor-turned Web 2.0-er has long been at the leading edge of thinking about digital.
Marko Ahtisaari has worked previously as Director of Design Strategy at Nokia and serves on the board of directors of F-Secure and Artek. Most recently Ahtisaari has been Head of Brand & Design at Blyk, the free mobile network for young people funded by advertising, and will continue in a role supporting Blyk in its partnering and expansion strategy.
The event - which is free - will take place from 6:30 - 8:30 PM on Tuesday 23 June at Mozart Stub’n, just above Lan Kwai Fung at 8 Glenealy Street
“How Digital Influencers Travel”
Dopplr research finds travellers share plans before making them
You are invited to a presentation of fresh data, insight and conversation on the travel patterns of the world’s digital influencers. The speaker is Marko Ahtisaari, CEO of Dopplr, the leading international online service for smarter travel. Dopplr is backed by an premier group of international investors including Tyler Brûlé (Moncole), Thomas Glocer (Thomson Reuters), Esther Dyson, Joi Ito, Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn and Facebook) and Martin Varsavsky.
For a taster please see:
http://blog.dopplr.com/2009/05/11/data-how-the-dopplr-community-travels/
About Dopplr
Dopplr is a service for smart travellers. Dopplr members share personal and business travel plans privately with their networks, and exchange tips on places to stay, eat and explore in cities around the world. Dopplr presents this collective intelligence - the travel patterns, tips and advice of the world’s most frequent travellers - as a Social Atlas - available on your PC or mobile.
Founded in 2007, Dopplr has offices on London’s Silicon Roundabout and the Helsinki seaside. Dopplr is backed by a premier international group of investors including Tyler Brûlé, Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn, Facebook)), Esther Dyson, Thomas Glocer, Martin Varsavsky, Lars Hinrichs (Xing), Joichi Ito and Saul Klein.
Further info on Marko:
http://ahtisaari.typepad.com/about.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marko_Ahtisaari
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopplr
Further on Dopplr:
http://www.dopplr.com/socialatlas
http://blog.dopplr.com
PHOTO BY JOI ITO
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Amazing Job: Social Media Internship at Ogilvy
For the first time, I am actually posting a job ad on my blog for myself.
In my role as Asia-Pacific Director of 360 Digital Influence at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, I work with a team stretching across 24 cities in 15 Asian territories. Our already strong team aims to be the undisputed leader for social media understanding, strategy and execution in Asia-Pacific.
For my role in this, I have crushing need for an intern.
Are you the right person? If yes, you are:
1- Passionate about social media
You love it, live it and would crawl across broken glass to spend all day working learning about Social Media across Asia.
Required: You must be an active blogger, Twitterer and have accounts on more than one social network.
Bonus points for:
- Blog Googlerank of 2 or higher
- Connections to more than 100 people on any single social network
- More than 150 Twitter followers
- A view on which short URL service is best and why
- A YouTube channel or similar vlogging account
2- Passionate about Asia
If you do not speak an Asian language in addition to English, you must have traveled through the region and read extensively about its cultures.
Below please find the more standard announcement that includes important details. Please contact Camay directly.
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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?
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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.
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Meet Wordpress founder Matt Mullenweg in Hong Kong
When I heard Matt Mullenweg would be passing through Hong Kong, I immediately urged him to speak to a broader audience than the Internet crowd.
The result is this American Chamber of Commerce luncheon that I will moderate on April 7.
In case you have never heard of Matt, he was recently named alongside Steve Jobs and the Google founders as BusinessWeek’s 25 most influential people on the web in 2009.
Matt has lived a classic Silicon Valley story: Starting by programming on a computer in his mother’s kitchen just six years ago, the 25-year-old college dropout turned Wordpress into a cultural phenomenon that has now grown to 13 million registered users worldwide.
Roughly 200 million people per month now read the blogs Matt helped create. Among those using Wordpress include CNN, Fox News, The New York Times, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Icelandic rocker Bjork.
Interestingly, Matt has welcomed anyone to copy, use and adapt his work, yet managed to build a global and profitable company.
At this lunch Matt will speak about:
- How Silicon Valley thrives on college drop-outs launching companies
- How to build a community business
- How blogs change media, business and communication
- The newest and key online media trends emerging from Silicon Valley
Other recent honors given to Matt include being named one of PC World¡¦s Top 50 People on the Web, Inc.com’s 30 under 30. Matt will share his story, what it is like to build a company in Silicon Valley and his outlook for new media and blogs.
How Blogging Changed the World
Matt Mullenweg, Founder, Wordpress.orgA lunch on Tuesday April 7 from 12-2pm
HKUST Business School Central
Rm 1501-02, 15/F HK Club Bldg
3A Chater Road Central, Hong KongMember Fee HK$250; Non Member Fee HK$350; For bookings contact Christy Li cli@amcham.org.hk; Media welcome, contact: Mark Wong mwong@amcham.org.hk
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Christine Brendle
Christine Brendle is the Managing Director of Dow Jones Consumer Media Group in Asia.
Based in Hong Kong, she has management responsibility for the commercial operations of The Wall Street Journal Asia and the regional web site asia.WSJ.com, the monthly Far Eastern Economic Review, the Chinese-language web site Chinese WSJ.com, and spearheads business development initiatives targeting consumers across Asia, both directly and through partnerships.
Ms. Brendle joined the Journal in February 2006, following a 17-year career with the Hachette Filipacchi publishing group in Asia, the U.S. and Europe.
From 1995 to 2001, Ms. Brendle served as president and chief executive officer of Hachette Filipacchi Asia Pacific, and from 1993 to 1995 served as vice president, Asia Pacific, and managing director, Hong Kong and China.
Ms. Brendle also served in a number of other roles for Hachette Filipacchi: from 1991 to 1993 for Hachette Filipacchi Japan and Time Hachette Japan; from 1988 to 1991 for ELLE Publishing and Hachette Publications Inc. in New York; and from 1984 to 1988 for Hachette Filipacchi Presse S.A. in France.
From 2001 until joining the Journal in 2006, Ms. Brendle had been a media industry consultant and publishing entrepreneur. In 2004, with her partners she launched Daily7 and Daily10, two daily English-language newspapers for children. Since 2000, she also has served as a foreign trade adviser to the French Trade Commission.
Ms. Brendle received an M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business Administration of Columbia University in New York, and a diploma from ESSEC (Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales) in France.
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Angus Lau
Hong Kong’s resident Web 2.0 expert through his influential English-language blog 852signal, Angus Lau travels extensively around China
He has also written articles for the China Web Review and Read/Write Web.
Like all avid social media enthusiasts, he maintains an active Twitter feed – recently telling his followers that he “Just had some Hanu beef, Korean beef is better” and that he’s “given up on Google latitude.”
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Hitwise: Asiaxpat traffic spikes
Asiaxpat, an expat community site in Hong Kong that I have written about previously, was featured by Hitwise one of the fastest growing online hubs among Hong Kong Internet users.
Market share of visits to Asiaxpat’s Hong Kong portal increased by 30.55% between November 2008 and January 2009, according to Hitwise. The site led the Hitwise Community category in January 2009, accounting for 30.88% market share of visits.
Asiaxpat calls itself a resource for ‘Professionals, Expats and Executives living in Asia’, and includes personals, classified advertisements, and message boards. The professional user-base was reflected in Hitwise’ Clickstream traffic; examples of websites targeted at similar users in January 2009 included, The Leading Hotels of the World, Xe.com and Bloomberg.
Google Maps was prominent in driving traffic to Asiaxpat in January 2009, highlighting the complimentary business information focus of both websites.
Commercial industries that received significant referral traffic from Expat Hong in January 2009 included Business and Finance with 10.54% of downstream traffic, Travel with 6.89% and Shopping & Classifieds with 5.75%. Community websites, particularly those with niche audiences, potentially offer significant competition to traditional News and Media brands in attracting advertisers.
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Hong Kong real estate down, but still pricey
This report released today by Colliers is somewhat good news for us non-landowners living in Hong Kong.
Real estate prices are sharply down, but as the chart shows, the level still remains well above the last decade’s prices.
Oh, to have bought in 2003 during SARS…
(What is happening to rents?)
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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...
