Posts Tagged ‘chinese internet’

friday 5 | chinese internet “gates:” netizen memes & scandals ::

Friday, September 18th, 2009

:: “men,” as in 门 (the Chinese word for “gate”), is an important element of modern Web culture in China. Chinese netizens and even the local media at-large are fond of tacking “gate” (门) onto scandals and memes, perhaps even more than the Western press. Chinese netizens are even quicker on the draw; online conversation about scandals is often a forest of “gates,” many of which have similar or even identical names. This week’s Friday 5 takes a look at recent examples from five of the most common categories of “gates” on the Chinese Internet: food quality, donations, cars, espionage, and of course, the centerpiece of all durable Internet buzz, sex!

food: radiation-gate ::
Food safety has been a serious issue for Chinese netizens this year following the melamine milk scandal of 2008. A number of brands have been embroiled in their own additive scandals (a previous Friday 5 addressed Mengniu and Wang Lao Ji); in July, two instant noodle makers, Master Kong and UniPresident, found themselves in a scandal over labeling and irradiation. The allegations, published by a prominent business newspaper, accused the two companies of distributing instant noodle packages without clearly labeling that they had been irradiated. Both companies denied the charges and insisted that their products were completely safe. Dubbed “radiation-gate” (辐射门) by netizens and media, the scandal was related more to the deception than the radiation itself (although a small but significant portion of the online conversation was devoted to radiation fears). The initial response of both brands was mealy-mouthed: UniPresident claimed it did not use radiation but “could not rule out” use by its suppliers; Master Kong pled ignorance, saying it didn’t know it had to note that its suppliers used radiation. A rather snarky news report made the rounds of video sites and caught the attention of online gamers and other netaholics who survive off of instant noodles at Web cafe’s, etc. (”Woe to my instant noodle life!” reads one comment on the video.) Other netizens piled on with other quality complaints. Ultimately both brands said that they would improve their package labeling. Although the news caused considerable stir immediately after it was reported, Chinese Internet users quickly tired of the affair and it is no longer brought up in discussions of the brand and instant noodles in general. As with many of the minor “-gates” that crop up in online conversation, “radiation-gate” does not exclusively refer to the instant noodles affair: it’s also been used by Chinese netizens to describe mobile phone radiation scares and the effect of high-voltage power pylons on residential neighborhoods.

Yu Qiuyu’s “donation-gate” ::
Yu Qiuyu (余秋雨), a drama professor turned popular essayist turned TV commentator, has long been dogged by controversies ranging from accusations of being a henchman of the notorious Gang of Four to having accepted a luxurious villa from the Shenzhen government in exchange for favorable reviews. The source of Yu’s latest controversy, known as “donation gate,” was his old foe Xiao Xialin (肖夏林), whom he once brought to court for defamation. On May 14, 2008, shortly after the Sichuan earthquake, Yu announced that he would donate RMB 200,000 to build an elementary school in the quake-stricken Dujiangyan. In a blog post published on May 5 of this year, Xiao Xialin suggested that Yu had not spent a cent of his own money. He demanded that Yu provide proof he had really donated. A blog post Yu made in the wake of the earthquake in which he issued a “tearful plea” to the Chinese people had been mocked by a wide swath of Internet users, and his silence on the donation issue revived his “tearful professor” title and prompted more mockery from netizens, including this article sarcastically proposing that the Chinese government should help Yu to forge a donation receipt. Some public figures, such as Yi Zhongtian (易中天), also urged Yu to show evidence. The belated response came in June 22, when Yu denied the charges following a newspaper report that quoted a local government official from Dujiangyan confirming that Yu did donate RMB 200,000. According to the government official, because the construction standard has been upgraded after the earthquake, RMB 200,000 was no longer enough to build a school, so it was spent to buy books for three school libraries to be named after him. This was not enough for some netizens, who were put off by the thought that Yu had made the donation under public pressure or out of self-promotion. “Whether the donation is real or not, I think that the actions of Yu and his cronies are more disgusting than misappropriating RMB 200,000,” read one comment.

car scandals
In the beginning of September, a driver in Shanghai named Zhang was stopped by a pedestrian who complained that his stomach was killing him and who asked for a ride to the hospital because he couldn’t wait for a taxi. Zhang refused his passenger’s offer of payment, but when he reached the hospital, the passenger grabbed his keys, and the car was surrounded by seven or eight uniformed individuals. Zhang was charged with illegally operating a taxi. In many Chinese cities, unlicensed taxis are frequently targeted by law-enforcement campaigns and their drivers are subject to fines, license suspensions, or even more serious punishment, but this kind of fishing expedition, preying on the good intentions of ordinary citizens, raised the hackles of many netizens who already had a fairly poor opinion of local law enforcement. The situation first came to public attention when Han Han (韩寒), a bestselling author and race car driver who keeps a phenomenally popular blog, posted two letters under the heading “This is certainly just a rumor” on September 11. From Han, who has been named an online public opinion leader by a number of media outlets, the story received immense exposure, and the mainstream press tracked down and verified the story. “Fishing-gate” spawned op-ed columns on entrapment, the rule of law, and the limits of administrative authority, and these in turn generated even more netizen debate (”Where is my Party, my great Communist Party? We miss you so!”) and parody. Han prefaced his repost of the rumors with the following comment: “I’m republishing two posts that have not been verified. It’s highly likely that they’re just rumor-mongering by reactionary elements bent on ruining the National Day atmosphere. I’ve selected them so that the relevant departments can proceed with arrests.” This is a reference to the arrests of previous online rumor-mongers, including one of the netizens involved in a previous car-related “gate”: the “Hu Bin stand-in-gate” (胡斌替身门 or “surro-gate”, as one translator put it). That scandal captured netizen imaginations over the summer and demonstrated the limits of the power of crowd-sourcing to determine the truth from questionable photographs. Hu Bin, who struck and killed a pedestrian, turned up in court looking very different from photos taken at the scene. Rumors sprung up online that he had hired someone to take his place in prison. The “human flesh search engine” tracked down a likely stand-in. Someone masquerading as that individual denied the rumors, but it took the mainstream media to clear up the situation and determine that Hu Bin had actually appeared in court.

spygates ::
Espionage has considerable cachet online in China. Unverifiability of much of the information about spies has rumors flying fast and thick, and Chinese netizens attempt to ferret out the truth even as the mainstream media remains tight-lipped. In June, rumors snowballed that Fang Jing (方静), the host of prime-time CCTV programs such as Defense Watch who had lately been absent from the screen, was accused of being a spy for Taiwan, detained, and missing for three months. “Fang Jing Spy-Gate” (方静间谍门) led to a lot of speculation online about the situation, even after she denied the rumors. Later it was revealed that rival CCTV presenter and professor Ah Yi (阿忆), who could have been jealous of her, exposed her status as a “spy” for Taiwan in a cryptic blog post (since deleted; repost here). Fang Jing quickly returned to present another program for CCTV to put an end to the rumors altogether, although conversation about the incident continued: a blog post on Sina BBS dissects the heated discussion following Ah Yi’s rumormongering. In another recent spy-gate, Rio Tinto employees, including the Shanghai General Manager, were detained by the Chinese PSB in July on suspicion of stealing state secrets. Known as “Rio Tinto Gate” (力拓门) or “Rio Tinto Spy-gate” (力拓间谍门), the case came at a time of bad relations between the Australian government and China, and it sent a shock through the international iron ore industry. The murky situation was quickly elaborated upon, but the online response in China was widespread. Both the Fang Jing and Rio Tinto Spy-Gates were talked about in light of the then-popular espionage TV drama Hidden (潜伏), which involves a Communist spy in the KMT before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Variations of the spy cases have cropped up, after Rio Tinto’s “gate” turned into a “spy and espionage gate”: on the Netease Money BBS, for example, netizens talked about a senior member of Shougang (首都钢铁公司) being taken away for corruption. In the iron industry, it seems, espionage “gates” are closely tied to bribery “gates” at the moment.

sex-gates ::
Since the Edison Chen (陈冠希) “racy photo-gate” broke in 2008, leakages of private / bedroom photos and videos have turned up fairly regularly on the Chinese Internet. The ones that attract the most attention involve celebrities who inadvertently got their overexposed personal pictures leaked. Often these get compared to the Edison Chen scandal (as the topless paparazzi photos of Zhang Ziyi (子怡) – “beach gate” – was in January), but they tend to fade away much more quickly. Other popular sex scandals involve teens who intentionally post their own racy photos or videos to the Internet. In “breast rubbing gate”: In a video which has been circulating on the Internet since late June, a female student is lying on a desk in what looks like a classroom; around her are a number of male students fondling her breasts. Via “human flesh searching” tactics, Chinese netizens eventually discovered the real identity of the girl, a student at a vocational school in Cixi, Zhejiang Province. After the incident broke, the girl in the video posted to her QQ page (repost) that she was under immense pressure and felt suicidal. Netizens engaged in heated debate about the moral issues involved. This blog post argues that the moralists who criticize the girl have done more damage to her than her classmates. Netizens also discussed another issue highlighted by the incident, the imbalance gender ratio: as the only female in the class, the girl said she gave consent to the boys for the “solidarity of the whole class.” For these sex scandals, even though most websites swiftly delete the content whenever it pops up, a sufficiently determined and patient Internet user can eventually locate a reposted copy.

/// AjS

[Friday 5 is the product of my work for Edelman Digital (China). Link here for the full Friday 5 archive. If you'd like to be added to the bilingual (English & Chinese) Friday 5 email distribution list, please send me an email at: adam DOT schokora AT edelman DOT com.]

周五5 | 中国互联网上的“门”:网民热议的丑闻事件 ::

Friday, September 18th, 2009

:: 相比较于西方的同行,中国媒体对为各种丑闻贴上“门”

字标签的偏好有过之而不及。中国网民更是将此发挥到了机制。门字在网上对于形形色色的各种负面事件的讨论中随处可见,甚至不同的事件可以有类似或相同的名称。本周的Friday 5汇集了五大类“门”事件,其中涉及捐款,汽车,间谍,以及饮食男女等诸多方面。

食品安全:辐射门 ::
在2008年的三聚氰胺毒奶粉事件之后,食品安全成为人们关注的焦点。众多品牌也遭受到添加剂事件的困扰(此前报道的蒙牛和王老吉);在六月,一家经济报纸刊登文章,指出两家方便面企业,康师傅和统一,没有在其包装上明确标注其使用了放射性物质进行杀菌灭活。两家企业否认了这一指责。此事件被称为辐射门,相比与放射性物质所带来的恐慌相比,舆论更多的是对企业说谎的谴责声,只有小部分议论是关于放射性物质杀菌所可能带来的危害。两家企业的最初反应含糊其辞。统一声称自己并未使用辐射消毒,但不排除自己的供货商使用这种消毒方法;康师傅则声称自己并不知道使用了经过辐射的原材料必须要标识。一个对此事件的电视报道在各个视频网站被转载并在大量消费泡面的网民中间引起反响(一位网友评论到:哎,我的泡面生涯!)其他网友则纷纷反映其它质量问题。最终,两家企业表示将会改进自己的标识方法。尽管事件被曝光的最初获得大量的关注,但网民的注意力很快转移,此类话题在互联网上也很少再被提起。对于网上层出不穷的各种影响有限的门事件一样,辐射门也不仅仅局限于方便面食品,它还被用来指称手机高压变电器电磁波辐射所带来的恐慌。

捐款门 ::
从一名戏剧教授成功转型成为散文家的余秋雨,近年又成为一名活跃于电视荧屏的评论家。成名以来,关于他的争议一直不绝于耳,其中包括他曾经是臭名昭著的四人帮的帮凶,以及他以赞美文章从深圳政府处换取豪华别墅。余最新的一次争议同样来源自所谓的“咬余专业户”肖夏林。在2008年五月十四日汶川地震后不久,余宣布自己将为灾区捐赠二十万元,用于建造一座希望小学。肖在近年五月五日的一篇博客中余极有可能没有掏一分钱。夏还进一步要求余出示证据以表明捐款确有其事。此前,余秋雨的一篇《含泪劝告请愿灾民》已经招致网民的一片嘲笑,而他此次对于捐款问题的沉默再次引发众人对这位“含泪教授”的讥讽,其中包括这篇网民戏称要求政府为余秋雨伪造一份捐款收据。包括易中天在内的一些社会名人也纷纷向余秋雨开炮,敦促其公示证据。余对指责的否认直到六月二十二日才姗姗来迟。而此前的一篇新闻报道已经引述了都江堰的一位政府官员确认了余秋雨的捐款。该官员同时声称由于震后对新建建筑的抗震要求提高,建设一座小学的所需花费超出二十万元,因此余的捐款被用于为三座图书馆购置书籍。这仍然不能满足一部分网民,因为对他们而言,余的捐款究竟是出于自我宣传或者是舆论压力依然不得而知(不管真捐假捐,我都觉得余及其同伙此举比贪污挪用了20万救灾款还恶心)。

钓鱼门和替身门 ::
在九月初,上海一名张姓司机搭载了一名声称剧烈腹痛的行人前往医院。张拒绝了此人的支付车费的请求,但是当车辆驶入医院的时候,乘客夺取钥匙,同时,一群身着制服的人包围了车辆。张被控非法营运。在很多中国城市,未经注册的出租车是执法机构的打击对象,一旦被发现,往往被课以高额罚款,暂扣驾照,以及其它严厉惩罚。这种“诱使犯罪”,并往往殃及出于公德心的驾驶员的执法手法受到本来就对当地执法评价很低的网民的大加鞭笞。此事件最早被畅销作家兼赛车手韩寒在的曝光而引发公众关注。九月十一日,关于此事的两封信被韩冠以“这一定是造谣”的标题发表在博客上。韩的舆论领袖的身份使事件获得极高曝光度,而大量主流媒体随后跟进并确认信中反映属实。关于“钓鱼门”的大量专栏见诸报端,讨论了事件所涉及的诱捕,法制,以及政府权限等诸多问题,这些文章又进一步依法网上的讨论(“我的党在哪里,伟大共产党呀,我们想念你” ;惊爆上海好心车主被“钓鱼”后与执法大队的对话)。韩寒为此文作序,称“转两个帖子,未经核实,极其有可能是反动份子破坏国庆气氛的造谣之作,我特别选出,以便相关部门进行追捕”暗指此前数名网民因制作和散布谣言而被捕,其中包括另一与汽车有关的“胡斌替身门”。此事件充分调动了网民的想象力,并暴露了众多网民在鉴定嫌疑照片时的不足。驾驶汽车撞击过路行人致死的胡斌在法庭照片与以往的形象迥异,引发他雇佣替身为其坐牢的猜测。网民甚至通过人肉搜索,爆出一个与照片中人物相貌相似的所谓“替身”。此后有人以该“替身”身份发帖否认“自己”替胡斌入狱,主流媒体最终证明胡斌确实已经接受审判厘清关于此事的传言

间谍门 ::
形形色色的间谍事件常在。由于主流媒体往往三缄其口,使得众多传言一时漫天飞舞,令人真假莫辩。六月有关于中央电视台国防观察节目主持人方静被传为台湾间谍,已经离职并接受调查。尽管方出面否认此传闻种种猜测依然不止。央视前主持人兼北大教授阿忆是此次事件的始作俑者。阿忆或许出于嫉妒, 在博客上发表了一篇含糊其词的文章,指称方静为台湾间谍(原文已被删除,但转帖仍然能够被读到)方静很快重返央视,主持另一档节目,结束了种种传言。但网上对此的讨论依然不止:发表在新浪bbs上的一篇文章分析此事件的前因后果。另外一件间谍门则涉及澳大利亚铁矿巨头力拓。由于事发正值中澳关系紧张时期,国际铁矿石业也受此影响。尽管真相逐渐露出水面,但该事件在网上影响广泛。关于两起间谍门的讨论往往与热播谍战电视剧《潜伏》相提并论。此间谍门的后果不断延续,在网易论坛上,网民们谈论到首都钢铁公司一名高管被警方带走接受调查。在钢铁行业,“间谍门”似乎被称作为受贿门更确切些。

色情门 ::
自从2008年陈冠希艳照门曝光之后,不时有个人私密照片或视频泄露到互联网上。最引人注意的多是那些不慎流出的娱乐界明星超尺度的私房照。这些照片经常被拿来和陈冠希艳照门做对比(例如一月份章子怡几近赤裸的“沙滩门”事件),但是这些事件大都很快从公众视线中淡去。此外,色情门还涉及还涉及一些未成年人在网上发布的自己的性爱照片或录像。一个名为“摸奶门”的视频自六月底以来在网上大量传播。视频中的女主角躺在貌似一间教室的课桌上,身边围绕着一群男学生,轮流抚摸女生的胸部。网民还确定了该女生的真实身份:浙江慈溪某职业学校的一名女生。事后,该女生在自己的QQ页面上声称自己面临很大的压力,甚至有自杀的念头。网上对该事件的讨论大多涉及的道德伦理方面。一篇博客文章认为道德的卫道士给该女生造成的伤害远大于视频中的男同学。对于此事件中折射出来的另一个问题:男女人口比例的失调,网民们也有讨论:作为班里的唯一女性,该女生声称她之所以同意男生的请求是出于班级的团结。这些尽管多数网站迅速删除了所有这些色情门有关的内容,对于有毅力兼耐心的网民,找到被大量转载的内容并非难事。

/// AjS

[Friday 5是我服务的爱德曼数码(中国)的一项产品。这里是全部Friday 5 的存档。 有意通过电子邮件订阅双语Friday 5者可通过以下地址向我发送邮件索取:adam 点 schokora 在 edelman 点 com。]

friday 5 | how chinese netizens share online ::

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

:: sharing information on the Chinese Internet is no more complicated than simple cut-and-paste. Netizens who come across something that appeals to them often full-scale copy-and-paste it into a blog or BBS forum post (most of the time without attribution) and share it directly. And of course, friends / colleagues frequently just resort to sharing links / content via instant messaging or email. Yet more sophisticated and useful tools do exist to help Chinese netizens organize and share articles, Web pages, and all sorts of other online content on a larger / public scale. Known by the names “bookmarking” (书签) or “social bookmarking” (网摘, literally “web digest”), these systems provide netizens with a handy link or button that will submit the current page / piece of content to a personal or public index, and allow users to add tags to classify information in what’s known as a “folksonomy” (分众分类法). Although still occasionally standalone Web sites (like the well-known Delicious.com), these services are more commonly folded into other social networking Web sites, or have additional community-oriented functionality, as the list below demonstrates.

Digg clones ::
The Chinese Internet has given birth to a slew of Digg clones: Web sites whose users submit short descriptions of interesting Web content and then collectively vote the submissions up (”dig”) or down (”bury”). These have found varying degrees of success — it takes a critical mass of users to make the voting process interesting / valuable for the community, and many sites die off after failing to build up a viable community. A number of special-interest Digg clones have survived. Leitie (雷贴网) and Zkaoo are geared toward wacky, funny videos, and links. Netizens’ constant thirst for new ways to be amused have generated votes and comments on both these sites. Another problem faced by sites with user-generated content is spam: unscrupulous marketers can exploit the system to swamp genuinely interesting content with their crass advertising. Some sites are better at self-moderating than others. Digg-style voting has been put to more successful use in news sites, where votes determine how stories are ranked / placed on the page. Tech site CNBeta, for example, offers a “Dig view” on its front page that ranks and displays stories by popularity, and user comments are promoted to featured status through a similar voting process.

365key ::
365key was one of the earliest bookmarking and tagging systems in mainland China. The site is associated with the tech Web site Donews, and at the bottom of every Donews article (and on other sites that use the 365key system) users can click a link that says “Save this page on 365key” (收藏此页到365Key) to bookmark the page. For pages that aren’t 365key-enabled, users have the option of using a browser plug-in or a Javascript bookmarklet, or they can manually add the link. The site also provides a Digg-like system for voting up articles; the most “dug” links are featured on the front page of the site. 365key’s navigation bar has special categories for major online communities such as IT168, Mop, VeryCD, and CSDN Tech, which feature the latest and most popular links from those sites that have been bookmarked on 365key. A lot of other independent bookmarkers, such as Leshou, Quzhai (formerly at http://www.quzhai.com), and Shouker followed in 365key’s wake, but few made much of a long-term impression on the Chinese internet.

RSS oriented systems ::
Just as how Google Reader offers a “shared items” feature, many Chinese RSS readers allow their users to summarize, tag, share, and vote on items in their feeds. Zhuaxia, a popular feed reader, supports both bookmarking and recommending, and provides a variety of views for checking out what other users are interested in. The “popular articles” view  (热文) lists the highest-ranked recent posts (there’s also a separate chart for popular videos), and users can also look at the most popular articles from the past month or year (note: this is all done through Javascript, so it’s impossible to provide direct links). Xianguo, another web-based RSS reader, emphasizes the voting even more: its front page is dominated by a ranking of the current most popular articles, with a sidebar that features posts shared by popular users. Additional functions of these and other RSS applications were shared in an earlier 56minus1 post. Top-rated articles on both Zhuaxia and Xianguo have far more votes than standalone Digg-like sites, probably because their RSS functionality attracts more users than voting on its own.

social network sharing ::
One of the most popular applications on Chinese SNS Web sites is a function that allows users to syndicate jokes, photos, popular posts, videos, and other Web content to their friends. This functionality is known by various names. Xiaonei calls it “sharing.” A chain of shares from friend to friend will often give an interesting topic a huge amount of attention within a short period of time and spur conversation other places on the Internet. Some Xiaonei users have gained minor celebrity status by finding and distributing interesting content that captures the attention of tens of thousands of other Xiaonei users. Huluwa is an example: this user has 847 friends on Xiaonei itself, plus a group of fans on Douban. Kaixin001 provides a similar functionality through its “repost” function (转帖), which allows friends to share links and content within the Kaixin001 domain. Douban, an SNS based around culture and the arts, uses the term “recommend” for this functionality, and provides a handy bookmarklet allowing site members to add links to their personal Douban feed for sharing with friends.

in-house systems ::
Portals and search engines have their own bookmarking tools. QQ’s bookmark service (QQ书签) integrates the standard link+description+tags format with its social network, including its wildly-popular instant message platform. Bookmarks can be collected through the QQ browser toolbar, other browser plugins and scripts, or through code users insert into the HTML of their own Web sites, and then they can be uploaded into the QQ IM application for use outside the Web browser. The front page of QQ’s bookmarks Web site lists popular links, many of which have been bookmarked by thousands of people. Baidu’s “search saver” tool (搜藏) allows users to build up their own index of bookmarked, tagged pages. Bookmarks can be either public or private; public bookmarks are aggregated into a tagged archive and shared among other Baidu users. Links to Sina’s Vivi still shows up on lots of pages, but that bookmarking system appears to have given up the ghost in 2006 or so — tags no longer work and groups have long since gone dormant. In its place is a system integrated with Sina’s blog service; Sina bloggers can click on a “save” (收藏) link at the bottom of a blog post to put them into a “favorites” list that is viewable to any visitor to their own blog.

// AjS

[Friday 5 is the product of my work at Edelman Digital (China). Link here for the full Friday 5 archive. If you'd like to be added to the bilingual (English & Chinese) Friday 5 email distribution list, please send me an email at: adam DOT schokora AT edelman DOT com.]

friday 5 | brands & chinese social networking sites ::

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

DannyYungOnBrandsAndChineseSNS:: how are companies and brands connecting with target audiences on Chinese social networking sites (SNS)? What has worked in China and what hasn’t?

Over the past few years, brand presence on Chinese SNS has largely been limited to passive (and really annoying) advertising and the occasional branded widget (see LG’s mobile phone widget on Sohu as an example, or read more about branded widgets in this 56minus1 post), but recently, several brands have pursued more creative and interactive ways to reach SNS users, upping the level of user participation and brand-consumer interactivity. These efforts range from curated BBS discussion forums to interactive contests within the confines of a particular SNS (such as a recent Chow Tai Fook-sponsored contest on QQ geared around a Valentine’s Day theme), to even more innovative offerings that connect virtual branded products with their real world counterparts.

Compared to other Internet markets, brand efforts on local Chinese SNS are still in an embryonic stage, however. A good number of Chinese SNS sites don’t have much of a brand presence or engagement in their games and widgets / applications at all, even when the user base seems primed for it. For example, one popular application on the generic, youth-oriented 360quan.com SNS has users playing the part of a McDonald’s cashier who has to serve an increasingly impatient crowd of customers, but it doesn’t appear to have any official McDonald’s involvement whatsoever (and it uses traditional characters, so it’s probably not even aimed at the mainland). A missed opportunity, perhaps? Other SNS may have been ahead of their time. HiPiHi, a Chinese virtual world similar to Second Life, features the heavily-promoted presence of IBM, which built a virtual conference center in the 3D environment. But perhaps because of technological limitations, interest surrounding brand involvement in virtual worlds seems to have ebbed, especially in China.

At any rate, Chinese SNS are ripe with opportunities for (reasonably) meaningful brand involvement. Below are five current examples of brands engaging and interacting with users on Chinese SNS:

magnum on Kaixin001.com ::
Magnum ice cream bars play a central role in a suite of games on the popular Kaixin001 social networking site. The “Special Treatment” (非常礼遇, shortened to the risque 非礼, which means to feel someone up) application involves codes printed on Magnum bars that can be exchanged for in-game credits (in the form of virtual ice-cream bars), which then enable users to take advantage of mini-apps like “going to work in a sedan chair,” “flying a fighter plane,” and “bathing in a hot spring.” Users take advantage of these mini-apps with their circle of friends on the website. What’s hosted on Kaixin001 is part of a larger campaign designed by Magnum in concert with the Poco.cn SNS. The contest for April has users accumulating virtual ice cream for a chance to win their own private Magnum party in Shanghai. New stages will be introduced in the coming months. See here for earlier 56minus1 post about MAGNUM.

iCoke on 51.com ::
CocaCola offers an application on 51.com that digitally inserts users into a boisterous Coke ad. Users choose a head shot, align it and tweak the coloring (screen shot), and then watch the resulting video (screen shot). The application is hosted through iCoke.cn, but it is fully integrated with 51.com’s user pages: users can choose a head-shot out of their 51.com photo album, and their activity is automatically recorded in their 51.com diary with the resulting video embedded into their user page. The game is part of Coke’s official BBS on 51.com (screen shot), which also features top-level forums related to advertising, music videos, polls, sports events, and various online activities. Users who invite their friends to join up (through April 19) have a chance to win real-world prizes like iPods, t-shirts, and notebook computers. The statistics about the group are kind of strange (like most metrics about the Chinese internet) as they claims over a million members but only 477,000 views, hmmm, but the top BBS posts have thousands of views and hundreds of replies.

Apple on Xiaonei.com ::
The Apple Store has a presence on Xiaonei in the form of a branded BBS forum and associated features. The BBS, called “Apple Institute” (苹果学院) (screen shot), has a few managed sub-boards in addition to a general discussion forum. There’s a section that provides info on Wifi hotspots in Beijing and Shanghai (two locations in Shanghai and three in Beijing so far, screen shot). Trendy young people using their iPods in real-world situations are displayed in the “iPod Spotter” section (screen shot). And the Diary section carries the latest Apple news. The page has seen more than 260,000 visits. Xiaonei users who apply to be friends of the Apple Institute (1782 so far) receive an Apple-themed virtual gift, such as an iMac icon. The Institute’s “members” are various Apple products, each of which has its own member page (the iPod Shuffle, for example, screen shot). Throughout 2008, the Apple Institute ran a promotion where virtual points accumulated by Xiaonei users could be exchanged for coupons good for products purchased at the Apple store, and a number of iPods were given out as prizes. Xiaonei also has an Apple Store user (Apple零售店), a “special friend” of the Apple Institute (screen shot), which mainly serves as a platform to allow users to post questions which are answered by other Apple enthusiasts.

Lenovo on Kaixin001.com ::
Kaixin001 offers a game in which users design their ideal virtual house. Lenovo launched a sponsored competition in March to judge the best-designed loft. The group currently has 14,465 “fans” (screen shot). Participants download the Loft template, design their loft, and then enter the result in one of three galleries (screen shot): Most stylish, most luxuriant, and most bewildering. All entries have to include the Lenovo A600 model all-in-one computer. The associated BBS elaborates on contest rules, and has lively discussion among members, who share designs and ideas or show off their entries. “Innovation” is emphasized as part of the design prompts, tying in to Lenovo’s brand message. In addition, contest entrants are competing to win Lenovo computers: the designer of the most popular loft will be awarded Lenovo’s new C305 model, while top finishers in the three categories get Lenovo-branded USB drives. Honorable mentions get a Kaixin001 virtual Beetle.

Adidas on Xiaonei.com ::
Sports brand Adidas has a heavy presence in the “Basketball Superstar” (篮球巨星) game on Xiaonei (screenshot). Players pit their fantasy team against missions, teamwork building exercises, and in PK (head to head) matches against teams run by other Xiaonei users. They use the virtual cash they win to get kitted out in Adidas clothing and shoes (screen shot). Game play is focused on setting up a team of “brothers” (friends from Xiaonei) and accumulating scores and other “brothers.” There are pages where you can train your brothers and, for a substantial amount of virtual cash, train existing basketball stars such as Chauncey Billups (比卢普斯) and Gilbert Arenas (阿里纳斯). PK matches are between players themselves in the game on the basis of their rankings, rather than according to actual real-world stats. The better your equipment, the more skilled your players become. You can also purchase virtual money by recharging your Xiaonei account by Paypal or credit card. The game’s BBS (screen shot) claims 123,990 group members, and many of the posts concern inviting “brothers” to join the game on their side.

// AjS

[Friday 5 is the product of my work at Edelman Digital (China). Link here for the full Friday 5 archive. If you'd like to be added to the bilingual (English & Chinese) Friday 5 email distribution list, please send me an email at: adam DOT schokora AT edelman DOT com.]

friday 5 | branded widgets & the chinese internet ::

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

DannyYungOnWidgets:: the term “widget” refers to two related but distinct concepts.

On one hand, there are downloadable / installed widgets: small programs that run on a user’s computer and accomplish simple, discrete tasks. Examples might be an alarm clock, a notepad, or a window that scrolls the latest stock quotes. See here for a more detailed description of this type of widget.

On the other hand, there are Web widgets: similar in function to downloadable / installed widgets, but instead of running on a user’s computer, they are programs that are embedded into blogs and other Web pages (basically anywhere online that allows users to paste HTML code). See here for a more detailed description of this type of widget.

In January, 2008, the Chinese Web portal Sohu announced that it had partnered with Netvibes, whose Ecosystem service is a major widget platform. Sohu will extend Netvibes’ Universal Widget API (application programming interface) throughout Asia. For this reason, a lot of the most interesting widgets on the Chinese Internet are hosted on Sohu’s widget development platform.

Branded widgets present an excellent opportunity for companies to bring value to their online audiences in a fun, interactive, and most importantly, useful way. Below are a few examples of how branded widgets have been successfully used on the Chinese Internet.

contest widgets ::
For the LG KP500 “Cookie” mobile phone, LG released a branded widget on Sohu’s platform. It’s a simple memory game contained within a rendered version of the phone. The game uses icons from the phone and highlights some of the unit’s features: dragging icons reflects the KP500’s “Free Touch” technology, and shaking the phone to scatter the icons imitates its motion sensing abilities. Launched on January 6, the widget is already quite popular, ranking among the top recent widgets on Sohu’s platform. LG’s Free Touch campaign for the KP500 includes prizes for the top three “transmitters” of the widget: bloggers who use the widget score points when visitors copy the widget to their own blogs. In a similar contest, Heartext brand feminine hygiene products released a branded widget in August that was part of a two-month-long promotion. Users who installed the widget on their blog had their blog posts entered into a general popularity contest, the winner of which would receive a beach vacation for two. The widget itself allowed blog readers to “vote up” certain blog posts.

daily Taobao widget ::
This widget, hosted by Mynon, a customizable homepage server that lets users incorporate data / aggregate content from a whole range of other Web sites into one convenient page, features hot items from the Taobao online commerce / auction house served up through the Alimama advertising platform. Users can select the type and number of items they want featured in the widget, which is also available on Sohu platform. Mynon also hosts a branded Taobao-related game widget called “Changing Room,” that lets users dress up models in clothing that’s for sale on the site. Users can store and compare outfits, and when they find something they like, they can click through to Taobao and make a purchase.

specialty search tool widgets ::
Beijing’s Disanji Bookstore offers a branded widget that allows users to search for books in its inventory. The bookstore is located in Zhongguancun (Beijing), a major tech center near several universities, so it has a significant proportion of “wired” customers. The city directory Web site 58.com has a branded widget that allows users to consult bus route maps for cities across the country. Kingsoft offers a widgetized edition of its iCiba translation dictionary. There’s also a branded widget that lets users search the inventory of online retailer Joyo.com.

microblog widgets ::
One popular way bloggers use widgets is to include their Twitter feed (or other microblog posts) directly on their blog (Twitter’s is ). These widgets, known as “badges” (just another name for widgets), can be found at most of China’s major microblog providers, although like Twitter, they restrict access to registered users. Tencent is an exception, and it provides instructions for including a Taotao Flash widget on many popular blogging platforms. A good description of Fanfou’s Flash widget, along with a stylish alternative that plugs into Fanfou’s API is at the Flymoon Blog. Douban’s open API has led to the creation of a number of competing widgets that interface with its broadcast service, nicely summarized at Asiapan Talks.

music widgets ::
Another common use of widgets is as online music players. Most blogging platforms provide their own Flash MP3 players, and there are countless others in all kinds of styles available on widget indices. Neocha.com, a social networking Web site aimed at musicians and a range of other artists and designers, offers a widget called the NEXT Player, which delivers a continuous stream of Chinese independent music. It’s a model of single-task simplicity, drawing songs automatically from a database of user-created and user-uploaded music and giving users only one option: to go to the next song. It also has a sponsorship panel that runs advertisements / 3rd party links from Neocha partners, and provides direct links back to the Neocha Web site to view musicians profiles and other related information. More on Neocha’s NEXT player here. Another interesting branded music widget is from Yobo.com. This music box allows users to set up their own playlists, but also offers its own recommendations based on a “Music DNA” algorithm that attempts to gauge whether a listener will enjoy a song based on previous listening choices. Yobo also offers a large selection of branded widgets that use Sohu’s platform.

// AjS

[FULL DISCLOSURE, 56minus1 is a part-time partner at Neocha.com]

[Friday 5 is the product of my work at Edelman Digital (China). Link here for the full Friday 5 archive. If you'd like to be added to the bilingual (English & Chinese) Friday 5 email distribution list, please send me an email at: adam DOT schokora AT edelman DOT com.]

chinaSMACK | chinese internet chaos ::

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

danwei-fauna-thumb-220x220

[this entry is reposted on 56minus1 from Danwei with permission from the original author]      

:: chinaSMACK launched barely four months ago, but it immediately proved to be one of the more interesting niche websites about China in English. The site translates posts and comments from China’s lively Internet forum scene.

Internet fora, or BBS, were one of the first types of website in China to get young Chinese hooked, and they remain very popular. Chinese BBS are a refreshing contrast to the stodgy state media, and the cowed privately-managed media.

You do however need a strong stomach to enjoy Chinese BBS because for every thoughtful or thought-provoking posting, there are two or three vicious ad hominem essays, human flesh search engine man hunts, or nationalistic rants.

chinaSMACK is a slightly anarchic collective of people, mostly Chinese but living all over the world. Under the leadership of Fauna (pictured), they select and translate Chinese BBS posts and comments into English. Reading their website helps makes sense of the chaos of the Chinese Internet, and the moral debates that occupy wired Chinese youth across the globe.

Danwei recently asked Fauna of chinaSMACK some questions and she sent the questions to all the contributors. Below is an edited transcript of their replies.

Who started China Smack and why?

Fauna
I started chinaSMACK. The reasons are in my about page and in the 3 month post. The basic reasons:Make my own website, improve my English, and help foreigners see and understand a different side of Chinese people that many other English websites about China do not always show. I like to go on online and read BBS forums so I thought it was a suitable topic for me.

Who are all the contributors and where do you live?

Fauna
The contributors are: me, 
Kai (Sydney), Kris Chen (Shanghai), Ping Gao (North Carolina), Ian Statler (Dalian), Xia Boyang (London), Joe Xu (U.S.A.), and Yang Shaohua (Taiyuan). Each of these people have published at least one post. Some have published 3. There are a few other people who have not published anything yet or hope to do different things but none have been completed yet so it is best to recognize these people.

Which websites do you draw most of your translations from?

Fauna:
They are mostly BBS forums like TianyaMopSinaSohu, and KDS (because I am in Shanghai). Sometimes there are other BBS like TiexueLiba etc.

Ping Gao:
Tianya. I am a member of the famous Tianya Guanguang Tuan (a group on the Tianya forum).

Kris Chen:
KDS.

Ian:
Mostly Tianya, Sina and CQ 69.

Yang Shaohua:
I always translate articles on BBS of Sina.com.

Joe Xu:
Usually Tianya and NetEase, but I also frequent many other major BBS.

What do you personally consider the most interesting Chinese forum or BBS?

Fauna:
KDS. Maybe I am biased.

Ping Gao:
Absolutely Tianya. There are some humorous people who post hilarious stuff there. They are full of humor and wisdom. Another thing that makes Tianya interesting is that it is very comprehensive. One can find almost everything about life there.  Politics, traveling, music, cooking… all kinds of stuff.

Kris Chen
KDS.

Yang Shaohua:
BBS.sina.com and Mop.

Joe Xu:
I always liked Tianya members the best, mostly due to some of their clever antics when it comes to getting around censorship.

When did you first start following Chinese online conversation, and have you noticed any big changes in Chinese online culture since then?

Fauna:
I started to read BBS forums every day maybe 2 or 3 years ago. Before that, I used to to read them but not so often as every day. I think the big changes for Chinese online culture are that Chinese netizens are now more funny, more yellow, and maybe more free.                      

However, I think it is also very clear that the Chinese government cares more about the Internet now than before also and many “bad” things are deleted very fast too. Sometimes I notice that the source of a post we are working on is deleted before we are finished translating. That makes me worried that if I post it, I will attract too much attention from the government.

I only hope they do not care too much because we are just translating and most Chinese do not read English. We also try to talk only about social things and not very political things like democracy or human rights.

Ping Gao
When I was 18 or 19, in college I was not as busy as when I was in high school, so I could spent more time on internet. Yeah, big changes! I think the influence of the Internet has been growing. Internet was more about sharing information 6 or 7 years ago, but now it can has social influence as well.

Chinese online culture is not only playing a role as media and as encyclopedia, but it’s also a window for people to know the world, and to let the world know China. This is very important for a growing and changing country.

Kris Chen:
I always receive lots of information from KDS, and it actually makes reading news (TV news, newspaper) unnecessary for me.

Big changes, hmm, basically there are a few changes, but most of them I consider as negative. It’s like people don’t know what to do with their newly granted right, e.g., exposure of private photos without the owner’s consent, taking girls pictures on the streets and posting them on the web, etc. It’s kind of an infringement of others’ legal rights.

Though many online communities provide people with access to various information, people helping each other to solve problems, is kind of encouraging. But basically it seems a higher moral standard is needed.

Joe Xu
I’m beginning to see the use of more memes or Internet catchphrases that may have resulted from online censorship.

Kai:
I only just started following online Chinese conversation and it’s mostly because of chinaSMACK, so let’s say about a month at most. Since it’s been only a month, I can’t say that I’ve noticed any big changes in Chinese online culture. However, just from browsing and translating for chinaSMACK, my opinion is that the comments on chinaSMACK aren’t much different from those on other (English) websites — there are LOL ones, douchebag ones, idiotic ones, intelligent ones, faux-intellectual ones, argumentative ones, racist ones, and of course, very Occidental ones.

Are you ever worried by online mob behavior (human flesh search engines etc.) on China’s Internet?

Fauna:
Of course. That is one big reason I will not give my Chinese name, do personal interviews, or show my face. I know some Chinese do not think it is good I make this website and there are some crazy people in the world. I do not want them to try to find me.

Originally, I changed my gravatar ["globally recognized avatar"; explanation] for the three month anniversary of chinaSMACK (see image above):

I PhotoShopped a picture of me so people could see me but not find out who I am, but I am shy and am not sure I will change it yet. Who I am or what I look like is not really important. I hope people will care more about the Chinese netizens.

Ping Gao:
Not really. Yeah, sometimes online mob behavior can be annoying, but it also does something good, such as people human flesh search engines help people find their lost babies back. Every thing has two sides. But I think one thing needs to be considered is people’s privacy and rights should be protected by the law.

Kris Chen:
I do feel bad for some of the victims of online mob behavior. However, most people remain anonymous. And that type of behavior does not focus on random targets, so I guess that’s it. If that’s the way it is, so be it. The key is always remember to protect your private and personal information.

Yang Shaohua:
Yes. It is really dangerous for anyone online because your information can be leaked by several methods. I think if your information cannot be kept safely, your money, your safety and your property will also be disclosed by someone who wants to hurt you. But, it is an effective tool to find out some person who has committed a crime and to debate about people’s behavior. It depends on who is using it.

Human flesh search engines are just a tools. It depends on who uses them. So if you are worry about the knife, I think you will be worried about that.

Xia Boyang:
I think the online mob is doing what paparazzi and tabloids do in the Western world. The problem is of course the accountability. Since it is mostly anonymous, it is hard to prosecute someone legally for liabilities and violation of privacy.

Joe Xu:
Online activism to uncover corruption or crime is not a bad thing, but tactics of intimidation or blackmailing in the form of online vigilantism shouldn’t be allowed.

Kai:
I wouldn’t call it “worried”; to be honest I actually don’t care. Mob behaviour is endemic in all societies, even back to the days of Julius Caesar (’TEAR HIM TO PIECES!’ ). People are what they are — animals. For my part, I really don’t have that much time to “search and destroy” some guy who cheated on his wife, his mistress and his mistress’s sister.

friday 5 | chinese net-speak (part 1) ::

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

DannyYungOnJiong :: Chinese netizens enjoy playing with language online. They make up new words, insert alphabetic and numerical abbreviations between Chinese characters in their posts, write backwards and upside down to trip-up the censors, and trade catchphrases with wild abandon.

To outsiders, however, conversations full of acronyms, ancient characters, and allusions (sometimes quite obscure) to Chinese culture / history is quite difficult to understand.

To help with the “decoding,” below are some basic explanations of frequently-used vocabulary by Chinese netizens:

visual pun: “囧” [pronounced “jiong,” in this case; other times pronounced "jing"] ::
After becoming widely used online in China, the past couple of months have seen this character explode into mainstream media / culture. It’s been splashed onto the cover of books and magazines, in advertisements, and on clothing. The obscure Chinese character 囧, which originally meant “bright,” looks like someone gaping in astonishment, so Chinese netizens reinterpreted it as a general response of helplessness or gloom. Sam Flemming of CIC talks a bit more about it here. Also, a number of well-known Web sites have sprung up around 囧 culture: 阿囧囧客官方囧人王国囧的官方网站. Some other online visual examples of 囧: .

catch-phrase: “economize: drink maotai” ["节约点,喝茅台" pronounced "jie yue dian, he mao tai"] ::
[Warning, this is very funny] The latest online catch-phrase was inspired by a report about a government official in Sichuan who beat up a liquor seller for overcharging on a bottle of Maotai alcohol. The explanation given: “Director Cao wanted to economize, because money is tight at the personnel bureau and he still owes money for house repairs.” Chinese netizens are always quick to pick up on hypocrisy, particularly on the part of local governments – the irony of a bureau director claiming to want to save money by buying China’s most famous brand of alcohol (and beating someone up over it) was too good to pass up. [link]

visual Pun: “槑” [pronounced “mei”] ::
An obscure alternate form of 梅, plum, the character 槑 is formed from two characters, which means “dull / stupid / foolish.” Chinese netizens use it to refer to anyone who is especially slow-witted. Because it kind of looks like two people standing next to each other, it shows up quite a bit in cartoons and image macros alongside 囧. Another adapted character, 雷 (”thunder”), is used to mean “shock.” For something especially shocking, the character is tripled to produce this character: 靐 (pronounced “bing”). [link] [link]

describing the opposition: FQ, JY, BS ::
When Chinese netizens aren’t having fun playing with catch-phrases and characters, they’re likely arguing with each other, employing shorthand / acronyms to refer to their opponents (and themselves too). FQ means 愤青 (pronounced “fen qing”), “angry youth,” and is used dismissively to refer to ultra-nationalist netizens (of which there are plenty). Some FQ have tried to reclaim the term as a badge of pride. On the other side are JY, 精英 (pronounced “jing ying”), “elite”: intellectuals who tend to be liberal and supportive of universal values. A third abbreviation, BS for 鄙视 (pronounced “XX”), “despise or disdain,” is tossed around by netizens on both sides of the aisle.

modifier: “山寨“ [pronounced “shan zhai”] ::
The word 山寨 literally means “mountain fort” or “village,” but is also used as a modifier meaning “knock-off,” to describe off-brand / fake products manufactured in small, tucked-away shops in Chinese villages. Some of these no-name brands have begun to advertise using celebrity-lookalikes as spokespersons. Knock-off F4, knock-off Emil Chou, and knock-off Jay Chou have all turned up in advertisements, drawing mockery from Chinese netizens. The term is even being applied to Chinese remakes of foreign TV and movies.

// AjS

[Friday 5 is the product of my work at Edelman Digital (China). Link here for the full Friday 5 archive. If you'd like to be added to the bilingual (English & Chinese) Friday 5 email distribution list, please send me an email at: adam DOT schokora AT edelman DOT com.]