:: together with PublicAffairsAsia, my colleagues at Edelman China published a short white paper today titled The Dragon & The Mouse. The paper takes a look at how social media is impacting public affairs in China, and even includes some insights from yours truly (bottom of page 7).

To check out the press release and more details, link here. To download the white paper as a PDF, link here. To read the paper, see below. Let me know what you think in the comments section below.  /// AjS

:: this is an absolute must-read for anyone with an interest in the future (and now) of human behavior or anything digital, particularly marketing, communications, and media. I don’t want to spoil it with any commentary / analysis that is already captured (more brilliantly and more compellingly than I would do it) in the below presentation. Slide 13 perhaps says it all though: “…the next generation Internet strategy has got nothing to do with the Internet…”

Okay, one more great combo-quote from the deck, from slides 140 and 153-155: “…having a presence on social media is not social media – talking, discovering, and building relationships are. It’s the nature of your activity that is important, not your choice of technology. We are moving from channels where brands are law enforcers, to arenas where brands are participants. This means that every screen, interface, and object is an opportunity for dialogue, interaction, response, and collaboration. Explore these opportunities rather than just tell your story.”

Last one, I promise, from slide 93: “…our job is not getting people from A to B to C, (our job) is creating value…” Bravo, well done Helge Tennø.  // AjS

:: don’t miss this. For more info, link here. Ben is also a Neocha.com user, link here to check his profile, which is loaded with his original music. // AjS

:: from “shanzhai” iPhones to the Shanghai Government bootleg edition of Windows XP, knock-offs and intellectual property violations are a part of life on the Chinese mainland. The below five-point brief provides some context to how Chinese netizens use the Internet to find, download, and share bootleg / pirated content.

why bootleg / pirate content online in China?
A few years ago in China, if you wanted to watch a movie you could go to the nearest supermarket, where a guy with a cardboard box of DVDs would be standing outside the front door. You’d rifle through the collection and pick out a selection of titles that caught your interest, and then go back home and see which ones would actually work in your DVD player. But with increasingly speedy Internet connections in China today and the wealth of content available online, why pay for pirated DVDs of uncertain quality when you don’t have to? More and more Chinese Internet users are no longer turning to the “the DVD guys / shop on the corner.” Movies are just the tip of the iceberg – music, TV shows, animation, games, software, and magazines are all easily available online for free. Sure, there’s something called “copyright law” which makes downloading this content slightly against the law, but everyone else is doing it, and when the government mandates the use of software despite allegations that it contains pirated code (see the recent Green Dam debacle), it makes you wonder how seriously any of this really is. Software piracy has been dropping over the past few years, but is still quite high: According to a BSA survey, China’s piracy rate for software was 80% in 2008, down from 90% in 2004. Arguments can be made that software piracy hurts the domestic software industry, and the same argument could be made for bootlegs in other sectors. But the combination of easy + free makes bootleg information very attractive to China’s netizens, obviously.

what can you pirate online in China?
VeryCD provides a searchable archive of digital information and content along with an active community of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharers. It doesn’t host any of the files itself – instead, it links to files that allow netizens to download bootlegged content from other netizens. The front page of VeryCD prominently features movies and music, but the site indexes a wide range of materials. The categories listed in the sidebar are movies, TV series, music, games, animation, art, software, and “resources,” a category that encompasses anything from instructional DVDs to PDFs of magazine scans. One of the things that VeryCD brought to file sharing was a charter for sharing mp3 collections. Titles, format, tags, and packaging were all standardized, and the idealistic goal of the site’s “MP3! Project” was for “every individual to share two or three albums to establish the largest mp3 music library in the P2P world.” Because the eMule system (see below) does not have any central file repositories but relies on users themselves to share files, participants in the “MP3! Project” are requested to share a few albums long-term so that they’ll always be accessible to other netizens in search of them. Xiami is a music sharing platform. The website provides a substantial archive of music for online listening through Xiami.FM, a music widget, but it also offers Shark, a P2P application designed for sharing music libraries with other Xiami users . Users who download and install the software achieve far better speeds on future music downloads, and they can broadcast songs they possess that are not present in Xiami’s own library to other users. Kugou is a similar service that has been around for years, and there is a wealth of smaller services around as well. A number of services have arisen to serve movies and TV shows over P2P services. Poco’s movie channel and PP365 are two examples; each requires installing a proprietary piece of software that handles the movie download process. There are, of course, legitimate uses of this technology – streaming authorized television programs or movies for which permission has been received, but, it safe to say, that doesn’t make up the majority of use.

how do you pirate online in China? ::
P2P software – an application that transfers files to a netizen’s computer from the computers of other netizens directly, rather than pulling content  from a central location – is frequently used for sharing pirated data. The files indexed on VeryCD are shared through the eMule program, and the site provides its own version of the application: EasyMule. The software registers its own protocol (ed2k) with the users’ web browser so that links to resources are automatically passed to the eMule program, which then searches for the content on other users’ machines. Other eMule-related services include Vagaa (哇嘎), which provides its own application that promises accelerated eMule and BitTorrent downloads, as well as its own proprietary file download service. The China eMule (中国电骡) is an almost identical copy of the Vagaa homepage and offers links to the Vagaa application and shared files but does not seem to be related to Vagaa – a bootleg of a bootleg service? All very dodgy. BitTorrent is another file sharing protocol. Netizens access a seed file (with the extension .torrent), and their BT application connects to a tracker to find out which other users (known as peers) are sharing the file. Once peers are identified, the BT application downloads that file bit-by-bit from multiple users. The BT@China Alliance unifies several dozen smaller BBS discussion forums where netizens post the locations of BT seed files (which can essentially be anywhere). BT@China is searchable by keyword, file name, or “hash” – a unique ID that identifies a specific file for download. Xunlei, also known as “Thunder,” is one of the most popular file sharing services. It’s a combination of proprietary software and a group of associated websites, but it is also shunned by more civic-minded P2P users for enabling “leeching”: the software is designed to allow users to suck bandwidth by downloading from BT or eMule networks without contributing a corresponding amount of uploaded information. This goes against standard / culture of file-sharing etiquette and may result in users of these programs getting banned from central servers. Xunlei also provides a website for online viewing of HD videos served through the software from its own network rather than individual users’ machines. Google owns a small stake in Xunlei, and the software is part of Baidu’s search alliance, which embeds a Baidu search bar into the program. As a testament to its popularity, Xunlei is a perennial entry on Baidu’s rankings of top search terms. It’s currently at #15.

what else can you pirate online in China? ::
There’s niche pirating going on as well, although not much of it is large enough in size to require the use of P2P transfers. Academic publications, for example, can be prohibitively expensive if your university doesn’t subscribe, so communities have sprung up to fill the need for reduced-cost or free academic books and journals. From time to time people will discover loopholes or back doors in online journal archives, and they’ll share the technique on a forum like Pet2008, one of the major communities for academic journal sharing. Other times, a student or faculty member at a university that subscribes to a particular archive will set up a proxy service to allow off-campus netizens access to an on-campus IP address, which will get them into the archive. This is very common. The Yuyu College forum has a page for “free access” that lists a number of these servers. The practice has developed its own economy: payment in virtual currency is required to read many of the posts, and netizens earn credits by posting resources or purchasing them outright, but the cost is far less than what legitimate access to academic archives would require. Namipan is a file host that uses its own proprietary software and protocol, as well as offering slower, less reliable web-based downloads. Users upload files to the Namipan servers, and when other netizens wish to download them, their web browser will hand off the link to the Namipan download application (like many of these programs, the interoperability is seamless for IE users but less reliable for users of other web browsers). All kinds of information is shared this way, from music albums to book scans – a scanned Chinese edition of the mainland China-censored Zhao Ziyang memoir was available on Namipan right after it hit the streets. Damipan (大米盘), whose name seems inspired by Namipan, does not have its own download application but allows users to share files through various protocols, including eMule and Xunlei. Many of the most popular file sharing sites restrict the quantity of data unregistered users can download, and a fair number of them have policies in place that remove pornographic material. So porn is frequently shared through BitTorrent, with the .torrent seed files uploaded to a file sharing site. Or else they’re simply shared through Xunlei. See the movie download sections of overseas sites like 92xxoo or Xiao77 (a well-known site that frequently changes IP addresses and URLs to ensure easy access from mainland porn enthusiasts). For those that thought the Chinese Internet has been thoroughly scrubbed of politically sensitive, pornographic, or otherwise “unharmonious” content, think again. It’s all readily available to the average Chinese netizen.

does pirating in China ever suck? ::
Installing programs designed to facilitate the sharing of copyrighted material has always come with an element of risk. eMule is known to be free of adware and spyware, but because it is an open source program, other providers are able to offer their own eMule packages that may include dodgier add-ons. Apart from coming bundled with adware and dodgy browser redirects, Xunlei’s implementation of its own P2P network came under fire for consuming all of its user’s upload bandwidth: the program would scan a user’s entire hard drive and upload files that other Xunlei users are requesting. Users would unwittingly max out their bandwidth. In the face of widespread user dissatisfaction, the company tweaked the software to throttle uploads. Tuotu (脱兔) was launched by developers who liked the Xunlei software itself but were disgusted by the way the associated service leeched files from other archives. It supports a number of popular sharing protocols including eMule and BT, but doesn’t seem to have any source of income at the moment, or much to distinguish it from all of the rest of the marketplace. One additional problem – more of an annoyance, really – comes when the ISP gets tired of downloaders hogging bandwidth and throttles the standard ports that many protocols use. It’s a game of cat-and-mouse: in response to ISPs placing limits on standard eMule ports, the software now comes with options to choose random ports in the hopes that the ISP will simply ignore the gigabytes of IPR infringing content you’re copying to your hard drive.

// 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.]

:: as an update to this 56minus1 post about brands using online video in China from a couple weeks ago, I learned of a new example.

Master Kong (康师傅) ice-tea has just launched a fully interactive, socialized, Webisodic series titled Sunshine in a Guitar (吉他里的阳光). The first episode went live yesterday, with episode #2 going live on the 27th. Link here to see the campaign mini-site.

This is a great example of a mass-consumer brand understanding that its successful participation in the digital space hinges first and foremost on delivering value to online audiences. In this case, the value Master Kong is delivering is free entertaining and engaging content and other interactive fun (voting, points, prizes, opportunities to be in the show, etc.).

This is also an example of another digital best practice: brands going to where its online audiences are, as opposed to expecting online audiences to find them. With all due respect to Master Kong, its online target audience is simply not going to its homepage or any of its other static branded sites – would you? The entire Sunshine in a Guitar campaign is housed within the QQ domain / ecosystem, which for those unaware, is by far the largest and most trafficked social networking, instant messaging, causal gaming, and information / entertainment portal in China (probably the world).

My only criticism of the campaign at this point is that the video content doesn’t appear to be exportable / sharable outside of the branded mini-site. Why not let netizens embed the videos anywhere they want online? All such embedding would link back to he mini- site anyway, thus driving free, organic traffic and Internet word of mouth. For example, me as a blogger would have shared in this post.

It will be interesting to see how this campaign is received and develops. More to come. Check it out for yourselves.

Oddly, Master Kong is using a very obvious image of a MacBook laptop on the campaign’s homepage. I wonder of Apple is paying for product placement. H/T to .  // AjS

:: given the vast appetite of Chinese netizens for video entertainment, online video, if done correctly, is an excellent vehicle for brands’ communications efforts. Funny, clever one-off and viral are always an option, but the possibilities are far greater than simply treating the online world as another platform for the same old same old (i.e. 30 second spots). Below is a snapshot of companies and brands successfully using online video in China to support their communications efforts; everything from viewer-determined webisodic series, subtle product placement, brand sponsored content, contests, voting, user generated advertorial content, C-suites interviews / commentary / updates on services, and, of course, magic!

brand-sponsored web series ::
Sofia’s Diary originated in Portugal as a webisodic soap opera, and later made the jump to broadcast television in the UK. The Chinese edition (苏菲日记) tells the story of Sufei, an 18-year-old girl from Beijing who’s living with her father and step-mother in Shanghai. The show is sponsored by Clinique (倩碧), whose products have a prominent placement in the show itself and in related online promotional materials. Sufei’s blog invites readers to “take a look at the Clinique products Sufei uses in the show.” Other brand sponsors include Sony (Sufei uses a Vaio laptop and other Sony digital devices throughout the show) and 51.com, which she uses in her job hunt. Audience interactivity is fostered in weekly polls where viewers vote for plot twists they want to see in upcoming episodes. The first season of 40 episodes concluded in March, but the Web site promises that a second season is in the works.

brand-produced web series ::
Lu Chen, a magician from Taiwan, was one of the breakout hits of this year’s Spring Festival Gala. He now endorses Nokia mobile phones, and the company recently released a series of branded videos featuring the star. In the “educational” videos in the series, Lu instructs observers in how he performs simple tricks (part I,  part II) involving Nokia phones. A street magic segment unites magic tricks with mobile phone capabilities, amazing and mystifying the audience. Then, in more straightforward advertisement / product presentation, Lu performs different forms of “magic”: he takes advantage of special features of the N(okia)-Gage phone to help his acquaintances with gaming, maps, and email. A flashy online campaign released by Johnnie Walker in 2007 includes a series of five connected shorts telling the story of a creative type who “keeps walking” through life in his attempts to become a screenwriter, accompanied by his friends and refreshing drinks of Black Label. The series has related graphic novel interpretations, games, and quizzes, and is still being promoted in the brand’s overall online communications efforts.

one-off / viral video ::
In September 2008, Lenovo rolled out an online promotional campaign for its S9/S10 Ideapad netbooks that included a cute mascot, a theme song, and a digital video short. The “Always Online” short tells a supernatural love story: A boy tells his girlfriend that she’s too dependent on him; she suspects he’s seeing someone else and breaks up with him. He says he’s “always online,” so she continues to seek his help through her instant messaging program. After she achieves independence and self-confidence, she finds out that he died of cancer, and that his spirit has been inhabiting a stuffed “Kuku bear” that he bought, allowing him to chat with her from the grave. Pop star JJ Lin sings the theme song “Always online” — all of which promotes the “always online” feature of this line of Ideapads. It’s a more successful viral effort than a previous Lenovo laptop promotional campaign, a ham-fisted attempt at “candid photos” of a pretty girl using a red Ideapad U110 laptop.

:: online marketing channels
Tudou has a sub-section for marketing, which hosts contests, games, product exhibitions, promotional activities, and dedicated brand channels for client companies. A typical example is a recently-launched video contest promoting Wahaha’s new beer-flavored tea drink Pierchashuang (啤儿茶爽). Contestants are encouraged to send in their own original commercials for Pierchashuang, which viewers can vote on. Ultimately, the ten most popular will be judged by the organizers of the game, and prizes awarded: a car, a netbook, or a RMB 500 “creative prize.” The competition just started on May 6th, so the entry page currently features TV ads for the drink. Original entries include a girl attempting to drain the bottle and a boy echoing the product slogan “Pierchashuang isn’t beer!” Ku6 has a User Generated Advertising (UGA) department which is involved in generating viral videos. An initial success was a short clip released in January 2009 that showed a young man losing a mobile phone out the door of a subway while he was playing with it. The actual phone wasn’t shown at all, but curious netizens tracked down the Sony Ericsson model that had the peculiar inertia-based game he was playing. A more obviously branded short is a new viral Chevrolet ad that pits the Transformer Bumblebee against a Citroen C4. The ad’s particularly interesting in how it refers back to a previous viral ad from 2007 in which a Citroen C4 transforms into a dancing robot.

corporate c-suite online video communications ::
Sohu was the official online news portal for the Beijing Olympics, and CEO Charles Zhang hosted a celebrity interview show, Sohu Beijing Report, in the run-up to the historic event. Zhang is something of an outsize celebrity himself, and his encounters with Jet Li, Fan Bingbing, Yao Ming, and other famous names had the effect of associating the interviews even more closely with the Sohu brand. Youku CEO Victor Ku releases the occasional video. He too did interviews for the Olympics, and this year did a special New Year’s greetings for the Year of the Ox . The official Youku channel has more of his videos, which range from statements about the video portal’s exclusive offerings to special “CEO vs. CEO” interviews.

// 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.]

:: see below for some snaps taken at this weekend’s BLENDER: Digital Culture Festival in Shanghai; Popil and DEZIO doing some freestyle mark-ups. For the full Flickr set link here. DEZIO was kind enough to gift me a set of poker cards featuring his work. If interested, link here for a short documentary I produced about graffiti in Shanghai featuring Popil.  // AjS

:: music, which according to CNNIC has been the most widespread use of the Internet in China for several years running, immediately calls to mind the piracy issue, and indeed a fair proportion of local netizens’ interest in music is applied toward searching for free downloadable copies of copyrighted songs and albums. Netizens frequently use tools like Baidu MP3 search or , but they can also visit specialized music BBSs which, while ostensibly hosting conversations on a wide range of topics, get most of their traffic in the file-sharing sub-boards (i.e. users freely sharing and downloading copyrighted music). See ZASV (杂碎后院) for a BBS that gets nearly 20,000 comments a day, most of them in sub-boards devoted to various types of audio files.

But there’s a legitimate side to China’s online music as well. Sites are increasingly striking deals to stream major-label music and small-time musicians have an ever-widening array of opportunities to gain publicity for their own original compositions. There are opportunities for brands too: sponsoring widgets or having their name attached to a song competition gets them exposure in front of and helps them connect to creative types. Below is a snapshot of how this is playing out on the Chinese Internet.

music listening communities ::
Last.fm, the popular radio-style online music streaming service, offers an interface aimed at users in mainland China. Users can search for music in traditional and simplified characters to pull up bands or artists they want to listen to. A search for the Beijing punk band “Joyside” returns a page listing six tracks along with a radio stream that includes music automatically-selected to be similar to Joyside’s sound. Last.fm members can join discussion groups, such as Chinese Indie, and can consult schedules of live performances in venues across the country, although the Web site initially limits the list to the city where your IP address is located. My 911Pop (青檬网络电台) is a Facebook-like SNS community attached to the Beijing Radio’s 911Pop music streaming widget. The widget itself is embeddable in a wide variety of popular SNSs, but 911Pop’s own community puts music at the forefront: featured celebrities are music critics and radio hosts, featured articles involve music, and the front page features Top Music Lovers and Top Music Topics. Neocha.com, a social networking site for Chinese creative groups, has the largest online collection of original (原创) independent Chinese music. All of the music is uploaded by its users and in the genres of rock, folk, electronic, and hip-hop. Within the site, users can customize the music players on their personal page to play any mix of music selected from the site’s collection. Customizable players also act as widgets that can be embedded externally via basic copy-and-paste HTML code. Additionally, Neocha has developed NEXT, a downloadable / web pop-out player for anyone to use. The NEXT player plays music directly and only from the Neocha.com music database.

portal offerings ::
China’s major online portals provide streaming functionality as part of their community offerings as well. Sina’s Music Box (新浪乐库) aggregates music-related news and information about the latest albums, and in addition to streaming, the service can burn personalized mix CDs. Sina’s music widget can be seamlessly incorporated into its blog service, and it has an extended array of widgets and software on its Musina Labs. On QQ’s music channel, streaming of copyrighted music is available for all, but downloading is only allowed for paying VIP members.  In addition to being able to embed music in their QQ blogs, VIP users get a crown icon / badge displayed on their QQ instant messaging user profile. Sohu’s music channel updates with new music every day and follows domestic and international charts. Sohu hosts a competition for original music which is branded by Red Bull (红牛能量音乐新发现), and features a TV show-like video series called Sohu Concert (搜狐歌会) in which singers interact with fans. Sohu forum users can sign up for a chance at an invitation. The channel also has a sub-board hosting music reviews.

band homes ::
Bands congregate on a number of places in Chinese cyberspace. The music subsite of MySpace.cn (聚友音乐) hosts Chinese-language pages for world acts, local signed musicians, and amateur netizen musicians. Categories are relatively fluid; the current top “MySpace original music” is the girl duo BY2, signed to Singapore’s Ocean Butterflies Records (海蝶唱片). “World rankings” champ is the US hip-hop outfit The Black Eyed Peas, who have 600,898 friends. MySpace lists live performances for the city that you are in; many venues have their own MySpace pages. Under the MySpace Music umbrella is My Choice (听,你安排), a weekly competition to chose a song list to be broadcast on BTTV, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps’ satellite channel that recently retooled its focus for the youth market. According to the rules, a list of 50 songs is released along with a theme. Users pick ten songs and campaign for votes from their MySpace friends. Users whose choices match the list ultimately chosen by the station and who have garnered the most online support win a prize. The set is broadcast on Friday evenings from 6 – 7pm. Douban.com, a popular SNS known for its arts and culture focus, has a section devoted to music which allows users, and especially bands, to create pages for themselves, similar to MySpace. Albums, singles, and performance dates are linked to the band pages pages how well the performances go. Functionality is being constantly updated; the relatively-new Artists front page lists groups by name and features a tag cloud that illustrates the story of musician that inhabits Douban: Indie, Pop, Rock and Punk are currently the top tags. Fans who are Douban members can interact on these pages or “watch” them, which makes updates show up on their own home pages. Acts hosted include established groups like the popular Beijing rock band Sound Fragments (声音碎片) as well relative newcomers like the unsigned folk band Whistling Chambers (花哨密室), who have uploaded song lyrics as part of their Douban blog. Neocha.com is also home to nearly 2000 local, independent and signed Chinese bands and musicians who have profiles on the site.

original music communities ::
A number of communities are devoted to netizens sharing their own original compositions, usually categorized into “original songs” (原创), “covers” (翻唱), and “accompaniment” (伴奏). 5sing is a community of music creators who can upload their sound files to share with other users. The site features a music player that streams the latest or hottest tracks, blogs, and a variety of special interest community groups. Each month the site features a Covers Competition in which members try out their skills on a chosen song in the hopes of winning virtual cash. A8 (原创中国) is a similar community with original, cover, band, and corporate music sections. Ordinary members, expert judges, and DJs rate uploaded music and create their own ranking charts. The site recently announced that users could sign an electronic agreement to opt into a site-wide promotion deal to monetize original compositions (into ringtones and such). A8 is also part of a Pepsi-sponsored million-yuan grand prize music competition whose initial round is going on right now. And even governments are getting into the original composition SNS act: Sinomic (原创音乐地带), an online music-oriented community co-sponsored by the Communist Youth League of Jilin, aims to foster young musical talent in the province. Neocha.com’s music section is also an “original music only” community.

iKala ::
This unique Beijing-based social network system is aimed at Karaoke lovers (the Chinese name of the site, 爱卡拉, directly translates as “Love Karaoke”). The main draw of the site is the ability to upload videos of your own karaoke performances (which you record using your computer’s microphone and webcam), which the site’s video player then overlays with song lyrics. Members share their karaoke videos on “klogs” (as in karaoke blogs) which is what the site calls its blog function, and can pit their own performance against other members in a head-to-head “PK Show” that gets voted on by the site’s users. The site offers typical SNS functionality like friending and gifts as well as the ability to become someone’s “fan” (粉丝). iKala is still in its infancy, with plans to charge for future value-added services (such as accelerated access and specialty virtual items) using K-points, but it is already an intriguing illustration of the sort of niche / vertical SNS that can cater to Chinese netizens’ desire to express themselves.

// 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.]

:: netizens in China have a wealth of online choices for obtaining information about cars. Prospective buyers and auto enthusiasts alike can find news and reviews of the latest models on blogs and in special-interest BBS forums, and if they want to make a purchase, there are sites to help them find both new and used cars that suit their requirements. Once they’ve bought a car, they have ample space to discuss their car owning experiences or, should something go wrong, seek help and advice. And a number of brands have taken advantage of blogs and online games to increase their exposure among netizens.

cars on blogs ::
Moyan Qingfeng is an auto commentator associated with Sina’s Auto Channel. He blogs about new models and keeps an eye on industry trends. Recent posts have followed the decline of the mainland’s auto market, which he says is nothing to be surprised about. He’s also associated with Way of the Car, an auto community website that features BBS boards, blogs, and auto analysis. Li Xiang, founder of community website PCPop and car portal Autohome, keeps a blog that’s mostly about cars, although he does muse about entrepreneurship and other unrelated topics from time to time. Xiao Cheng is a Dandong-based auto commentator. His blog is mainly concerned with reviews of new models, and his posts are widely redistributed across the Internet. In blogging-related activities, Sina’s own blogging platform features an application called “I’m Car Crazy” that allows netizens to put up a widget on their blog that displays a car they’ve “purchased” through the system. New users are given a certain number of credits to start with, and they can accumulate credits by posting in Sina forums, answering surveys, or completing other tasks. With more credits, they can purchase better cars. The “Auto Mart” section contains real-world specifications of the different vehicles that are available for “purchase.” Once netizens have purchased a car, they can take part in online games like racing against their blog friends. Popular SNS app Kaixin has a similar game called “Parking Wars” (requires registration) that features lots of different car models.

general auto BBS discussion forums ::
There are lots of places to find information about cars online. All of the major web portals have auto channels featuring the latest news, ads, and pretty pictures, and a number of major standalone sties are devoted to car information. Autohome. One of the biggest auto-specific websites on the mainland. Has its own stable of reviewers and commentators, one of whom, Meng Qingjia, went along on a press tour of China’s Antarctic research station. His trip was sponsored by Nissan X-Trail.  PCAuto claims to be the second-largest auto-related portal on the mainland. One interesting feature, in addition to comprehensive BBS forum and blog offerings, is a fuel economy blog that aggregates netizen data to come up with the most fuel-efficient cars. XCar is another major portal with sub-forums for practically every (sometimes random) interest imaginable. The self-guided holiday sub-forum has over one hundred users, and is a popular venue for people to share experiences about their own travels to faraway places such as Kunming, Tibet and Xinjiang. Several threads are started each month and generate frequent replies. China’s auto-related websites include organic communities and small startups as well as major sites operated by large media companies: CBS Interactive runs the buying sites Cheshi and Go Car, as well as the XCar portal, by virtue of its 2008 acquisition of CNET Networks. PCAuto belongs to Pacific Online, which owns a network of special-interest websites.

making a purchase ::
Che168 is a forum designed to be a comprehensive buyers’ guide to the auto market. It’s part of a network of online buyers’ guides that includes IT website IT168 and has connections to Autohome and mainstream portal PCPop. A clever search function that lets netizens weight the importance of various traits (such as safety, efficiency, economy, brand, and power) on a sliding percentage scale. GoCar (购车网) is a no-frills car buying website. Front and center is a search box for country, make, price range, and style. There are sub-sites for Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shandong, detailed information on a wide range of models, and tools for figuring out loan and payment numbers. Data comes  from a selection of online partners as well as relationships with offline dealers like Oriental Foundation International Auto Mall. The site is connected to XCar forums, so it does not host a local BBS. Cheshi (车市), which belongs to the same company, is more focused on information and buyers’ guidance, and features an active BBS which hosts sub-forums devoted to popular makes and models. The site also has a list of expert agents who are available to answer buyers’ questions. Judging from the response rankings, visitors to Cheshi are interested in new cars: the repair, rental, and second-hand experts have very few questions directed at them. Taotaocar (淘淘二手车网) is a website founded in 2007 to facilitate the buying and selling of used cars. It’s set up like an automotive version of the online auction house Taobao, and offers model- and price-based searching options and special sub-sections organized by location. Advertisements (or partner links) are from various used car dealers. Another technique for buying cars is group purchasing. Prospective buyers seek volume discounts by approaching car dealers as a group, and they frequently organize themselves using the Internet. Netizens find other interested purchasers on web forums, but the actual discussion mostly takes place off the web using tools like Tencent’s QQ messaging software (see this CIC narrative for details).

websites for car owners ::
Netizens who own cars have a wealth of online forums to choose from. Most comprehensive auto forum websites have sub-boards where owners of particular models can congregate; some of them also have sub-boards devoted to particular geographic regions. Independent sites cater to specialized interests. Pochezu (破车族), or “Jalopies,” is an auto forum aimed at existing car owners. Rather than focusing on the latest models, information on this site concerns auto maintenance and repair, tricks for keeping a car looking good, and directories of after-market services and destinations you may want to drive to. Car owners interested in tuning their vehicles can visit Modi-Auto, a community devoted to the art of improving car performance. Started in 2004 as a bare-bones BBS by tuning enthusiasts, it has grown into an archive of relevant news and information with an active discussion forum attached where newbies and experts can talk tuning. Another way car owners get together is through driving tours. Car Trips is a specialty forum devoted to organizing self-guided driving tours and sharing experiences and photos. Netizens discuss routes, lodging, and destinations, and sometimes arrange group excursions.

online branding / marketing ::
The Other Blog is a MINI-branded blog hosted on Sina. It features the latest ads for the Mini Cooper S standard and Clubman models surrounding blog posts related to design, art, and other trendy topics the brand wants to be associated with. Blog post contests are another way for brands to increase their exposure in the digital space. In 2008, Toyota held a contest for bloggers on Tencent’s QQ platform to promote its new Corolla model. Owners were asked to write about the joys of Corolla ownership or tell of their experiences with the car, with the winners receiving a GPS system, a netbook, a gas card, or other car- and travel-related prizes. In 2008, Anhui’s JAC Motors partnered with Sina to place its Rein SRV into a driving game. As part of the promotional campaign, net gamers competed in a series of elimination rounds with the ultimate winners getting the use of a Rein vehicle for one year, a laptop computer, or other high-tech prizes.

// 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.]

:: Chinese netizens have a plenty of options when it comes to spending money online, but their choices are more limited when it comes to managing their finances. Similarly, there’s tons of information about investment and the stock market, but not as much about other aspects of financial planning.

Here are a few different types of websites and services that Chinese netizens are using for wealth and personal finance management:

household budget websites ::
A large number of websites have sprung up in the past few years to help Chinese netizens manage their household finances. Zhangke (账客网) is a typical example. Its name is formed from the word zhang, “account,” and ke, a common suffix used in Chinese Web2.0-related terms. Together, the term means something like “accounster.” The URL means “I’ve tallied it!” The clean-and-simple site offers monthly plans for entering data via mobile phone, and it provides functionality for discussing consumer-related topics, posting expenditure diaries, and finding other consumers in your city. Caakee (财客在线) was founded in early 2006 and targets white-collar workers between the ages of 25 and 35. It has a large feature set, including the ability to handle stocks, funds, and credit cards, and to export all data in an Excel file for offline applications. Caakee founder Tian Keshan is a young entrepreneur who recently appeared on an Apprentice-like Shanghai TV show called No Free Lunch. My Money (网上理财记帐) features an extensive list of capabilities that includes rolling stock quote updates and foreign exchange accounting for 26 different currencies. It lists frequent system updates: in May it launched version 3, in September version 4, and in November version 4.5. There are far more of these sites than can easily be summed up here, but you can find twenty of them listed here on Parandroid, a blog devoted to lists of software and web technologies.

financial blog sites ::
Many investment and financial planning experts blog on hosts designed to bring together bloggers on financial topics. CNStock’s blog platform hosts wildly popular stock bloggers who have mirrors across all of the major blog providers as well as other writers who address less exciting financial issues. This is to be expected, according to a recent post by Tang Xuefeng, a financial consultant who blogs on CNStock and writes columns about personal finance for the financial channels of other portals. Tang notes, “China’s financial sector is mainly Investment right now, and Personal Finance is lacking. People chase headlong after profit and are unconcerned with rational, practical planning and management of risk, benefits, resources, and goals.” Caixun (财讯) is a financial portal associated with the Beijing-based Shihua International Financial Information (世华财讯). It’s a large, cleanly-designed site that provides news and analysis, as well as exclusive commentary from experts (mostly on investment and market-relate issues). A large personal finance section offers extensive archives of relevant background information, reports, and reviews of financial products on offer from China’s major banks. Associated BBS discussion forums and blogs fill out the community aspects of the site. As on other financial platforms, specific wealth-management topics are in the minority, but people are blogging about housing purchases, white collar savings, and strategies for managing taxes.

e-Commerce-related communities ::
Websites that facilitate online spending are also home to money-management and personal finance communities. Alipay, an online payment service run by e-Commerce giant Alibaba, has a community subsection that offers general-interest forums. It has two major sub-boards devoted to financial issues: an investment and personal finance board, which hosts discussions about financial planning, stocks, and family finances, and an economization board, devoted to exchanging techniques for saving money. Alipay itself has set up partnerships with other financial websites, including a number of the personal budget services found in #1 above.

online bank communities ::
Most of China’s major banks have websites that are one-way: they provide netizens with information but do not allow for much interaction beyond basic online banking services. Some have minimal forums set up to allow netizens to ask questions online, while a few go all out and host extensive BBS discussion forums that cover a broad range of financial topics. China Merchants Bank offers forums with content ranging from online banking issues, to currency markets and investment, to financial planning and insurance. ICBC has only a limited selection of forums, but it schedules live video chats on the second and fourth Friday of every month. Financial experts are online to discuss currency trends, financial planning, fund dynamics, and other related topics with interested netizens. The China Construction Bank website has a section featuring the products of online merchants, which allows netizens to reserve plane tickets, buy jewelry, and purchase online gaming vouchers through the bank.

widgets / tools ::
Online financial calculators are provided by a number of banks and financial websites. ICBC offers a set of tools for calculating loans, returns on stocks and bonds, and foreign exchange rates, among other data. Financial portal Hexun offers an impressive battery of tools for performing calculations related to credit estimates, period investment returns, insurance, major household purchases, and retirement income, as does Eastmoney. Widget platforms offer a variety of stock widgets that can be embedded into blogs and other web pages. Sohu’s Open Widget platform hosts an Eastmoney-branded stock widget that reports general market information for Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as allowing blog visitors to look up the activity of specific stocks. Another relatively popular (though unbranded) widget charts detailed stock info on a large graph. Bloggers who embed the widget can select a stock to track, and the widget will automatically update with near-live market activity and rolling averages.

// 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.]

:: while there are many (MANY) people looking for heathcare, pharmaceutical, and general medical information online in China, the local digital space for these topics it’s largely a mess of fake information and dodgy advertising. Sigh… As such, finding trustworthy information is a real challenge. Fear not though!

Below are a number of different (and real) ways in which patients, family / loved ones, medical professionals, pharmaceutical companies / brands, and health care institutions engage and interact online in China around healthcare issues. These are all legit, or if they’re fake, they’re good enough to fool me! Unlikely.

non-medical professional communities ::
The Bingyou website (病友网) is designed to help people share their experiences coping with medical conditions or handling treatments. A general website, it covers a wide range of topics in health care, and its BBS and blog features are oriented toward networking people with similar issues. Other forums provide resources for people with specific conditions, ranging from high-profile issues like diabetes to rarer diseases. These are non-professional websites that are not authorized to dispense medical advice, but they still are able host information, news, and community services. Sweet Home (甜蜜家园) is a portal with information about diabetes, a major healthcare issue in China. It has active forums as well as a blog hosting service. Netizens with diabetes or whose friends or relatives are diabetic discuss lifestyle issues and treatment options, as well as other issues unrelated to healthcare. Blogs range from journals about living with diabetes to tips and advice to the same sort of blogs that can be found on general-interest blog hosts. The BBS has an advertising board where dealers and individuals can post about medial equipment they have for sale. Content is strictly regulated, however, and this site (like most above-board grass-roots communities) does not have much branded advertising. Health-related print media has moved online, too: the magazine Diabetic’s Friend has a similar community website with blogs, forums, and participation from experts and medical professionals. One example of a community for a less-common condition is AS Home (强直性脊柱炎患者之家), a website for sufferers of ankylosing spondylitis that claims to be one of the earliest patient-organized online communities in China.

ask a doctor ::
Good Doctor Web (好大夫网) is a health care portal founded in 2006. Its main objective is to help visitors find good doctors offline (it even has a conspicuous notice at the bottom of every page reminding netizens that online information is no substitute for a face-to-face consultation), and to that end it provides a directory of hospitals and specialists. In addition to basic medical information, Good Doctor Web offers a Q&A service for netizens. For doctors, it provides personalized websites / profiles “to establish an online brand” and interact with patients. The site has a license from the Beijing Health Bureau. It doesn’t run ads, but it has an extensive network of partnerships with hospitals and other healthcare-related websites. Established in 1999, Daifu MD (大夫网) is a healthcare portal that features a large group of physicians who can interact with patients and their families and friends. Daifu MD is connected to the American Pacific Medical Group (美国医疗国际集团), and seems to be in the business of designing websites for hospitals. It has fairly active forums in categories covering all areas of health care. The website is licensed to provide online pharmaceutical information. It does carry ads and has some pharmaceutical brand / company presence, but it is limited to only minor drug brands.

blogs ::
Major blog platforms allow bloggers to be grouped together by interest. Two major health care-related “blog circles” on Sina are Good Doctor (好医生博客圈), which has 978 members, and Nurses’ Home (白衣天使之家), which has 2377 members. Blog posts generally seem to be exchanges between non-doctors about hospitals, treatments, and other health care issues, or educational posts by health care professionals directed at patients and their friends and family. However, unlike the abundance of law-related bloggers and blog providers, the medical profession doesn’t seem to have much conversation taking place on blogs. Orthopedics Community (中国骨科社区) is a specialty website that features blogs run by a good number of orthopedics specialists. It’s clean and up-to-date, unlike a more general affiliated website, Dr. Blog (中国医学博客网), whose lack of focus makes it look less like a community of medical professionals. Perhaps because these blogging communities are intended to build up the image and reputation of individual doctors, pharmaceutical brand / company presence is limited to the institutions the doctors work for, with no other health care or pharmaceutical branding included.

hospital websites ::
Many large hospitals have set up a web presence, and some of them provide interactive and community-building services. Beijing’s Chaoyang Hospital (北京朝阳医院) is a typical example. In addition to an online archive of conditions, tests, and treatments, it has an online Q&A page where visitors can ask questions about hospital procedures or general healthcare-related issues. Hospital staff and netizens can both answer questions. The China Chronic Kidney Disease Net (慢性肾脏病) is an online community associated with the Nephrology Department at Peking University Third Hospital. It has an active BBS in which a number of PKU medical professors participate, running their own sub-boards and responding to questions and comments from members. Blogs by doctors do not seem to have made it to hospital websites yet. As for pharmaceutical brand / company presence, although the unscrupulous off-line promotional practices of smaller, private hospitals have their counterparts online, the websites of major hospitals are generally free of ads and sponsorships, or any kind of commercial cooperation.

pharmaceutical / healthcare brands ::
Health care brands can take advantage of their reputation in certain areas to foster online communities focused on a particular topic. One example is Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Center website (宝宝中心), a combination knowledge-base and interactive community. The site streams instructional videos and has a section where netizens can ask questions of experts. And since everyone loves sharing photos of their baby, netizens who register to post in the Birthday Club forum can be selected to have their baby’s photos featured on the front page. Corporate branding is noticeable but not insistent. Johnson & Johnson also runs the Baby Sleep website which features a podcast that currently has sixteen episodes (宝宝广播站). In the podcasts, known as Baobao Radio, a host and a medical professional discuss various topics that new mothers may need to know. It’s a well-designed Flash app that unfortunately does not seem to be embeddable anywhere other than the Baby Sleep website.

Meiloo
Meiloo (美乐) is a health portal devoted to assisting prospective patients in arranging appointments for dental, cosmetic surgery, weight loss, men’s and women’s health, and therapy issues. It was founded by Zhang Yan, formerly of Random House, and collects detailed information about more than one hundred healthcare centers in Shanghai and Beijing. Pricing information is provided on the website. Healthcare information provided on the site is presented in a sensational, eye-catching manner. Basic rating and response functions are provided so that clinic visitors can share their impressions online with other netizens. There’s an online chat function for netizens who have questions about Meiloo and the healthcare centers it features, but interactivity and community tools are mostly outside the scope of the website.

// 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.]

:: Sam Flemming is the co-founder and CEO of CIC (blog), the first and leading Internet Word of Mouth (IWOM) research and consulting firm in China. His company is at the forefront of exploring Chinese digital culture and helping companies and brands understand how Chinese Internet Word of Mouth is impacting and can be used to inform marketing communications, customer relationships, and research and development.

56minus1: Why is IWOM relevant for companies / brands in China? We all know about the crisis side of things online in China, with nationalistic “fenqing,” etc., but what kind of opportunities does the world of Chinese IWOM present companies / brands in China?

Sam Flemming: Ultimately, we see IWOM as INTELLIGENCE that enables brands to understand and take part in the way IWOM is redefining the relationship between institutions (like brands) and consumers. This is the theme of our recently released white paper series, see part 4 here; I also wrote about this here. IWOM is an essential part (among many) of the marketing communications mix: it’s part of crisis / reputation monitoring, marketing effectiveness measurement, market research, marketing (i.e. online community marketing), competitive intelligence, and creative inspiration. IWOM is, in essence, reshaping each of these different marketing communications disciplines.

What are some of the biggest mistakes you and your team see companies / brands / agencies making online in China regarding IWOM (or digital marketing / PR / interactive work)? Why are they mistakes?

Sam Flemming: One big mistake is thinking they can control IWOM by posting fake messages or getting negative messages deleted (see great example here; the whole Sanlu Milk powder case is also worthy of mention). IWOM is made up of the hundreds of millions of voices of the Internet community and to assume that as a single institution the brand can control IWOM is a fantasy at best.

Without naming names or pointing fingers, tell us a little bit about the darker side of the Chinese Internet (i.e. astroturfing, portals’ manipulation of scandalous brand crises for page views, its overly commercial nature, sketchy forum administers working with astroturfers, privacy issues, etc.)

Sam Flemming: Here’s my quick take on some of the “hot button” issues:

1. The biggest difference of IWOM in the West and in China is that Chinese IWOM is hosted on very commercial platforms like portals, whereas in the US, for example, blogs are not. When platforms are commercial, the incentives for the platforms to do most anything to drive page views, including courting controversy, is very strong.
2. Astroturfing is relatively cheap due to lower labor costs in China and it offers a very tangible solution for agencies or managers to appear to “do” something “web 2.0″ even if it doesn’t have much effect (other than alienating and harming the community). You and I both shared thoughts on this here.
3. Some forum administrators will work with astroturfing agencies to post messages for a fee, this is true; this actually points to the larger trend that IWOM platforms are commercial and need to generate revenue for the value that they provide (i.e. connecting brands to consumers). Charging brands to connect / participate “in the conversation” within a community that takes time / effort / money to build and maintain is not inherently wrong, especially when it can provide distinct value. Why shouldn’t Twitter charge brands for commercial accounts when companies like Dell have reportedly generated US$1 million in 1.5 years (in the West, not in China). However, such processes / policies should be transparent, and they most often not in China.
4. Monitoring and removal of content is largely done by the commercial IWOM platforms themselves; it is in their best interest to not have content that is offensive or breaks any law.

56minus1: What are some of the smartest / most-effective campaigns you and your team see companies / brands / agencies executing online in China regarding IWOM (or digital marketing / PR / interactive)? Why are they smart / effective?

Sam Flemming: I outline our view of “IWOM centered marketing” here where I talk about how Johnson Baby has done great things with its Mom Ambassador program and how Intel used a simple but powerful approach to generate buzz within the Intel (aka “I-fan”) community.

56minus1: Can u share a few examples of CIC clients using CIC insights to inform their digital marketing / PR / interactive strategies or campaigns?

Sam Flemming: I can’t get into too many specifics, but our insights about sports communities regularly feed into the creative for Nike digital and media. We track campaign effectiveness of several other clients by tracking various elements of IWOM buzz (see here for example measurements) and combine these findings with other digital and market research agencies to put together comprehensive reports that provide a detailed understanding of campaign performance from all important angles. We also work with R&D departments to assist in their product development and with PR departments for reputation monitoring. You can see plenty of case studies of how brands use IWOM intelligence to help drive their communications in our recent “The Internet is THE Community” white papers, especially part one and part four.

56minus1: Who “gets” IWOM and the “digital imperative” best in China? PR firms, advertising agencies, interactive / digital agencies, etc.? Or, are they all hopeless? Who gets its the least (or is the most hopeless)? Why? What brands really get it?

Sam Flemming: Digital agencies seem to do better, in general, since they are more familiar with the overall digital environment. PR and advertising still view social media as a last minute add on. These are generalizations, and there are always exceptions. Of course the agencies and clients who get IWOM the best are the ones who work with companies like us.  ;-)

56minus1: What are three (or more if you have more) IWOM (or digital marketing / PR / interactive) trends in China to keep a look for in the near future?

Sam Flemming:

1. SNS audiences prove finicky: SNS will continue to grow, but the key challenge will be for the SNS players to garner loyalty. Xiaonei was 2007 / 2008. Kaixin is 2008 / 2009. What’s next? I am not sure there is much loyalty with Chinese netizens.
2. Development of vertical SNS: I predicted last year that vertical SNS like Babytree would become more popular. I still think this will happen as there are already so many BBS verticals with powerful communities (i.e. Xcar and HoopChina), that it seems like a no brainer for existing BBS communities to leverage SNS functions or new SNS verticals to develop within popular topic areas.
3. Refinement of communications strategies based on different roles of blogs, BBS, and SNS: Blogs are driven by self expression (i.e. content driven by “me’”), BBS are driven by information / topics (i.e. content driven by “topics”), and SNS are driven by netizen relationships. Like any good conversationalist or community member, brands need to shape their communication approach based on understanding the motivations and purpose of each communication space. This was a topic that came out in our IWOM summit meetings with 17 of our clients late last year. I also wrote about it in detail here.

56minus1: What’s special or unique about Chinese netizens and local Internet culture? Interesting examples?

Sam Flemming: I would say the sheer force of the Internet as a primary and mainstream media which both influences and serves as a channel for consumers, especially in top tier cities, is unmatched by any other market, at least in the West (Korea could make some claims here). We continually document examples in our white papers (see especially our IWOM watch half year reviews like this one and special IWOM watch on the Sichuan earthquake here) and on our blogs www.seeisee.com/sam (English) and www.seeisee.com (Chinese). Another unique element is that, as I mentioned above, the hottest social media platforms are largely commercial which can lend to a different dynamic than the West (i.e. there may be a certain tendency to highlight controversy).

56minus1: Does CIC have plans to move from a research / consulting firm to an agency that executes digital / interactive campaigns? Considering CIC’s insight and understanding of the space in China, seems like a logical step. Why haven’t you done it already?

Sam Flemming: We believe it important to serve as 3rd party, credible, and objective partner in providing research and consulting to our clients. If we execute, then we lose that unique positioning. We don’t think the market needs more agencies; we think agencies need to better learn to appreciate how IWOM can inform their strategy and execution.

56minus1: Talk about your business. When did the company start? How have you grown over the years? Practices? Products? Offices, staff numbers, company culture, plans for the future, hiring, etc.

Sam Flemming: Founded in 2004, CIC has always focused exclusively on IWOM research and consulting. We have developed our own proprietary text mining technology for the unique Chinese social media landscape and have a dedicated team of analysts who understand IWOM, communications and vertical industries in China (esp. auto, mobile phone, consumer electronics, cosmetics, baby, sports, and beverage). I do think we have a unique company culture as an independent agency which is “out of the box” as part of its very DNA.

56minus1: Thanks Sam.

// AjS

:: As founder and editor in chief of China Web2.0 Review, an award-winning English-language blog dedicated to tracking the latest developments in China’s Internet and mobile markets, Tangos Chan has long established himself as one of the most authoritative voices on China’s digital space. Tangos is also a VP at China Growth Capital and a lead organizer of the annual Chinese Blogger Conference. Follow Tangos on Twitter at , or for China Web2.0 Review feeds on Twitter, follow .

[note: this interview has been translated from Chinese]

56minus1: Now or in the future, where do you see local innovation coming from in the Chinese digital space?

Tangos Chan: Even though at the end of 2007 I gave a lecture on Chinese innovation in the digital space, I feel that if you take the whole Chinese digital space into consideration, it really lacking in innovation. Sure, there is “Chinese style innovation” and a culture of “shanzhai” (knock-off) innovation that adapts already developed stuff to better suit the China market, but in reality, this is just “copying” with only minor alteration. What little innovation there is occurs at the applied level, while at the most basic core technology level and in the application space there is practically none to be found. I feel this will be quite difficult to change in the short term, as China’s entire education environment / system and social situation really doesn’t do much to cultivate innovation.

56minus1: What are your biggest and boldest predictions for the Chinese Internet over the next 18 months? What can we expect?

Tangos Chan: Oh god, why does everyone always like to ask this question…I’m really not very good at making predictions. When I was in school, me and a friend used to bet on sports…I lost every time. One time though, a classmate noticed that I always seemed to lose, so when Saudi Arabia played Belgium in the World Cup, he gave me a chance by intentionally betting on Saudi Arabia to win. In the end, Saudi Arabia scored an incredible goal and won the match 1:0…I lost again…OK, next question…hahahaha. Alright, I will try my best to make some predictions for the next 18 months, here goes: 1) most of China’s Internet companies will turn into gaming companies…it doesn’t matter is it’s MMORPG or simple online / Web site / casual games, or games within social networking sites, etc.; 2) Google will steal considerable search market share from Baidu because Baidu is simply over-extended with its offering…the company’s product line is just all over the place; and 3) Besides Google, all other foreign companies, for the most part, will exit the China Internet market.

56minus1: BBS / online discussion forums are king in China, but why? Historical precedent? User preference for anonymity and multiple content creators, etc.? Or? Your thoughts?

Tangos Chan: In China, BBS is very important. One reason is because of historical president, yes. For example, China’s biggest portal Sina originated from a BBS. Besides historical reasons, I think BBS are extremely popular in China because everyone’s interest in and tolerance for China’s domestic mainstream media’s reporting is waning. People are looking for new sources and channels of information and news. Also, in China (online or off), it is very hard to find a place to freely share your voice or opinion with the general public, BBS provides this opportunity, and because of it’s anonymous nature, BBS also provides a certain built-in protection for this kind of self expression among users.

56minus1: Your vote for the BEST or “most 2.0″ Chinese Web site? Any sites to keep an eye on in the near future?

Tangos Chan: The Chinese “Web2.0″ site I use most is Douban. I have been a Douban user since it first came out…I was the 53rd registered user (my user ID is 53). Although the Douban of 2005 (when it first came out) is much different than the Douban of today, the site’s development has always been quite steady and consistent…recently they released a new function for musicians, I think this is an important step for Douban’s development because it has opened up the site to a whole new space. Besides Douban, I think Kaixin001 is worth paying attention to. The team behind the Kaixin001 has a really good understanding of their users’ needs and wants. They are doing a really good job in terms of productization too. There are other local Chinese sites with bright prospects, but to tell you the truth, I don’t really use them much myself.

56minus1: How does the Chinese Internet differs from the Anglo-centric / Western Internet?

Tangos Chan: I have never really thought about this question before. I think the one big difference between the Chinese Internet and other markets is copyright protection. In China, there isn’t very good protection over copyrights. There is a ton of content on the Chinese Internet that’s just copied / pasted, etc. without citation or link-backs. The value of content has yet to be realized and respected by the Chinese netizentry. On the other hand, in terms of user experience, since the popularization of computers / computing came at the same time as the popularization of the Internet, many Chinese people have never really experienced the “software age,” they went straight into the “Internet age,” so their understanding of how to use the Internet is only at a very basic / elementary level. As a result, it’s often the case that foreign users are much more proficient at the more complicated / sophisticated side of the Internet.

56minus1: Who do you think will win the video sharing site war in China? Or will they all survive?

Tangos Chan: Well, there is no doubt in my mind that they can’t all stick around…in the end, I don’t think more than two will survive. Looking back to the “portal war” in China, in reality, only Sina and Sohu have survived. If Netease wasn’t propped up by its gaming and service provider business, it would have exited the portal market a long time ago. The quantity of advertising in the China market isn’t sufficient to support more than two video sharing sites. In terms of who will actually survive, it’s really hard to say because there is just so much bad and fake information out there about these sites…who knows what is real…so, its hard to judge about these sites’ futures.

56minus1: Tells us about Chinese netizens? Are they unique? If so, why? Waht’s a typical profile of the average “Chinese netizen?”

Tangos Chan: If someone really wants to get an accurate understanding and description of Chinese netizens, I encourage you to read the latest CNNIC report or my English summaries here. In general, Chinese netizens are younger than 25, many are younger than 20, low incomes, accessing the Web from Web cafes, etc. They are online mostly for gaming, chatting on QQ, or downloading movies and music.

56minus1: What do you make of CNNIC’s statistics? Accurate or just “stabs in the dark”? How many people are REALLY using the Internet in China?

Tangos Chan: What do you think I am, God? How the hell am I supposed to know how many Internet users there are in China?! Considering that there really is no other accurate alternative to Internet numbers in China, I think there is great value in CNNIC’s figures as reference points. But actually, I am not really concerned with how many Internet users there are in China. It doesn’t matter if there are 2 hundred million or 1 hundred million, or whatever, these are just numbers anyway. What I care about is how people are using the Internet. Are they gaming? Are they playing on QQ? Are they downloading media? What are they doing? I’m far more interested in what users are doing and how they are doing it…that’s more interesting.

56minus1: What has the Internet done to change China over the past 10 years or so, and how do you see it shaping China’s future?

Tangos Chan: The biggest thing the Internet has done for China was to provide a space / channel for Chinese people to express their opinions. Also, the Internet has provided many more channels by which we can get information. Yes, it’s true the Internet is censored and suppressed to a certain extend, but, even so, it has provided us with many new opportunities as a society. As Bill Gates once said, “we always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.” I cannot predict, but I do hope and believe that the Internet can make China a better society.

56minus1: Who will win the C2C war in China? Does Baidu’s “You A” have a chance against Taobao?

Tangos Chan: Baidu has invested a huge amount of resource in C2C, however, in the short term, Taobao will without a doubt dominate in terms of market share. In the long term though, Baidu and Tencent’s Paipai will slowly but surely nibble away at Taobao’s holdings, forming a three-way balance of power…of course, of the three, Taobao is the strongest.

56minus1: Who will with the SNS war in China? Why? Or…?

Tangos Chan: In the SNS space I think there will be a few that split up the market as leading players. I think Kaixin001, Xiaonei, and 51.com all have a chance for success…also, of course, you can’t forget about QQ.

56minus1: Is your site, China Web2.0 Review, the TechCrunch of China?

Tangos Chan: Techcrunch is a “for-profit” Web site, my China Web 2.0 Review is just a blog…it’s just my personal interest…so, there’s that fundamental difference between the two sites. Before I started writing the CWR blog, I was certainly influenced and inspired by TechCrunch, but my blog is “export oriented” as it’s written for foreigners that want to better understand the China Internet market, so, my objective is also a bit different than TechCruch’s. However, many people have introduced me / my site as “the TechCrunch of China,” a title I am happy to take on.  :-)

56minus1: Besides CWR, what to you do for a living?

Tangos Chan: Blogging on CWR is only my part-time job in the evening. My full time job is at China Growth Capital, which is a startup consulting, investing, and incubation company based in Beijing that focuses on early and expansion stage opportunities. So, at China Growth Capital, I work very closely with other startups and entrepreneurs in terms of business strategy, marketing, development, etc.

56minus1: Tell us more about China Web2.0 Review. When did u start it? Why? Why is it in English? Any ambitions for the site to become something other than what it is now?

Tangos Chan: The first post on China Web 2.0 Review was published on October 28, 2005. At that time, I had quite a few friends writing “bridge blogs,” on one hand they were translating good foreign language posts / articles into Chinese, on the other hand, they were trying their hands at writing posts in English to help those outside China gain a better understanding of things here. We all thought that the outside world’s understanding of China shouldn’t only come from mainstream media, whether it was CNN or The China Daily, there needed to be more channels in order to establish true communication and understanding. 2005 was a year in which the outside world really started paying attention to the Chinese digital space…so, in line with foreign interest, I started an English-language blog to introduce developments in the Chinese tech, Internet, and wireless, etc. spaces, and give some attention to some startups that weren’t getting covered in mainstream media.

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