:: MEDIA Magazine (Asia) featured us (NeochaEDGE) in pretty good China-focused youth marketing piece. Link here for a hi-res / readable version. // AjS

:: a nice article was recently written about us in China International Business. See below.  // AjS

(more…)

This is another official update to the original Shift Happens video. This completely new Fall 2009 version includes facts and stats focusing on the changing media landscape, including convergence and technology, and was developed in partnership with The Economist. For more information, or to join the conversation, please link here or here.  // 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

:: the Beijing edition of City Weekend magazine recently interviewed me about NeochaEDGE and the creative community in China, see below (or news-stands) for the print article. To see the full interview online, link here.  // AjS

:: the lovely and formidable Mrs. Jenny Zhu recently interviewed me about the Chinese creative community, emerging youth culture, and social media in China. Check it out on her blog. Please pardon the pink  // AjS

:: taken at a Shanghai Foreign Correspondents Club event in which Danwei.org founder and editor Jeremy Goldkorn addressed a full house with insightful and humorous anecdotes from his 15 years of experience in China’s online and offline media world. [Please take notice of Jeremy's quasi-jewfro shadowed on the projector screen, superb!]

The following evening I had the indescribable pleasure of having Mr. Goldkorn at my home for dinner, during which he was gracious enough to introduce me to an old-school Internet meme of monumental vileness: Goatse. Thanks Jeremy.  // AjS

[full disclosure: I am a contributor to Danwei.org]

:: this video is the ninth in a Danwei.org series of short interviews conducted at this year’s Chinese blogger conference (cnbloggercon 2008, Guangzhou, November 15 & 16th).

In this interview, Guo “Daxia” (郭”大虾”), a controversial and prolific grassroots Chinese blogger well-known for tackling many of China’s most sensitive social issues on his blog (which has long been blocked / inaccessible in mainland China), discusses his experience blogging, “civic consciousness” in China, the influence social media is having on official policymakers, censorship, free speech / public discourse, and the Chinese government propaganda department loosing control.

This video is also available on Tudou for faster loading in China.

To see other interviews from this series, link here.

Filming, editing, and interviewing: Adam J. Schokora
Subtitles: Alice Liu
Music: B6

:: below is a sampling of how the Chinese mainstream media covered President Obama’s inauguration on their front pages today (January 21, 2009). All images courtesy of AB报. Inspired by Danwei’s collage of front pages when Obama won the Presidential election.

Some of the headlines above read (in translation):

• Obama takes up his post
• The White House changes masters
• Obama has taken up his post as President of the United States
• Obama assumes office
• “And he’s off!”
• Obama takes over the United States
• Black president moves into the White House
• The Horse has assumed office, effective immediately (note: “Obama” is transliterated in Chinese as “奥巴马” with the “马” character meaning “horse;” accordingly, he is often nicknamed “The Horse” (马) or the “Black Horse” (黑马) in China.)
• Obama is sworn into his post
• America has entered the Obama era
• President Obama has started work
• White House, black horse
• The first black man to take over the White House: the era of Obama as helmsman
• The stage curtain has opened on the Obama era
• America starts the Obama era
• Bush steps down, Obama steps up
• Obama’s time has come
• The Obama era stage curtain opens amidst crisis
• Transformational change: Obama takes charge of the U.S.

// AjS

:: this video is the eighth in a Danwei.org series of short interviews conducted at this year’s Chinese blogger conference (cnbloggercon 2008, Guangzhou, November 15 & 16th).

In this interview, Isaac Mao (毛向辉), China’s first blogger and a self proclaimed “free philosopher of sharism,” talks about how many major news stories in China first break online with local netizens using blogs and other social media tools to find, share, and uncover the truth about issues the mainstream / traditional media aren’t allowed to cover. Mao goes on to speak optimistically about China’s social progress and evolution, assuring that the country is moving toward a modern society very much worth looking forward to.

This video is also available on Tudou for faster loading in China.

To see other interviews from this series, link here.

Filming, editing, and interviewing: Adam J. Schokora
Subtitles: Alice Liu
Music: B6

:: one of the driving forces behind the initial growth of blogging in China was mainstream Chinese journalists / reporters. Before the Chinese blogosphere had movie stars, athletes, and legions of ordinary people, reporters discussed current events and swapped stories that had been kept out of the mainstream Chinese papers, magazines, etc.

Today, China’s much more diverse blogging world has quite a few influential journalists bloggers, and, in fact, they are often some of the better bloggers out there. Why? Because 1) they have some degree of professional writing training / experience and thus can actually write well; 2) they have access to resources, people / contacts, and information from their day jobs, and, 3) they are often frustrated by restrictions over what they can not publish at their respective mainstream media outlets, and thus crave a platform to express themselves freely.

Below is an introduction to just a few well-known journalist bloggers.

Li Chengpeng (李承鹏)  |  sports

Li Chengpeng is perhaps the most well-known sports journalist in the country. He is the features director at Soccer News and his blog is consistently ranked among the top 10 blogs on Sina (currently at #5). Soccer (football) fans are passionate about the game, which explains some of Li’s popularity, but he applies his forthright style to other sports (most recently the Olympics), as well as subjects further afield. Dong Lu is another widely-read reporter/blogger whose got an even bigger reputation for telling it like it is, which has resulted in various media outlets freezing him out.

Sha Minnong (沙黾农)  |  stocks

Sha is the deputy general editor of Modern Express (现代快报), a popular Xinhua-affiliated newspaper based in Nanjing, and he is a well-know stock market blogger. His blog is currently ranked #1 on Sohu’s platform and is also fairly high up on Sina. His market analysis appeals to Chinese stock market players eager for the latest trends and predictions, and his experience as the founder of four successive securities newspapers lends significant weight to his opinions.

Rose Luqiu (闾丘露薇)  |  current affairs 

This well-known Phoenix TV reporter and popular columnist is also a prolific blogger who addresses current hot topics using rational arguments and level-headed language. She’s also the founder of the liberal-leaning blog portal My1510, and maintains a mirror blog there.

Wang Xiaofeng (王小峰)  |  popular culture

A lead writer for Sanlian Life Week magazine, Wang has a reputation for ironic social commentary and an anti-establishment sensibility, whether that establishment comes in the form of media regulators like SARFT or their toadying lackies like Sina Blogs. His antics touched a nerve in 2006 when he shut down his blog unannounced in an attempt to prove a point about knee-jerk anti-censorship journalism, a prank that lost him a little bit of credibility. He still wields considerable influence in propagating online memes and often posts tantalizing clues about upcoming Sanlian interviews and features. Wang is a respected music critic, so albums both foreign and domestic make frequent appearances on his blog.

He Dong (何东)  |  entertainment

He Dong is an entertainment journalist who hosts an interview show on Phoenix TV. His contacts within the entertainment industry make him privy to information that has yet to hit the papers, and industry figures will sometimes speak to him when they refuse to talk to the rest of the mainstream media. Mainstream journalists source stories to his blog (not always by name), so he is more influential than his traffic (around 10% of Li Chengpeng) implies.

// AjS

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

:: Barack Obama’s victory over John McCain in the US presidential election made the front page of most Chinese newspapers today:

 

Some of the more eye-catching headlines:

• Dongguan Times: “America’s First Black President” (many variations in other papers)
• Information Times: “‘Dark Horse’ Enters White House” (also in Liaoshen Evening News and City Lady)
• Xiamen Business Daily: “Will Chinese Benefit with a Black Man in Charge?”
• Modern Express: “The Kiss of Victory” with a photo of Obama and his wife (also in Xinhua’s Modern Money)
• Shenyang Evening News: “Obama: Change has come” (in English)
• Southern Metropolis Daily: “America ‘Changes Colors’”
• Qianjiang Evening News: “Obama Plans Change for America”
• Chengdu Evening News: “Obama Wins; Change Comes to America”
• Chongqing Evening News: “Black American Becomes Boss”
• Zhengzhou Evening News: “Obama YES”
• Chinese Business View: “America Enters Era of Change”
• Peninsula Metropolis Daily: “Obama: America’s New Boss”
• Chongqing Times: “Change, I Can”

Many newspapers included a subhead that mentioned President Hu Jintao’s congratulatory remarks; some, like the Beijing Morning Post, ran that bit of news as their top headline for the day.

As the Xiamen Business Daily headline indicates, articles on the election results addressed issues that Chinese readers would be particularly interested in, such as the overseas Chinese experience in American politics and Obama’s plans for Sino-US relations once he is inaugurated on January 20.

For more on China’s reaction to Obama’s win, see The China Beat.

All covers from ABBao