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June 13, 2008
State of the Chinese Blogosphere
I am at Edelman’s annual leadership meeting in Shanghai. We just heard from a group of Chinese bloggers, including Raymond Zhou, Isaac Mao, Steven Lin, Tangos Chan, Sam Flemming and Adam Schokora - disclosure; Mr Schokora works for Edelman China. Here are some of the most salient points:
1) Social media in China has two constant themes: the rich/poor divide and nationalism. According to Mr. Zhou, there is tremendous risk in ignoring blogs with “anti-China feeling,” such as those prompted by Sharon Stone’s recent comment about the earthquake in Sichuan Province caused somehow by Chinese behavior in Tibet. “Christian Dior did exactly the right thing in distancing the company from her and even making up an apology for her.” He noted that Carrefour didn’t respond to false claims that they supported the Dalai Lama, which spread like wildfire across Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) until they reported by mainstream media. “By playing the victim, being passive in the face of attacks, the company allowed the venom to go away.”
2) The large mainstream media, including China Daily, People’s Daily and CCTV is “a one direction world,” said Mr. Mao. “But we are now in a many to many world. Even though my parents get most of their information from TV, I send them text messages via the cell phone, so the world has become less hierarchical.” There was a text message alleging that one of the owners of Carrefour was financing the Dalai Lama. Then each person has to forward the text message to ten people, otherwise, you are not patriot.
3) Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) is the dominant form of social media in China, noted Mr. Flemming. For example, 200,000 women posted 1 million messages last month on cosmetics and 300,000 people put up 5.5 million messages on autos, he stated. There are vertical BBS options such as Xcar. Mr Tangus said that smart companies are now making it easy to grab video content on their web sites that can easily be sent via BBS. Mr. Zhou added that BBS is becoming highly segmented; “there are now micro-hobbies within each hobby.”
4) Commercialism has made blogs quite sensational. Mr. Zhou suggested that “in a world where performance is based on the number of page views, bloggers tend not to be the best journalists.” He provided a hypothetical example of a BMW running onto the curb and hitting a pedestrian as a perfect blog post that would be put onto the front page of Sina.com because it plays to the stereotypes of the rich person. Mr. Mao said that mainstream media often gets story ideas from bloggers; he suggested that Beijing residents will likely complain on-line during the upcoming Olympic Games about the traffic or impolite tourists. “Social media will portray this as the non-harmonious Games.”
5) BBS and blogs are amplifiers of stories in mainstream media. “The angry youth of China made their voices heard on-line after the torch relay incident in Paris,” said Mr. Mao, then the mainstream media reflected that feeling. After the recent earthquake, most of the bloggers had to rely on the Government for information, particularly CCTV, said Mr. Chen. “Then in the relief stage, there was lots of BBS discussion, giving us a more comprehensive picture of what was happening.” The blogs and BBS helped to raise money for victims while also “serving as a place for public grieving, to post prayers for the dead.” For a special report on how the Chinese blogosphere covered the earthquake, go to CICdata.com.
6) The best Chinese bloggers are from mainstream media, said Mr. Zhou. “They use social media because they are not as closely regulated as in their regular jobs.” He cited the reporter from Xinhua who blogged continually from Sichuan Province during the visit of Premier Wen Jiabao to catalyze the relief effort. Mr. Lin believes that “bloggers consider themselves reporters now; they dig out stories.”
7) Companies are getting serious about digital spend in China. Mr. Flemming said that brands can achieve awareness through TV advertising but “to tap into consumer passions, you need to go on line.”
8) The Chinese and English blogospheres are quite closely connected, said Mr. Mao. Some of the prominent Chinese bloggers such as Tangos Chan blog in English.
9) As in the US, there is huge attention paid to celebrities in the on-line world, according to Mr. Schokora. “But most blogs are about people’s lives,” he said.
These bloggers were incredibly impressive, committed to change, convinced that they were part of a new China where individual expression and frank speaking will win. They love the idea that in Mr. Zhou’s words,”We have moved beyond the propaganda posters as the voice of the people. Now we have a platform for ordinary citizens to give their views.” They also relish the high level of involvement in social media; according to Mr. Flemming, “98% of Chinese with access to the Internet have contributed to blogs or BBS.” I would appreciate your views as always.
Richard with the Chinese bloggers
Posted by Edelman at June 13, 2008 11:01 AM
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Comments
Very valuable post! In the USA and in Europe there is very little understanding of how the Chinese internet works, and what are the drivers of ordinary Chinese to go online, what are their interest, and the way they face with issues.
More understanding will help better analyze what it really means that the Chinese internet today is larger than the English speaking one.
Posted by: David Orban at June 14, 2008 3:44 PM
It is also interesting to explore how the Chinese government has sought to deal with the acute realization of the power and influence that digital media has in China.
China has one of the highest level of active online participation rates in the region and largest sheer number of internet users anywhere in the world. Despite past efforts to regulate the online environment, the government has come to realize the difficulty of imposing control over such a medium. Instead, they have taken to listening and learning, and the indications are they are taking what is said online very seriously indeed.
The legitimacy of the Party is predicated on the (idealized) notion that it is "for the people". Online discussion is, by its very nature, unmistakably the 'vox populi'. To achieve its stated goal of a harmonious and stable society, at a time when China is facing increasing challenges over unequal distribution of wealth, inflation and achieving sustainable development, this is not a voice the government can be seen to ignore.
And nor is it. The government's response to diverse range of issues, from Tibet, to the Japanese SDF's participation in the earthquake relief efforts, to investigations of instances of local corruption, all show them as being markedly responsive to calls online for government action.
This, in turn, encourages Chinese netizens and bloggers into believing their voice has actual power.
I think the government in China will increasingly seek to utilize social media and online communications as a tool to channel social frustrations and strong emotions among ordinary people, just as they sought to channel grieving over the earthquake.
Companies need to be aware that digital media is no longer just one limited vehicle through which to reach a certain demographic - it is increasingly a broad-based platform which impacts on all stakeholder groups - and most certainly including the government.
(Disclosure: Ilse Schache works in Edelman's Shanghai office).
Posted by: Ilse Schache at June 15, 2008 9:17 AM
Richard - Great post. Can you comment on the role of User Generated Content vs. the role of Professional content or Freelancer developed content on websites. Do you think that User Generated Content will overtake the other sources? What do you think the future of the online content 'editor' will be?
Posted by: Tom at June 15, 2008 9:50 PM
Thanks for this interesting introduction to the Chinese blogosphere. It will be great if you follow this up with a number heavy "state of social media in China" post.
Posted by: Gaurav Mishra at June 16, 2008 1:13 AM
Tom,
There is a role for both. Professional content in the sense that mainstream media reporters are increasingly using blogging as way to communicate. User generated content in personal experience, genuine tone.
Thanks for reading my blog,
Richard Edelman
Posted by: Richard Edelman at June 16, 2008 2:53 PM
Hi, good overview. Regarding 'social media' in China. If this is about citizen journalism, this is a very difficult subject (because of government rules and censorship). I do believe there are some developments, but it is difficult.
I think blogs and bbs are just two ways for people to discuss. Many discussions are hidden from the web, because they take place in IM's such as QQ (Groups). I think when one only looks at blogs/bbs/and perhaps twitters, you would overlook this important (but very difficult to research) aspect. Perhaps you did this on purpose though, to have a well defined subject.
Posted by: Thijs (Shenzhen) at June 20, 2008 12:57 PM
Thanks for the post Richard. Great info.
Allow me share a few numbers to help put a bit of context around the Chinese digital / social media landscape.
- 235 million Internet users; the largest Internet user population in the world
- Nationwide penetration of Internet usage is still quite low, at about 15%; a sign of tremendous growth yet to come
- 75% of these 235 million users are urban residents and educated
- 80% of these 235 million users are between the ages of 15 – 35 years old
- 60+ million active blogs
- 80+ million active participants on BSS forums (bulletin board system, i.e. online discussion forums)
- Of these 80+ million BBS users, 36.3% spend 1 - 3 hours a day reading/contributing to different forums; 44.7% spend 3 - 8 hours, and 15.1% spend 8+ hours; 60% will login to at least 3 BBS forums more than 3 times a week
- 3 billion registered BBS users (a single netizen can register to different forums multiple times)
- Chinese BBS forums experience 1.6 billion page views and 10 million new posts daily(!)
- 600+ million mobile phone subscribers (in Q1 of 2008, Chinese mobile phones users sent nearly 175 billion text messages)
- China is consistently adding 5 - 10 million new mobile phone subscribers a month
[The above figures are extracted from the January 2008 results of the China Internet Network Information Center's (CNNIC: www.cnnic.net.cn/en/index) biannual survey of the Internet in China. Some figures have been adjusted upward to account for inevitable increases over the last 6 months. CNNIC's mid 2008 survey results will be published in the very near future. Watch CNNIC for the latest figures.]
Thanks,
AjS
Posted by: Adam Schokora at June 22, 2008 8:23 AM
Dear Richard,
Thanks for taking personal interest in my little query.
Dear Adam,
Thanks for sharing such rich data on the Chinese blogosphere.
Regards,
Gaurav Mishra
Posted by: Gaurav Mishra at June 23, 2008 5:59 PM
“Thijs’ comment is spot on...for those who arent familiar with “QQ groups” let me provide some background. Very simply, a QQ group is a “private” online discussion forum, with a small twist. QQ groups are user-created interest groups that bring netizens together (anyone who wants to join the group...many groups are invite only though) in a single QQ instant messaging window for multi person interaction. It’s “group instant messaging,” but not a chat room. The key difference between a QQ group and a typical online discussion forum or chat room is that the “thread” / interaction / conversation is not public “on the Web”...it cannot be seen online....it’s captured only in a group members instant messaging window (which is part of the QQ software application on the user’s computer). Thijs’ point is that a significant amount of online chatter in China happens within these QQ groups that simply can’t be monitored or quantified / qualified in any real way as it’s not housed publically (as conversations on typical blogs / discussion forums are)...honest online conversational research in this channel is basically impossible. Further, the talk that happens in QQ groups is often quite open as the space is basically “safe”...talk about everything from critical citizen journalism, to “group watch” sporting fans, to how to organize offline in protest against Carrefour / “any brand”, to challenging the government, to even porn (!), etc. exists in these QQ groups....the Chinese government / Net Nanny can’t and doesn’t do much about it. Online chatter in China does indeed go far beyond just blogs / microblogging and BBS boards. Thanks for the comment Thijs.”
Best,
A j S
Posted by: Adam Schokora at July 2, 2008 1:45 PM
For those interested, the Guardian has recently published an article written by Isaac Mao about the Chinese blogosphere. Its well worth the read: http://tinyurl.com/57zny4
Posted by: Adam Schokora at August 5, 2008 11:41 PM