Social Media and China: Different than You Think

#SocialMediaAndChina

Sam Flemming @samflemmingBenjamin Joffe @benjaminjoffe

Jacqui Zhou @jacquizhou

Introduction

– The national TV network in China with over 1 billion audience

– News reporter & anchor

– Chief Chinese Blogger– Social Media Globalization

Manager

ABOUT JACQUI ZHOU

ABOUT SAM FLEMMING

First Online Payment Service1999

First Social Media Analytics and Consulting Firm2004

First Chinese Social Media Blog2005

ベンジャミン本杰明 벤자민

Benjamin Joffe

4 years1 year5 years

• Plus Eight Star– “Innovation Arbitrage”– Best practices from Asia’s Internet

and mobile scenes

• Cmune– 3D social games– Paradise Paintball, first “social shooter” on

Facebook, MySpace, Apple.com

• Mobile Monday Beijing– Monthly forum for mobile professionals

www.facebook.com/paradisepaintball

Common Assumptions

1. Social media in China? Isn’t it all censored?

2. China is all about copy

3. Chinese users are very different from US users

4. What happens in China stays in China

Blogs

Diary: “About Me”

BBS

Community: “About Topics”

SNS

Network: “About Relationships”

THE CHINESE SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPECC

221 Million

117 Million

176 Million

IM Tools

272Million

Online Gaming

265Million

Online Video

222 Million

Online shopping

108 Million

Online Music

321Million

WHAT ARE THEY DOING ONLINE?

Source: Chinese Social Technographics Revealed, 2009/01/23

Source: New 2008 Social Technographics data reveals rapid growth in adoption, 2008/10/20

CHINA SOCIAL MEDIA DOMINATES THE US: Chinese netizens are more engaged in creating/sharing content

Automobile MobilePhone Sports Computer Baby Cosmetics Healthcare0

2000000

4000000

6000000

8000000

10000000

12000000

Average Number of Online Consumer Comments per Month (Unit- million)

THE TALK ABOUT INDUSTRY

福克斯49%

小福32%

FKS11%

Focus7%福福 &FCS

1%

Data base: 474,790 references to Focus

FORD Focus Nickname Buzz Share 2nd Half 2008

2006 2000

Online Games & SNS

Key Numbers

• Users– Tencent 1B+ (485M active)– Qzone 310M users– RenRen 200M (50M also mobile)– Kaixin001 75M– 51.com 160M (38M MAU)

• Multiple accounts!

MOBILE

ONLINE GAMES

VIRTUAL GOODS

SOCIAL NETWORKSAPPLICATION PLATFORM

ONLINE + SOCIAL GAMES

ONLINE + SOCIAL GAMES

5 Billion Dollars!(5 times USA!)

China’s Virtual Goods Market Estimate for 2009

• Revenue: >1.5bln USD– (3 times Facebook)– 90% from digital goods

• (35% from games)

– 10% from ads

• Net margin: 40%

Tencent

China Full of Happy Farmers!

• First farm game was made in China!– by company 5 Minutes– “Because there are lots of

farmers there”– Inspired by Japanese game

• Zynga copied shamelessly… and now everyone thinks Zynga was first

Innovations

5C of Chinese Innovation

1. Copy

2. Combination

3. Competition

4. Constraints

5. China

“Survival of the fittest”

“On the shoulders of giants”

Will it blend?

Zhenai | Match.com Reengineering

Looking more closelyZhenai.com vs. Match.com

• “On the shoulders of giants”– Started as Match.com– Raised capital– Business model issue

• “Each new user costs us money!”

• Develop new model– 350 people call center– VIP service– Metrics & analysis

Lihua | Food Delivery by IM

BabyTree | SNS for Parents

P1 | SNS for the Affluent Class

• Innovative recruitment (shopping malls)• Innovative revenue models

• Asia Social Media Meetup:– Mar 15, 5:00-6:30 pm– Halcyon: 218 West 4th Street (near Lavaca St)

• Reach us– @benjaminjoffe– @jacquizhou – @samflemming

• Online resources

– Group blogs• China Web Radar, a.k.a China Web

2.0 Review• Mobinode• Danwei ,Chinese media, advertising,

and urban life• ChinaSmack: Translated internet

content from the Chinese-language internet

– Personal blogs • Silicon Hutong • Rconversation• Thomas Crampton

– Reports & slides• China Network Information Center• www.slideshare.net/cic_china• www.slideshare.net/plus8star

– Individuals on Twitter • @ganglu, @kaiserkuo • @goldkorn, @Isaac,

@williambaobean ,@wolfgroupasia, @chijs, @web2asia

• @rmack,@thomascrampton