Comparison of Internet social media between China and foreign countries

As Chinese consumers become more and more online, it is likely that foreign companies will need to deepen their understanding of China's social media platform.

　　Yes, China's network system is an important issue, but it is not a headline for its 420 million internet users. So what's the most important thing? That's connecting to other Chinese networks. Just a few years ago, the internet in China was an incredible way of opening up to ordinary people. Compared with other media that need to be audited first, China's internet is actually quite free.

Brief description

Chinese Internet users are actively entering social media-especially the local social media platform. And the social media platform in China and the western social media platform has a lot of different places.

Companies need to understand how Chinese consumers use social media, how to use the platform to survey consumers, promote products, public management, and so on.

Instead of simply eliminating social media, China has limited its foreign websites and social media. This has led to the emergence of a large number of local websites and social media in China, and has a strong momentum. Youtube,facebook, and Twitter are quarantined, but the corresponding domestic products are expanding aggressively. Through some surveys, China's social media has become more dynamic than other countries. Boston Consulting Group study says Chinese internet users spend an average of 2.7 hours a day online, spending more time than other developing countries, even more in some ways than Japan and the US.

There are many reasons why it is driving large countries to do social media. These include the migration of the rural population to the city, which leads to the separation of family members, the loneliness of the only child, and the situation where people are looking for a place to vent their grievances and so on.

The 2008 MTV Music Matters Survey shows that young people in Asia are interacting with a similar number of friends online and offline. But in China alone, young people are handing out more friends online than offline. Can be launched in China, explore the virtual world and the difference between the real world is not so important. China's social media, compared to many other countries, are more tightly integrated into the lives of users.

Chinese users actively to contact hot topics This phenomenon has a direct impact on the enterprise. OgilvyOne's survey in China found that 55% of Chinese people initiated or participated in online discussions of the company. In China, understanding social media is not the company's very extravagant operating costs-it is imperative. Once, the lack of interaction with the national lost a lot of opportunities. Now, through the depth and impact of social media, it is wrong to understand that consumer online means business risk to the company.

Compare social media platforms

To explain the development of social media in Asia, Ogilvy's 360 Digital influence team used the "Bull Eye" (bulls-eyes) to investigate social media, put international platforms in the outer circle, and local products in the inner ring.

Cattle eye systems coexist. For example, the bull-eye system in China, which corresponds to Twitter, is Sina Weibo, and YouTube is Tudou and Youku.

This comparison is useful, but sometimes it may be misleading. China's social media platform and the international corresponding products in many ways there are very many differences. This is not just an audit system. In Asia, including China, the use of the Internet is caused by language, culture, economic development and potential digital ecosystems. Digital ecosystems-The platform that focuses on online communication-are very different between countries and even at home. There may be substantial differences between countries with similar levels of economic development. For example, even without a government shield, internet users in Japan and South Korea prefer to use local social platforms like Gree (www.gree.jp) and Cyworld (www.cyworld.co.kr) instead of internationally renowned websites.

YouTube vs. Youku, potatoes

Different social media usage patterns can illustrate many internet and country situations. For example, the Chinese use of online video platforms is very different from the way Americans use YouTube. Unlike videos of cute animals that are popular on YouTube or short clips of silly behavior, Youku and Tudou are more popular for long periods of time, and more than 70% are professionally produced. Chinese users spend an hour a day on these sites, with average American users spending 15 minutes a day. So, the existence form of video website is to a certain extent, like an online television station, or a digital video recorder. Although there are individuals in China making and pasting videos, much of the video content is professional and lengthy. A large portion of this content is the subtitle piracy of foreign programmes, which were uploaded an hour after the US broadcast. This has created a peculiar phenomenon, such as the But break in which the star has a huge fan team in China, but the series is not aired on Chinese television.

In addition to pirated programs, the demand for original content in Youku and Tudou has led to a growing boom in online video companies. In some ways, these sites are more likely to be based on a variant of the American television service Hulu.

The Youku and Tudou, like the TV stations, reflect the patterns of use of young Chinese. If told that China is the world's most regulated country for social media, college students in China are always skeptical because they think the United States is the first. (Foreign authors ' views on China)

I like to raise my hand to the students who have seen CCTV in the classroom last week, but normally no one will raise their hands. But when I let my classmates raise their hands on Youku or Tudou in the last 24 hours, each of the students raised his hand and accompanied with a laugh.

This shift to social media is not just about the popularity of new social media, it also affects the entire advertising industry. In China, traditional media channels are no longer affected by certain demographic factors. As previously stated, a carefully crafted advertisement aired on CCTV could lose the entire college student community.

Twitter vs. Sina Weibo

Some of the causes of social media differentiation in China and abroad are rooted in culture and language. At first glance, Sina Weibo is a successor to micro-blogging. But it started running in 2009, and Sina, three years behind Twitter, is by far the most popular micro-blogging platform. (Although there are small Chinese users clinging to the wall using Twitter.) )

Similar to Twitter, Sina Weibo restricts users ' tweets to 140 words, users can powder their friends, and then find content in tweets published by other users. Small but important differences from other platforms make it a Twitter clone, but even better. For example, unlike Twitter, Sina Weibo allows users to upload videos and photos, comment on other users ' updates, turn to other user information and simply add their own comments.

While less than 20% of users in the United States use mobile phones to update Twitter, nearly half of Sina Weibo users use mobile phones for updates. The phenomenon has enhanced the development of the strongest mobile internet market in China and even in Asia.

Perhaps the most striking difference between Chinese and foreign social media is the length of their comments in Chinese or English on micro-blogs. Take the Dell Company for example. Twitter delivers 140-character messages, which are short in English, especially if you're a user and want to send a URL. Dell often uses @delloutlet to provide special access, such as uploading "today's specials: Buy dell Outlet insprion Mini or 10v netbook free Eco-lite sleeve! Http://bit.ly/77fUFG "(Today's deal:get free Eco-lite Sleeve with the purchase of an any Dell Outlet insprion Mini or 10v netbook! Http://bit.ly/77fUFG.) This message is made up of 136 English characters, nearly the maximum character amount.

And because of the use of Chinese characters, @delldirect, through the Ogilvy team in Beijing, Dell can communicate "September 11 to October 8, Dell 60 anniversary of the National Day sales, Dell home computer with 6 beautiful gifts!" The other 10 models also have a good gift! Special offers will continue for 4 weeks! At the same time can also be free to get color shell and 512MB independent graphics, there are other services free upgrades! Gifts First Come first! What are you waiting for? (Dell's National Day Sale SETUPCL from Sept to Oct. 8.) To celebrate the 60th anniversary with the Motherland, Dell home consolidator are offering 6 cool gifts and deals on computer models . These exciting offers would run Non-stop for 4 weeks. Also, get a free upgrade to color casing and a 512MB independent graphics card, as as the other service upgrades. All offers are in a first-come, first-served basis. What are you waiting for? ACT now!) So much information.

Even though there have been so many characters--114 Chinese characters--the portal can still be added to the microblog. In other words, 114 characters can be converted into 434 English characters, far more than the same number of English characters can convey meaning. The ability to use language will make China's micro-blogging more like a blog platform.

Like Facebook, but different.

Facebook is a leading social platform that sweeps across the West, especially the United States, across the region. But in China, Facebook doesn't work, and other social networks attract a wide variety of people.

Douban (www.douban.com) is a more specialized social networking site. It attracts art students, likes books, likes movies, likes culture, likes music group. Users choose to enter according to their preferences, and often carry out offline activities, such as a companion to visit the local art exhibition.

KAIXIN001 (www.kaixin001.com) is a platform for relatively mature young professionals, and white-collar workers in Beijing, Guangdong, Guangzhou, Shanghai and second-tier cities are major groups. Instead of uploading personal content, users share messages they see elsewhere, often in areas such as physical health, relationships, and deepening of professional areas.

QZone (http://qzone.qq.com) is China's oldest social network, attracting people from the second-and third-tier cities from their teens to 25. A significant proportion of mobile people often use Qzone to share their logs in a blog-like pattern.

RenRen (www.renren.com) is the most Facebook-like platform in China, attracting countless college students to communicate with other students. The site revolves around user schools and graduating classes. Many users upload videos and photos of their activities.

Electronic bulletin Board BBS (kong-based board BAE)

In addition to these sites, there are more modern network features, but some very primitive social media models are still popular in China. Electronic bulletin Board (kong-based board Systems,bbs) is an early Internet product that allows users to post information online. Compared with many other countries, BBS in China today there are a large number of users, many users rely on BBS to listen to some consumers of specific products and services suggestions, including clothing, cosmetics, restaurants and cars. Posts are anonymous, which encourages users to give the least gloss. Many users often post on BBS, winning a reputation and a bunch of followers. Of course, this anonymity will also open to competitors, leading to a lot of negative comments.

Social media Networks

China's deeper development in social media has had a wider impact on Internet users who only use social media platforms to feel the Web. This is partly because new and new humans are entering the Internet at any given time. China has 420 million internet users in the first half of 2010, up 36 million from the end of 2009, according to CNNIC, the official agency. Once new users are on the Internet, friends will introduce them to some service offerings, such as how to use Sina Weibo for free to communicate with friends or how to shop in China's ebay--Taobao (www.taobao.com), so these services constitute their concept of the Internet. These examples show that Chinese netizens do not differentiate between social media and the internet itself. For them, the Internet is social media, and social media is the Internet.

A case study of social media in China

In a Chinese operating company, the risk of social media lies with the customer, which sometimes causes serious problems. If you ignore social media, companies may not see a consumer-led threat coming.

Companies can use social media in China to do consumer research, shift brand preferences, new product landings, and crisis management. Even monitoring online conversations can produce obvious results. Ogilvy, for example, discovers an event by monitoring a customer every day. Early in the week, a customer complained about the service and posted a post about it, and said he would go to the store again in Saturday to deliver his displeasure. Other netizens said they wanted to participate and exchanged phone numbers to discuss where to set up. In Wednesday, 30 consumers planned to set up a store in Saturday. The company contacted the customer and reversed the situation because the original complaining person posted all the details about him. Finally, the consumer announced online that he would cancel the store trip. He was very impressed with the company's hearing of his complaints and dealing directly with the incident.

The nationwide consumer recall shows how companies should use social media and how to communicate with consumers. In this case, consumers have made it difficult to understand the company's recall statement to society. The company also provided information about recalls, but online consumers want more details. By listening to consumers during the recall in BBS and other social media sites, the company adjusted its announcements to online customers to answer their questions. When the recall was fully expanded, the number of visitors to the page concerned was quite large, but few comments and inquiries were made, as their problems had been resolved early.

Strange Neglected phenomena

As China's online population has soared, consumer behaviour has also begun to shift. Oddly, many companies are not aware of these shifts in marketing strategies. Social media has become the Chinese consumer to give advice, seek advice, and discuss the brand's common share of positions. If ignoring the internet has lost a significant opportunity in the past, now in China, ignoring social media is also a huge business risk.

This article is compiled from Thomas Crampton