虽然中国的网民数量超过了美国，但首要的问题依然是社交媒体的用途，以及这些媒体是否受到欢迎。中国目前有2.21亿 个博客，1.17亿个BBS用户 以及1.76亿 社交媒体用户。由于 Facebook 被封，大部分人使用的是一个中国当地的社交网站， 腾讯公司的QZone。
请注意这里提到的BBS。虽然在中国这些系统被称之为BBS，但它们并不是1990年代在美国所见到的那种系统。在这样一个匿名的论坛上，你可以上传图片、视频和其他类型的文件。泡论坛成为最受欢迎的打发时间的方式之一。与其他地方相比，BBS里更有可能出现关于品牌的讨论。下面罗列了最受欢迎的几家网站 ，所列数据清楚地表明许多人同时拥有多个帐号，因为目前中国的网民总数大约是4亿：
腾讯（超过10亿个帐号，活跃帐号4.85亿）
Qzone（3.1亿个帐号）
人人网（2亿个帐号，其中有5000万手机帐号）
开心网（7500万个帐号）
51.com（1.6亿个帐号）
人们都在网上干什么？
2.72亿人使用网上即时通讯，2.22亿人观看在线视频，1.08亿人在线购物（市场领头网站击败 eBay，吸引了大量顾客），2.65亿人玩在线游戏，以及3.21亿人收听在线音乐。
比较分析社会技术消费阶梯，可以发现美国网络用户中有21%的人参与网络原创内容的创作，而中国参与原创的人则有40%。这是个非常显著的差异。两国的非活跃用户的比例持平（都是25%），美国加入社交网络服务的人也比中国要多（25%对23%），但中国那些参与内容创作的人占了网民总数很大的比例，从市场营销的角度来说，这是一个很有趣的现象。
Zhou提出了这样一种假设：可能是由于亚洲人与美国人相比，不大愿意直接表达自己的观点，结果匿名BBS非常流行。Flemming同意这个说法，但他同时指出，也有可能这是一种对不完全客观的媒体系统的反应。人们通过许多这些社交网络口耳相传。虚拟货币（例如QQ的Q币，见上文中的截图）非常流行，以至于*必须对此征税。其流行程度由此可见一斑。
人们在线讨论什么？
就产业而论，人们讨论的话题非常丰富。按照话题热门程度依次降低的顺序，下面罗列了人们讨论的焦点话题：
汽车（大约1300万相关讨论）
手机（大约700万相关讨论）
体育（大约300万相关讨论）
电脑
婴儿产品
美容产品
保健
Flemming发现这些讨论改变着人们购买汽车的方式。他的一位朋友上网问是否有其他人想买同样的车，这样他们就可以获得折扣。两星期后，55个人一起向同一家销售商购买了55辆车。不用说，这种“团购”交易很划算。毫不奇怪，在过去的两年里，“团购”这个概念在中国被提起的次数日益增加。
研究发现，参与关于福特·福克斯（Ford Focus ）的讨论的人中，有超过半数的人使用的不是官方的品牌名称。相反，他们使用的是该品牌车的一个流行的昵称。如果缺乏对这种具体信息的了解，追踪这些对话的系统可能就会出错。实际上，参与者创造了一种全新的被称为火星文（Mars language）的语言，无论是线上还是线下，他们都用这种语言进行讨论。（我将不得不忍痛建立一种追踪人造语言的监测系统）。这些俚语和网络用语非常普及，以至于大学不得不禁止在入学考试中使用这些语言。
中国向韩国和日本取经
Joffe指出，中国从韩国和日本那里学了很多。在韩国有非常受欢迎的Cyworld，在日本则有Mixi, Mobile Game Town和Gree （所有这些网站都挂牌上市，并且出售虚拟商品）。由于网上广告不像在中国那样有利可图，所以这些网站走的都是销售虚拟商品的盈利模式。实际上，在线销售的虚拟商品价值已达50亿美元，是美国的5倍（2008年则是25倍）。
腾讯的虚拟商品销售额超过15亿美元（差不多是Facebook的三倍）。腾讯是世界上第三大互联网公司，仅次于google和Amazon。该公司净利润率高达惊人的40%，而绝大多数美国人对它却一无所知。
中国的在线游戏
喜欢Farmville（译注：Zynga和facebook合作推出的一款农场游戏）吗？第一款农场游戏是由一家叫做“5 minutes” 的中国公司制作的。这款游戏的灵感来自一款日本游戏，随后被Zynga公司克隆并引入美国，所以无论如何，他们绝不是第一个开发此类游戏的公司。之所以这款游戏如此流行，最初的解释是“中国的农民人口很多”，然而，农场游戏在美国同样大受欢迎，说明先前的这种解释基本上是不成立的。
Doob.cc公司有一款游戏在中国非常受欢迎。这款游戏包含一些虚拟的商品组件，看起来很像一款标准的类似于“劲舞革命”（Dance Dance Revolution）那样的节奏游戏（rhythym game），只不过你要通过网络寻找一个舞伴。男孩子要给网上遇到的女孩子买虚拟礼物，就像你在酒吧里给对方买一杯饮料一样。这样，在线游戏实际上延伸了社会生活，甚至是约会的范围。
中国式创新的5C原则
复制（Copy）：我们总是在某些已有东西的基础上开始。
组合（Combination）：把两种事物（例如，即时通讯和虚拟商品）组合起来，你会得到一个很好的创意
竞争（Competition）：例如，一旦存在两家不相上下的视频网站，那么他们就必须竞争和相互区隔，这会促进创新。
限制（Constraints）：即便知道商业模式（例如，知道网络广告不大行得通），你也不能什么都想包揽。限制可以促进创新。
中国（China）：必须在中国行得通，必须符合中国的特殊情况，这些情况与其他国家，例如日本的情况可能很不相同。
不普及的信用卡
信用卡在中国不是那么普及，虚拟货币的支付如何进行呢？QQ的办法是在商店里出售刮卡。你可以在商店里购买，然后刮开代码，输入这些代码，把钱存入你的帐户。非常聪明的办法！
其他一些例子
珍爱网是中国最受欢迎的婚介网站（同时也是全世界最大的，拥有2200万份个人资料，比Match.com要多）。由于不能使用同样的模式，他们雇佣了350个员工来安排相亲事宜。然后他们会给与你联系，了解相亲过程进展如何。从理论上说，这会使你在约会方面，变得更加驾轻就熟。六个月的会员服务费大约是450美元。相对于当地的收入水平老说，这是相当昂贵的，但却有物有所值。这种模式在美国会行得通吗？这是个有趣的问题。
通过即时通讯工具，你可以在丽华快餐（Linhua） 预定餐饮快递服务。
宝宝树（BabyTree）是一家为年轻父母们提供服务的社交网站，你可以网上购买婴儿商品。该网站刚开始盈利。对可生育的孩子数量的限制，对该网站的发展同时具有正面的和负面的影响。
大众点评网（Dianlinping）是一家类似于Yelp的网站，但评论比Yelp要多。该网站根据受欢迎程度排列每家餐馆的许多菜肴。
虽然对美国人来说，中国以猖獗的盗版（软件、时装、电影等）而闻名，但同样清楚的是，在参与的程度以及对这种参与的商业化方面，中国互联网业的创新给美国和其他国家的商业人士提供了可供借鉴的经验。
Many of the brands I work with are extremely interested in the Chinese market. With a burgeoning economy and a billion people, it's easy to understand why. In fact, one of my clients got back from China just in time to fly to Austin for this conference. Her description of the differences was fascinating.
So if we're going to want to look at social media marketing for the Chinese market, we need to understand social media in China. That's why I attended "Social Media and China: Different than You Think" at SxSW. The panelists included:
Social Media PenetrationWhile the Internet population in China exceeds that of the United States, the initial question was about socia media usage, and whether or not it's popular. And it is. There are 221 million blogs, 117 million BBS and 176 million social network users. While Facebook is blocked, most people use a local Chinese social network, QZone, which was built by Tencent.
Note the Bulletin Board System reference there. While they are called that in China, they are not a throwback to the 1990 BBS systems in the US. You can upload pictures, video and more, in an anonymous forum, and it's among the most popular ways to spend time. And chatter about brands is more likely to take place on BBS than anywhere else. The most popular platforms are listed below, showing clearly that people have multiple accounts as there are only about 400m online users in China:
- Tencent (1B+, 485m active)
- Qzone (310m)
- RenRen 200m (50m mobile)
- Kaixin001 (75M)
- 51.com (160m)
What Do People Do Online?272 million on instant message, 222 million on online video, 108 million on online shopping (The market leader beat eBay and chased them from the market), 265 million on online gaming and 321 million using online music.
Looking at the social technographics ladder, America has 21% of people who create original content, while China has 40% of people who create content. That's a very significant difference. While the inactives are equal (25% of each population), and people in the US are more likely to join social networks than Chinese (25% to 23%), the large percentage of creators is potentially interesting from a marketing standpoint.
Zhou noted the difference between the stereotype that Asians are less likely than Americans to speak directly and wondered if anonymous BBS systems are popular as a result. Flemming agreed, but noted that it's also a reaction to a media system that isn't fully objective. So the people spread the word themselves through many of these social systems. Virtual currency (at QQ, pictured above) is so popular that it's now taxed by the government. That's a shocking sign of its ubiquity.
What Are they Talking About?By industry, the chatter varies dramatically. In order of declining popularity, conversations center around
- Automobiles (~13m)
- Mobile phone (~7m)
- Sports (~3m conversations)
- Computer
- Baby products
- Cosmetics
- Healthcare
Flemming is finding that these conversations are changing the way people buy cars. His friend went online and asked if anyone wanted to buy the same car as her so they could get a discount. Two weeks later, 55 people went into the same dealership and bought 55 cars together. Needless to say, they got a very good deal by using this "group purchase" concept. Not surprisingly, mentions of "group purchase" in China have grown dramatically over the last two years.
Chatter around the Ford Focus found that more than half of people discussing the car didn't use the official brand name. They instead used a popular nickname for the car. Absent that local knowledge, the conversation tracking system could be set up incorrectly. In fact, a whole new language called Mars language has been created online and many people use them to speak both online and off. (I'd hate to have to build a monitoring system to track a made up language.) These slangs and languages are so pervasive that the university system had to ban the use of net slang in entrance exams.
China Learned from Korea and JapanJoffe noted that China learned a lot from Korea and Japan. Korea's popuar Cyworld and Japan's Mixi, MobileGameTown and Gree (all of which are listed on the stock exchange and selling virtual goods). The online advertising market is not as valuable in China, so monetization occurs largely through sales of virtual goods. In fact $5 Billion worth of virtual goods were sold online, which is 5 times bigger than the US (down from 25x in 2008).
Tencent made over $1.5B USD (which is roughly 3x what Facebook made). Tencent is third largest internet company in the world, after only Google and Amazon. Most Americans know nothing of it, but their net margin is 40%, which is astounding.
Online Gaming in ChinaLove Farmville? The first farm game was made in China by a company called 5 minutes. That was inspired by a Japanese game, and then Zynga copied it and brought it to the U.S., but they weren't the first by any means. The original explanation for popularity was "because there are lots of farmers in China." The popularity of Farmville in the US, however, largely debunks that.
Doob.cc has a very popular game in China. It has a virtual goods component, and it looks like a standard rhythym game (think Dance Dance Revolution), but you dance with someone else via the network. The boys buy the girls they meet online virtual gifts, just as you would buy a drink in the bar. Suddenly the game is extending social life and even dating online.
The 5 Cs of Chinese Innovation- Copy: We always start with something.
- Combination: By combining two things (i.e., instant messaging and virtual goods), you can get a great idea.
- Competition: As soon as there are two strong video sites, for example, they need to compete and differentiate, which leads to innovation.
- Constraints: Because you can't do everything, the constraints foster innovation, even knew business models (because online advertising isn't workable, for example).
- China: It has to work for China, and the unique settings of the country, which might be different than for example a Japanese consumer.
Fewer Credit CardsWith much less popularity of credit cards, how do you get the payments for virtual currency? QQ began by selling scratch cards in stores. You'd buy it in store, scratch off the code, enter it and have the money deposited into your account. Very clever.
Other ExamplesZhenai is the most popular dating site in China (and the world, with 22 m profiles it's bigger than Match.com). Since they couldn't use teh same model, they have 350 people on staff who call people up to arrange a date. Then they call you back to see how the date was. They then get feedback from the person dating, and give you feedback on how you did on your date. That should, in theory, make you a better dater. They charge ~$450 USD for a six month subscription, which is very expensive given then income levels there. But they are adding a lot of value. Would that work in the United States? Interesting question.
- Lihua allows you to order food delivery by IM.
- BabyTree is a social network for young parents where you can also buy goods for the child. It's beginning to become profitable. The limitation on number of children you can have also impacts this site, both positively and negatively.
- Dianping is a Yelp-like site that has many more reviews than Yelp. It also ranks the many dishes at each restaurant in terms of popularity.
While China is known in the U.S. in part for their rampant piracy (software, fashion, films, etc.), it's clear from the level of participation, and the monetization of that participation, that China's innovation also offers lessons for marketers in the United States and elsewhere. |
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