Tim Haynes at Web Wednesday Guangzhou. Photo by Cecilia Li
Tim Haynes, founder of Digital China Guide and GM of Starcom IP China was our guest speaker at Web Wednesday Guangzhou July was held at The Paddy Field, Guangzhou on 29 July. Turnout was considerably good taking into consideration that our event notices were usually communicated via Facebook, which has mysteriously become not accessible in our location since few weeks back.
Web Wednesday Guangzhou July Crowd at Paddy Field. Photo by Johnny Jack
But despite that, here’s our usual campaign message:
Join our Web Wednesday Guangzhou Facebook Group!
Tim’s topic focus was around what he coins the Digital Ecosystem - consisting of Internet and Mobile devices. Everything has relevance with everything else, and audiences seamlessly move around the ecosystem model. In recent years, there is huge amount of change in the digital China landscape. The digital marketing industry has moved from websites to web spaces, from media placement to digital investment (media cost+digital investment management cost). Tim identifies the 3 digital drivers in marketing to be Audience, Creativity, and Technology.
Tim revealed interesting facts about the Digital China Landscape:
- 2/3 in china go online to talk, share and stay in touch, 80% describe the web as social.
- Chinese are 3 times more likely to publish a blog, 2 times more likely to review a product, and 3 times more likely to use chat rooms than US counterparts.
- A lot of people keep the same blog on different sites and put upthe same content on all of them.
- Blogs in China are unlike a country such as the United States, where journalists are discouraged from blogging, in China journalists use blogs to write without being edited and censored.
The power of social media rooted in trust. According to research by Edelman China in 2007, Chinese netizens have the highest trust in web-based media, followed by foreign mainstream media, local mainstream media, and bloggers. The statics with regards to foreign mainstream media might have altered since then but the trust in web-based media, should still be on the rise.
Tim concluded by talking about the hot trends in China, namely Online Games, Instant Messaging, Bullletin Boards Systems, Connections, Sharing, & Expression, 3G Mobile, Verticalization/Segmentation of content and content readers, and the Measurement/Standardization of online video.
Some Q&A excerpts (paraphrased):
Q: I work in a chinese factory. The factory managers knows nothing about the Internet while the office girls are all on QQ.
Tim: Yes the Chinese Internet audience is quite young. Most of them come from tier 1 and tier 2 cities, and are often over-represented because they are very active. In the other tier cities, online penetration is not huge yet but they are slowly coming online now. When we have the MASS coming on (perhaps in 1-2 years), we will see bulking over of online audiences.
Q: What effect would the Green Dam have on the digital China landscape?
Tim: It’s a bit of a crystalball-gazing about where it’s going, whether it’s going to come or not. I don’t really know enough to comment.
Lonnie: What I do know is that the schools are mandated to have it.
Q: I (work in the Dutch Consulate) know many dutch companies who want to sell in china, but find it hard to find a good
distributor in Guangdong and other Chinese regions. There is so much diversity in business and culture that act as obstacles
to success. What is the right way to do it on the Internet? Can you give 3 tips for foreign companies who know nothing about
China, on how to be successful here?
Tim: There’s some basic business acumen involved but beyond that, trust is significant element. Taobao is a good example of an extremely successful company. They employ trust mechanisms - such as Instant Messaging customer service, and user product reviews. However, the best way is to have people on ground, localise, and go beyond localisation. For instance with GE, they calling China their second home. More than localisation, it is adaption. So jump on to AliBaba, pick up phone, have someone locally make a connection. Localisation is the way forward.
Q: I think biggest failure one country one market, even when it’s actually like the whole world again.
Tim: There are so many multiple tier 1 cities that are different from rest of the tiers. And even within that there’s huge segmentation. It’s a mistaken mentality of companies to think there is one China. Digital is about understanding segmentation, when they get more data abut segmented audiences, they will realise how unique and diverse and huge China is, and learn how to manage it.
Q: I recently read that Tencent QQ, have post huge rising profits. what is it that they’re selling? Little online trinkets? little avatar clothes? How does it work?
Lonnie: It’s like the economy on SecondLife. If SecondLife’s economy could be compared with the real world economy, it would be the 12th largest economy in the world. On your question on how it works and what they sell, go ask a Chinese person in the pub. They’ll tell you 
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@lonniehodge, @digitalchina, @alexonboard, @enedhilwen, @adeh, @hrjrex, @manavg, @junde, and more. (let us know..)
Rex Huang (@hrjrex of Techsailor) remarked that Tim’s Digital Ecosystem draws parallels to the 史玉柱’s 海陆空 model. Now he has heard from a both a local and foreign perspective and has better understanding of the ecosystem.
Photo credits: Cecilia Li and Johnny Jack
Web Wednesday Guangzhou July Montage by Johnny Jack, Cecilia Li
