The Buzz Bin

This week we had the opportunity to catch up with corporate blogging expert Debbie Weil. Debbie is a good friend of ours based in D.C., and her book, The Corporate Blogging Book was recently published in Mandarin Chinese, prompting her to travel to China for a book tour. She comes back to us with a lot of great insight to share about the similarities and differences in social media between China and the United States.

BB: What’s the state of social media in China?

DW: It’s exploding. First, there are the sheer numbers: 162 million Internet users.

That puts China right behind – or almost even with – the U.S., which has an estimated Internet user population of 165 million to 210 million, depending on whom you believe.

Blogs are big. There are 30 million of them in China, according to some estimates. But discussion or bulletin boards, known as BBS, along with email and IMing, are even bigger. Everyone in the middle class uses BBS – to express themselves, to network, to learn. Sharon, the guide I hired to take me to the Great Wall, told me she met her husband online, in a discussion forum for those who’ve studied abroad.

Jason Ge, general manager of channel & marketing sales for Sina.com, China’s major portal and BSP (blog services provider), told me the site gets 300 million page views a day. Jason and I were on an Ad-tech Beijing panel together, along with Des Walsh.

And yes there are Chinese CEO blogs. Here’s a short list I compiled of Chinese CEO and corporate blogs. The CEOs who blog tend to be publicity-seeking. Think Mark Cuban.

BB: What was your biggest take away from the China book tour?

DW: The red-hot sense of possibility. I loved it. The energy, enthusiasm and entrepreneurialism amongst the professionals I met – both exp-pats and native Chinese – was astounding. China reminds me of America – especially the exhilaration of the dot com era. We know that China’s economy is exploding. The growth is palpable. You can feel it: factories are cranking; huge buildings are sprouting. Everybody is working 24X7.

If I could live a different life I’d move to Beijing or Shanghai, learn to speak Mandarin fluently and work there as an ex-pat. Oh yeah, my take away? I want to go back and dig deeper. You can’t possibly understand China after a two-week trip. Here’s a list I compiled of best resources to learn about social media in China.

BB: How is commenting different?

DW: Again, the sheer numbers. The Chinese are comment crazy. But you need to put commenting in a bucket that includes all kinds of posting online. The population of the US is just over 300 million. The population of China is over 1.3 billion, or 20% of the world’s population. As Sharon Ruwart, CEO of Elsevier Science & Technology China told me after I spoke at AmCham China in Beijing: “Just put two zeroes next to anything you’re accustomed to.”

So instead of 10 comments, think 1000 comments. When she started blogging for Elsevier she posted a first entry that said simply: “I’m starting a blog.” She didn’t publicize it in any way. She immediately got seven comments. Sharon and her husband moved to Beijing three years ago and are among the new group of older ex-pats.

When the Forbidden Starbucks drama unfolded (a Starbucks was formerly located inside Beijing’s Forbidden City palace; it has since moved), it was mentioned on a TV newcaster’s blog, then picked up and discussed thousands of times in discussion groups. The ripple effect? Close to 3,000 comments on one blog post about it.

BB: How do the Chinese fight off authoritarian control of their sites?

DW: They don’t “fight it off” per se. The government’s cyber-police are always there. Self-censorship comes naturally. But so do entrepreneurialism and a certain amount of risk-taking. Everyone knows about proxy servers like Anonymouse.org. They’re also accustomed to sudden and unexplained shutdowns of sites like YouTube.

That happened while I was there. Everyone felt it was connected to Google’s (ill-advised) decision to launch YouTube China during the Party Congress that was held the week of Oct. 15, 2007 in Beijing. (Has YouTube China been launched – ? I can’t find it.) The explosion in the use of the Internet – despite censorship – is a fascinating part of the contradictions that define China.

BB: What should the U.S. learn from China?

DW: Not to be complacent. That our utterly unfettered self-expression is precious. But to look to China for energy and possibility. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this is the China Century. If you have a chance to visit, go.

BB: After blogging, what’s your favorite social media form?

DW: My new iPhone. I’m captivated by it: the expanding and shrinking photos; the text messages in bubbles; the voicemail that automatically plays back for you. Oops… wait, an iPhone isn’t social media. I guess I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I’m fascinated by the concentric and expanding linkages it creates between and amongst communities. And the blurring of personal with professional. I’m wary, however, about the lack of privacy and of course appalled by Facebook’s recent misstep in how it launched Beacon for advertisers.

BB: What’s next for Debbie Weil?

DW: I’ve got some big ideas. I want to go back to China and work with multi-nationals on implementing social media strategies. I’m working on that. But as long as you’re asking… at some point I’d like to move outside the corporate realm. I would like to create the programmatic piece of Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child.

What should these kids do with their laptops? I want to teach kids all over the world how to write clearly by using a blog. How to network and empower themselves and their families by tapping into the global online economy.

I believe in the power of words. Blogs and other online channels are just a new place to deploy them. If anyone’s got great contacts at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, or another appropriate resource for executing a big idea, let me know.