Inspired: Social media in China

Inspired: Social media in China

I spent this morning at Westminster University, where I spoke to a delegation of around 20 Chinese government communications professionals about social media.  I'm aware of the irony of this scenario, and in fact when I was first asked to give the lecture I did wonder about the ethics of it all.  High profile stories of censorship, email hacking and quashing of free speech stand out to us in the West.

However dig a little deeper and you'll find that social media is thriving in China as much as it is in the rest of the world - and in some cases even more so.  The 'Great Firewall of China' might have KO'd the global social networks we all know and love, but as a result domestic services and networks have seen rapid growth over the last few years.  We have Twitter, China has several clones - TaoTao, Digu and FanFou to name just a few.  I've not tried any of them out, but I've heard that Digu actually has far more sophisticated functionality than Twitter.  Likewise Facebook may have been banned in China, but the vast majority of university students use the homegrown Renren Network, while Kaixin001 draws in tens of millions of users.

Patrick Searle from CIC Data was kind enough to share a few thoughts and background on social media in China with me.  It's essentially the same community-focused social architecture as in the West, the key difference being that the mainstay of social media in China is the good old fashioned bulletin board system (BBS).  Something the old timers amongst us will remember from the days of 56kbps dial-up!  What I find really fascinating, aside from the old school tech, is that Chinese web users will ask a question of the community before they go to a search engine.  Patrick puts this down to a number of factors, including the initial under-development of web technologies in China and the cultural significance of a Confucian way of thinking.  This overview of the Chinese social media landscape produced by CIC Data is particularly fascinating.

Going back to the lecture, any concerns I had about ethics were quickly blown away by the enthusiasm and open mindedness of the audience - even the slightly older generation who are probably quite bemused by the concept of an open and free media landscape.  My lecture focused quite simply on the basics, using a whole variety of case studies to illustrate good and bad practice.  The Number 10 social media activity was of particular interest, and everyone in the room saw the benefits of a government that could communicate rapidly, transparently and directly with the people it represents.

Doubt I've started a revolution, but it was good to walk away knowing that even in a communist government there's an appreciation of the benefits of communicating in an open and democratic way.

via posterous.com

Filed under: China digital social media
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