Recently, BusinessWeek put out a cover story on “Consumer Vigilantes,” with various extreme examples of how consumers in the US fight for their consumer rights. This topic is especially a propos as Consumer Day, on March 15, quickly approaches in China. Sponsored by China Consumers’ Association (CCA)”, Consumer Day is the day that consumers are encouraged to share their customer service complaints (and perhaps kudos, but you don’t see much of this). Consumer Day stories are featured prominently in mainstream media, and PR managers live in fear of this day.

While the BusinessWeek story was focused exclusively on the US and how consumers are using the Internet to express and amplify their voices, it very well could have been written for China as Chinese netizens, like their American counterparts, are looking to the web to communicate about and with brands. While there are certain Better Business Bureau type organization in existence such as 315 e-complain and Che315, it seems that more and more netizens are cutting out the middle man and going straight to the brands.

With the Internet, there is no shortage of platforms to express your opinion. Crisis 2.0 is not a new topic for us, but worthy of an update and a review. Below, I highlight some of the more common and interesting platforms.

Blogs: As a personal platform, blogs lend themselves well as spaces for venting personal frustration. Starbucks certainly knows the power of blogs in China. Dell does as well, but is moving in a more positive direction. Keso, a sort of Scoble of China, will interview Michael Dell this week to discuss Dell’s blog and other social media initiatives.

BBS: Vertical BBS communities such as XCAR are home to owners’ clubs which both praise and pan their products. Dell learned the passion of owners on IT168’s notebook forum in 2006, as did Ford Focus. We track BBS communities very closely and see potential crisis everyday (unfortunately, none we can share).

Video/Photo sharing site: While video sites such as Youku and Tudou still primarily feature republished content, we are beginning to see some original content. China Airlines learned the power of video in 2007 where over their poor handling of a flight delay has been viewed 116,793 times (see video here). Google also got a taste here. Photos can also make an impact as we saw in November 2006, when a netizen uploaded 44 pictures of an alleged LG product refurbishing center whose products were sold as new. This led to the formation of a “Group to Expose LG’s problem” in January 2007 further discussion and even video.

QQ groups: Like BBS, QQ groups are interest driven communities; unlike BBS, they are invite only and are “real time” discussions, which make them tighter and perhaps more powerful. In a recent crisis, just as we saw last year, we saw that netizens created QQ groups in order to organize an “attack” on consumer day against the brand.

Microblogging: Microblogging platforms such as Twitter, Fanfou, and Jiwaide are an emerging phenomena in China. We expect these to gain in popularity, although for now, they are not making much of an impact.

Consumer review sites: If you want to find out what “they” say about different restaurants, you gotta visit DaZhong DianPing. So powerful is this site that it has been the object of more than one lawsuit from restaurants that were on the wrong end of negative reviews. For travel related reviews, check out Ctrip.

315 Community: Being featured on CCTV’s consumer day broadcast is a nightmare for any brand PR manager. Now, consumers have a direct link to make this happen. CCTV recently launched its Consumer Day “315 Community” inviting consumers to submit stories and videos.

With so many platforms to communicate about and amplify brand experiences, one could say that everyday is Consumer Day in China. As Pete Blackshaw suggests in his post about the BusinessWeek article, while some may call these “loud” consumers “vigilantes,” the more appropriate reaction is that companies need to be more “vigilant” in their service and about their brand reputation online. It is now essential for brands to not only be sensitive to these channels, but also be prepared to react faster, and even connect directly with the consumers or communities driving the issues.