The IWOM related to issues around France and the torch demonstrated the power of IWOM to impact opinion and action in China.

With the horrible tragedy of the earth quake in Sichuan earlier this week, we are now seeing some equally powerful demonstrations of the impact of IWOM, many of which are both impressive and moving.

There is not time to list them all, but here are a few highlights.

1. Building on the legacy of the "L China" campaign, an "L Sichuan" campaign has started on MSN

2. Netizens use Taobao as a platform to encourage support. Some netizens are posting products on Taobao and offering to donate all of the proceeds to victims of the earthquake.

(Link)

3. QQ uses multiple channels to encourage its 220 million active users to donate. QQ is encouraging users to donate through online banks, mobile phones, and regular post mail. Below is a screen shot of QQ's online donation platform. An estimated 12 million RMB has already been donated by netizens to the cause (See here for current updates).

(Link)

4. In addition to donating over $300,000, Alibaba has set up a number of different ways for netizens to support earthquake relief organizations. According to this recent press release, people can donate funds to the relief efforts through Alibaba's Alipay online payment service, which has more than 80 million members.

5. MSN has teamed up with Guangzhou Toyota to launch a campaign in support of the earthquake disaster victims. For each MSN user who adds a "rainbow" to his/her MSN name, MSN will donate 0.10RMB to the cause and Toyota will match this donation. The effort has already raised over 160,000RMB from over 800,000 unique users. (h/t Adam Schokora)

For those looking to donate, Shanghaiist is probably the best English language source for how to donate and help out as well as a great source for the latest English news on the tragedy.

On a personal note, I am so inspired by the CIC team who, led by James, quickly organized donations themselves to give to the Chinese Red Cross. CIC will match all employee donations.

I am happy to announce that we have released our latest white paper, Tuning into Sports IWOM, 2007 Q4. You can download it here. If you were ever itching to know what Chinese netizens talk about basketball and football (NOT the American kind) and what brands are doing in this space, this is the report for you.

I will share some more detailed thoughts later in the week, but for now, you can check out the English press release here and the Chinese press release here.

Previous white papers on health, mobile phones, auto and notebooks are available here.

In the last IWOM watch, we talked about how the launch of SNS sites based on particular cities rides the trend of BBS communities which already serve such a need. In this issue, we take a closer look at KDS (宽带山), a sub-forum of PChome, which is one such "local" BBS based in Shanghai. KDS is filled with Shanghai residents talking about the latest gossip, news and generally playing around. It even has its own “KDS” net language such as "5pp54"(Ignore the topic if no photo).

Recently, KDS had an FB 腐败 (offline meet up) which brought together KDS "net friends" at a local Shanghai park to hang out. Interestingly, brands such as Crocs and Haier "participated" in the event by sponsoring and giving away free gifts.

Below is a screen shot of photos and quotes from the recent offline event.

I recently wrote about how about how brands can actually connect to China's developed and complex community landscape. Brands sponsorship of FB events is a simple, but powerful way to connect to and support a passionate community. The takeaways of such sponsorship is of course exposure with banners and within pictures and videos shared among members online. More important, however, is the engagement that is recognizable within such content. The sponsorship fits into and contributes to the community which makes it part of the netizens’ memories in a positive and meaningful way.

Local community holds impressive mass offline meet-up, various brands sponsor the event

Case 1 "KDS" annual offline community party "宽带山" 年度线下聚会

Summary -KDS (宽带山), an online community under PChome, is now one of the hottest local Shanghai online communities. On April 5th, it held a successful offline meet-up which attracted hundreds of community members to join in the festivities. The community rented a space inside Lu Xun Park in which the members participated in various events such as a karaoke contests among many others. Moreover, multiple brands sponsored the event like Crocs, Haier and GIGABYTE.

Case 2 Unique online culture of popular local community 热门本土社区的特殊网络文化

Summary - KDS slang "懂得入", meaning "come in only if you 'really' understand," perfectly captures the key to joining specific online communities. The most important element when joining online communities, such as KDS, is to understand the unique culture of these different communities and its members.

For example, since the site is dominated by Shanghainese, there are actual rules within the community to protect their “tyranny” or power within the community. One obvious characteristic of KDS is the local net language like 刚度/moron, 奥扫/hurry up and 库爱/cute. Members also invented series of new slang words specific to the community (e.g. 5pp54/ignore if no photo), which new members may not understand. To join this community, you truly need to “懂得入”!

Here is a screen shot from a video of a KDS party/offline meet up

See video here

When it comes to community culture, popular local community culture differs greatly from national wide online community culture. For instance, another hot Shanghainese community “ShanghaiNing” is for people who love to party and show-off. (In KDS, members tend to track other people who show-off rather than show-off themselves.)

CIC View

For various campaigns and other initiatives, it is no longer sufficient for brands to just know about hot communities on a general level. The fast development and diversification of BBS communities’ now require that brands have an in-depth understanding of the community before making any attempts to participate in the community, since “amateur” or superficial engagement does not fit the “懂得入” spirit.

Screen shot of the index for the full IWOM watch report:

Other CIC IWOM Watch related posts that may be of interest:

-CIC Watch Half-Year Review released (download the full report)
-CIC watch: "You" - Time's Person of the Year - also lives in China (download the full report)

Next week we are planning to launch our white paper on Sports IWOM. This paper will follow in the footsteps of our previous white papers on auto, mobile phone, health topics, and notebook computers all of which can be found here.

Netizens are extremely passionate about sports, sports teams, players and sports apparel. As we have seen in other aspects of Internet culture, netizens are proactive in creating original content around these topics and interests. For example, China has a rich DIY sneaker head culture. (see below, taken from the upcoming paper)

Nike iD recently launched in China and will "ride the wave" of DIY culture already active on Chinese BBS.

Stay tuned for the release of the paper next week.

Net Language VS National Matriculation Test (April 3rd）
（网络语言 VS 中国高考）

High school students in China are entering tense times with the upcoming college entrance exams. Most of the students scheduled to take the exam this year were born in the early 90s and are essentially the first generation of “net natives” in China. Interestingly, the authority behind the National Matriculation Test has ruled that Net language cannot be used on the test. This post discusses people’s arguments as to whether or not Net language should be used on the National Matriculation Test. The fact that there is a sort of national debate regarding net language shows the impact of digital culture on Chinese culture.

Spoofing on April Fools' Day (April 9th)
(愚人节的网络恶搞)

Spoofing has become an integral part of Chinese net culture, so it is no surprise that netizens decided to participate in some “online tricks” on April Fools’ Day . Even Google China decided to join in the fun and posted fake messages on its official website on April 1st. The recent April Fools’ Day jokes show that, when done correctly, spoofing can encourage positive buzz and enthusiasm among netizens.

Offline presentation spurs IWOM Controversy (April 11th)
(从大小S北大演讲看口碑的争议性)

On March 30th, Taiwan sister stars, Xu Xiyuan (Big “S”) and Xu Xidi (Small “S”), gave a presentation at Beijing University on beauty products. However instead of taking an academic approach to the topic, the presentation was more superficial. The sisters encouraged the students to try new products and brands, but did not discuss deeper content. This caused a lot of controversy among the students and faculty who began to debate on the Internet whether or not universities should continue to allow stars to present to students. In this post, James and Violet analyze the controversy and IWOM around this story. They mention that, just as in the case of Edison Chen, brands should be aware that they may get negative attention by being sucked into controversies not of their own doing. This is yet another reason to track what’s being said online.

I've been busy trying to create buzz for IWOM in the last week. Here's a quick recap.

Wednesday, April 23 2008:
"Marketing strategies in China: In cooperation with Louvain School of Management"
I spoke at the breakfast meeting hosted by the Benelux Chamber of Commerce in China, BenCham, combination of the Dutch Business Association and the Belgian Luxembourg Business Association and the Louvain School of Management.

Jan Van den Bergh from i-merge invited me to come along to speak about IWOM after he warmed up the audience talking about his views and research results on the "recommendation phenomena" in China. Jan is very wise; there is much to learn from him.

Saturday, April 19 2008:
"Marketing 2.0: How Internet Word of Mouth is being integrated into marketing communications by leading brands in China"
I was the keynote speaker at the Marketing Managers Group's April Saloon, an educational event which takes place every third Saturday of each month at the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade Professional Development Center.

This is a great group of local marketing professionals which get together once a month to network and hear speakers. I got some great questions from some really smart people.

Friday, April 18 2008:
"Getting Business Results From Communications in China"
Panelist at the IPREX global management meeting, a meeting of about 25 CEO's from public relations firms -- predominately from the US and Europe -- who gathered in Shanghai to share best practice, do business development, and learn more about China.

This group knew very little about China, but were open minded and curious. I was very happy to meet Jeff Risley who had worked with firms similar to CIC in the US.

For those like myself who grew up before the Internet went mainstream, it is natural to dichotomize our lives into “online” and “offline.” For the “80’s eggs” in China, however, these “worlds” are more like extensions of each other. Meeting and making real friends online and then organizing offline “meetups” in China is an integral part of strong BBS communities as we can see in the practice of Fubai (see here).

In this issue of IWOM watch, we see that there are emerging SNS sites such as Tonglou which facilitate this practice with communities and functions built around connecting people based on their location, not based purely on their interests (as BBS typically do).

I see such services as an example of using technology to more effectively address an actual need (as opposed to trying to create a need). With an active social Internet, China offers many “needs” and opportunities for brands to address.

Below is an extract from the our latest IWOM watch report which discusses Tonglou and the issue further.

Case Study

Connecting in both virtual and real worlds: SNS builds on BBS trend

BBS platforms with regional forums, like Sofang, have been a popular way for netizens to meet up online with users in their area and arrange offline events. SNS have begun to build on this trend by adding applications and creating a more efficient platform for this type of need. One such site is Tonglou, which includes a special feature called residential districts . Tonglou’s network, with has more than 7 million registered users, targets netizens who live, work or study nearby in real life, in order to help them meet friends offline.

CIC View

Tonglou effectively leverages the existing trend of netizens’ finding ways to balance online and offline life, found in BBS, by creating a bridge between the virtual and real world. Other sites such as CityIN , are also riding the same wave of Internet culture by allowing users to search for friends based on their interests, backgrounds and location.

Below is a screen shot of the index for the full IWOM watch report

Other CIC IWOM Watch related posts that may be of interest:

-CIC Watch Half-Year Review released (download the full report)
-CIC watch: "You" - Time's Person of the Year - also lives in China (download the full report)