I am happy to announce that we released our white paper on automobile IWOM in China today. We think this provides some very interesting data and perspectives that demonstrate why auto manufacturers should be listening and understanding IWOM.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Auto IWOM is massive: for Q2 period, we tracked 15,618,268 automobile related messages found on online message boards (BBS) written by 468,430 unique user names

• Chinese manufacturers dominate the buzz: Chery is the most talked about manufacturer by far and 7 out of the top 10 manufacturers are pure Chinese (not JV) manufacturers. See below for some of the things driving Chery buzz

(Click image to enlarge it)

• Focus leads model buzz: For the 430 models tracked for this study, Ford Focus is the most talked. 3.5% of all messages mentioning models mention Focus

• Looks, power and price drive the buzz: Appearance, power system and price are the 3 most discussed attributes for all models

• Show and tell culture: Net culture within online communities encourages consumers to express their opinions and demonstrate their experience through “fubai” (腐败) and “homework” (作业)

• Gotta talk the talk: Net language is an essential part of online communities; over 50% of Focus mentions reference net nicknames like FKS instead of Focus’ official name. See previous article on auto net language and culture here.

See the the press release here.

You can download the paper here.