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)