China Twitterati Explosion

It's been some time since I posted here, because I am busy and having fun posting and playing on my"scottsykes" and "ChinaTechToday" Twitter microblogs. Amazing to see so many smart folks posting on Twitter about all topics China. See you there :-).

China Mobile finds 400,000 missing iPhones

Good story here by Robert Clark at ChinaWire about 400,000 unlocked iPhones that have made their way into China.

Celebrity Endorsements Work -- Jay Chou And Motorola In China

See this video from a recent Jay Chou Motorola product endorsement press conference in China. Celebrity endorsement can sometimes be costly and needs to be evaluated carefully from an ROI standpoint, but Motorola has done a good job with their choice of celebrities to endorse their products. Jay Chou is one of the most popular artists in China, so his endorsement certainly drives more awareness for the Motorola brand. And in posting this press conference video online, Motorola will get even more attention from consumers searching for Jay Chou -- smart.

Chinese Netizen Eclipses 210 Million

My colleague Antony shared this with me and I wanted to be sure to draw attention to it because it is important. The number of netizen in China has reached 210 million, according to a report just released by CNNIC, the government-linked Chinese internet information organization.

The fast growing online population has made the Internet a new forum for average Chinese to, among other things, express opinions in a way rarely seen in Chinese traditional media. The report underscores the importance of considering online media in China as part of broader corporate marketing strategies.

The report is currently only available in Chinese on the popular Chinese portal Sina.com, but an English version is expected to be available later.

This is a summary of the report:

• The CNNIC predicts that at the beginning of 2008, China will become the country with the largest online population in the world. China's online population was only five million less than the US, which currently has the largest online population in the world. The US had almost 216 million internet users by the end of 2007, according to research firm Nielsen//NetRatings.
  
• The 210-million figure marked an increase of 53 percent (73 million) over 2006, fueled by rapid user growth in rural areas and a boom in wireless access. The number of rural Internet users reached 52.6 million by the end of 2007, up a whopping 127.7 percent from a year earlier. The number of Web users accessing through their mobile phones nearly tripled to 50 million. This means about one out of every 10 mobile users use their phone to surf the Net, despite the higher fees and lower speed of wireless access.
  
• It noted that China's Internet penetration rate, the ratio of Web user numbers to the country's total population, was only 16 percent, lower than the global average of 19.1 percent. The figure in the US is more than 70 percent.
  
• The most used online service is music, followed by instant messages, movies, news, search engines, online games and email.
  
• About 24 percent of Netizens had updated their own blogs within the past six months, while only a third of respondents believed what the bloggers write. News in the cyberspace, by comparison, enjoyed more credibility as 51 percent Netizens believed the reports to be true. The first step for 1/5 netizens online is to check online news.
  China's online gaming population grew 23 per cent last year and is expected to exceed 84 million by 2012.
  
• Nearly 2/3 netizens have posted their articles/opinions on BBS/forums/blogs in the past one year.
  
• Chinese netizens spend 16.2 hours per week online.
  
• The number of internet users under age 18 and above 30 increased rapidly.
  Beijing boasted highest internet penetration ratio, which was 46.6 percent and slightly higher than the 45.8 percent in Shanghai.

Overcoming New Media Challenges

You can see and article I wrote for Marketing Interactive Magazine in China about overcoming new media challenges at this URL http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/4467.

Baidu CFO killed in holiday accident

During the holidays there was a tragic accidental death of one of China's great business leaders, read the IDG news story here.

Acupuncture Cold Remedy

In an effort to find a remedy for the cold I have had for the past two weeks, today I visited a local Chinese doctor, after receiving some advice from a friend. The doctor gave me a bit of acupuncture and some head and neck massage. It took only a but 30 minutes to complete. Whether this treatment helps rid me of this cold permanently is yet to be determined, but I already feel much better than before I visited the doctor, so I am hopeful.