One of the biggest stories in 2010 is going to be the exponential growth of social media in Asia, not only in terms of reach but also content created in varied Asian languages. Web users in China, Japan, and the rest of Asia comprise a massive online population, and no surprise; they're adopting and interacting in online social environments at incredible rates. While Facebook and Twitter might rule in the US and Europe, it’s a whole different game in Asia
The raising question is: “What is different about social media in Asia as compared to North america, Europe or Australia?" Are they the factors of “the scale of users”, “cultures and languages”, “monetization strategies” or “the localization”? Let’s find out!
The answer was significantly revealed in these below insightful presentations by Thomas Crampton, Asia-Pacific director of 360 Digital Influence for Ogilvy, and Mindy Zhang from China. There are also some takeaways extracted from their presentations for readers to remember and think of.
• Facebook would be the fourth largest country in the world in terms of users
• Facebook makes money from advertising, while Asian social networking sites make money from digital goods
• Dominant Social Networks: QQ in China, Cyworld in South Korea, Mixi in Japan
• Dominant Search Engines: Baidu in China, Naver in South Korea, Yahoo in Japan
• China has over 300 million netizens (larger than the US population)
• Chinese people have more online friends than offline (real world)
• Asians enjoy creating and sharing content significantly more than people in the US
• Government censorship promotes local players who innovate, not just copy
• Nearly a half of Chinese netizens are urban, but rural base is growing
• Chinese netizens mostly access the internet by mobile phone (46%) or in internet cafes (35%)
• Internet usage is primarily for entertainment, information and communications
• A quarter of 120 million social networking sites’ users login primarily to play games
• A third of video content is user-generated while the rest is pirated
• Bulletin Board Services are very popular, especially for exchanging product info
• Viral memes quickly become cultural phenomena through social media
• Chinese users are more engaged in their online lives compared with Americans
It is obvious that social media in Asia is dominated by local players who, although partly inspired by the success of western services, have diversified their offerings to suit local tastes and interests. Outsiders will find it hard to compete in this space but may utilize the tools they offer as a platform for targeting their users. Mobile and gaming are also big factors here with a greater emphasis on having fun and the form factor content is consumed on playing a major role in its consumption. All requires marketers to understand the difference of local social-media consumption-behaviors across Asian markets in order to achieve successful social media strategy in this area.
(Sources: Thomas Crampton, SocialMediaToday, RandomWire)
(Sources: Thomas Crampton, SocialMediaToday, RandomWire)
