By thomascrampton ⋅ December 26, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment
Nice piece by Lara Farrar up on CNN’s website about microblogging in China. I spoke with Lara as she was reporting (thanks for the quote, Lara!) and she also spoke with a wide range of great people.Some highlights from Lara’s piece:
The return of the Twitter clones
While almost all of the early Chinese micro-blogging pioneers faced the same fate as Twitter, most of the sites are now back online and are fiercely competing to gain a share of what many predict will soon be an exploding population of Chinese micro-bloggers.
While almost all of the early Chinese micro-blogging pioneers faced the same fate as Twitter, most of the sites are now back online and are fiercely competing to gain a share of what many predict will soon be an exploding population of Chinese micro-bloggers.
The Twitter clones include Zuosa, QQ’s TaoTao, Digu and Sina Microblog, a site launched by web portal Sina.com, allow users to upload pictures and embed videos to go with their 140-character limit posts. In contrast, only text can be posted directly onto Twitter. Some of the services interface with Twitter as well, allowing members to update their Chinese Twitter and the real one simultaneously.
How Zuosa hopes to remain unblocked
Since Zuosa has been back online, founder Alex Mou has been working hard to cultivate a community that seems to be willing to blog about everything except subject matter that might offend the Chinese government. “You have to watch yourself,” Mou said. “You have to do some monitoring, filtering and stuff.”
Since Zuosa has been back online, founder Alex Mou has been working hard to cultivate a community that seems to be willing to blog about everything except subject matter that might offend the Chinese government. “You have to watch yourself,” Mou said. “You have to do some monitoring, filtering and stuff.”
How much Chinese love Social Media
More than 90 percent of Chinese broadband users use social media, compared to 76 percent in the United States, according to a study from San Francisco-based Netpop Research.
More than 90 percent of Chinese broadband users use social media, compared to 76 percent in the United States, according to a study from San Francisco-based Netpop Research.
“If you look at how the Chinese use the Internet, instant messaging is huge,” Thomas Crampton said. “Twittering is sort of a more social version of that, so I think it is well within the [Chinese] social media ecosystem.”
Zuosa offers a Buddhist business model for Twitter
Zuosa is earning money from users willing to pay to receive posts via text messages written by Master Xue Cheng, one of China’s more famous Buddhist monks.
Zuosa is earning money from users willing to pay to receive posts via text messages written by Master Xue Cheng, one of China’s more famous Buddhist monks.
“His followers are our first paying users,” Mou said. “Although it is very new we can see that some people are willing to pay to receive important information.”
