New US internet companies succeed by complying with the government - Ben Cavender

Ben Cavender

China has seen a wave of new internet companies, actually succeeding. A surprise after Google, Facebook, Twitter saw them locked out. Business analyst Ben Cavender tells in Quartz what the trick is: complying with the Chinese government. Names? Evernote. LinkedIn. Uber.

Quartz:

After Google’s exit, those three firms have yet to come back. But in recent years, other American internet companies have found a degree of success in China—or at least a bit more stability than their predecessors. 

The solution involves sacrifice—hand over data and control, and the Chinese government will hand you the keys to the market. 

“If you want to develop an internet business in Chinese now, you have to be willing to work with the Chinese government, even if that means censoring content or sharing access to your data,” Ben Cavender, principal at the China Market Research Group, told Quartz... 

By now, some may say that question sounds downright passé. Google and Facebook, the posterboys for internet companies shut out of China, are now knocking on its door. 

Facebook has reportedly opened an office in Beijingand aspires to develop a consumer-facing product. Mark Zuckerberg’s China infatuation seems carefully staged. Google, meanwhile, is rumored to be working on an app store for China, as a way to reach consumers without relying on its search engine. 

“Google decided to take a stand, and they effectively locked themselves out of the market,” Cavender said. Businesses must ask, “How important is China to our growth and what is our long-term perspective on what to do there?” he adds.

More in Quartz.

Ben Cavender is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

Are you looking for more internet experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.  

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What Western e-commerce can learn from Taobao - Benjamin Joffe

+Benjamin Joffe 

Alibaba´s e-commerce platform Taobao excels in integrating social functions, says internet expert Benjamin Joffe in CIO. Although it specifically focuses on Chinese buyers, not those in the west.

CIO:

Alibaba is crafting social-networking platforms specifically to complement two of its core operations. The beta version of a Web site with Facebook-style applications and a Twitter-style feed is being grafted onto Taobao.com, Alibaba's auction and retail Web site, a spokeswoman said. A more professional platform that the spokeswoman likened to LinkedIn is being added to Alibaba.com, the group's business-to-business e-commerce operation.

The entertainment-based platform for Taobao in particular combines standard social-networking functions with original features that promote online purchases. It goes a step beyond efforts to mix e-commerce and social networking by Western companies like Amazon.com and Facebook, said Benjamin Joffe, CEO of digital strategy and research company +8* (Plus Eight Star).

Western companies could potentially benefit by adding social functions like those on the Taobao platform, but the site is also uniquely suited for China's young Internet user base, he said...

Taobao's efforts may have more success (than Amazon or Facebook), partly because users will enter its social-networking platform knowing that it is based on an e-commerce site, said Joffe, the analyst. "They don't need to explain too much to their users," said Joffe. "It will feel very natural because commerce is what Taobao is all about in the first place. They are just adding social features to do it better." The young majority in China's base of Internet users has caused online games, entertainment and instant-messaging applications to grow faster then e-commerce in the country, Joffe said. Taobao is now drawing on those proven products to drive its own expansion. It was the first large e-commerce site to offer instant messaging, and social networking is a natural next step for its expansion, said Joffe.

More in CIO. Benjamin Joffe is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form. Are you looking for more internet experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check our recent list. 

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Censored by LinkedIn - Shaun Rein

+Shaun Rein 

When LinkedIn gained access to the attractive Chinese market, it had to make sure it would adhere to the country´s laws and regulations, including the censorship. Now, at June 4 we know what that means. Business analyst Shaun Rein tells the Wall Street Journal how he was censored.

The Wall Street Journal:

Shaun Rein, the head of consulting firm China Market Research Group, said he received a notice last week from LinkedIn indicating he could no longer post to different groups on the site without first receiving approval by a moderator. Mr. Rein, who has been posting regularly on LinkedIn for about six years, said the change came after he posted about difficulties faced by U.S. firms in China following the back-and-forth between the two over cyberespionage.

"I've been backing up my contacts because I'm worried they'll block me and I won't be able to reach anyone," said Mr. Rein, adding that on LinkedIn "people are looking to show their knowledge and sell their services; if you can't have a discussion, that's an issue."Mr. Rein said his firm has completed three projects for LinkedIn in the past. LinkedIn declined to respond to Mr. Rein's comments.

More at the Wall Street Journal.

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

Are you interested in more speakers on the internet at the China Speakers Bureau? Here is a recent list.

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No quick fix for LinkedIn in China - Ben Cavender

+Benjamin Cavender 

Global job internet search venture LinkedIn has started its China operation  this week, a country where many internet firms have already failed. LinkedIn faces tough competition, but has a chance, says business analyst Ben Cavender in PCWorld. But we should not expect a quick fix.

PC World:

The bigger obstacle for LinkedIn comes from China’s domestic Internet firms, according to Ben Cavender, an analyst with China Market Research Group. Already, many Chinese Internet users are relying on local social networking platforms, such as Sina Weibo and WeChat, to not only communicate with friends and read news, but also find jobs. Both Sina Weibo and WeChat each have over 300 million registered users. At the same time, many of LinkedIn’s prospective users in China—those who speak English and are looking for international opportunities—are already on the site, Cavender said. 

To grow, the company will have to provide a strong contact base as well as job opportunities for Chinese-language users. “I think it’s possible that they could do quite well here,” Cavender said. “They are well established already in bigger cities like Shanghai and Beijing but it will take time to build the user base in other markets in China. The Chinese language version of the site should allow them to do this.”

More in PC World.

Ben Cavender is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

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Is the censor winning in China?

When I came to China for a visit, I routinely signed up for a VPN. Using a tool to circumvent China´s internet censorship seemed the most obvious thing to do. But here in Shanghai I discovered that using a VPN is not longer a standard procedure. It never was for Chinese users, but also friends and business people seem to live without one.
So that raises the question, who is winning the information war in China. When I ask the people without VPN why they accept the censorship in China, while it is easy to circumvent, they tell me they are not missing anything.
It sounds bit like the debate on social media. You get the same answer from people who are not using social media (yes, they too exist): they are not missing Twitter, Facebook or Google+. They are perfectly happy without internet tools others cannot survive without.
LinkedIn has boomed in China, partly they are for unknown reasons not blocked: many non-VPN users have the illusion they can surf freely online, because they have LinkedIn as a social network.
I have been trying to find out what number of foreign business people could survive without VPN in China, but even asking the question online does not make since. They are also not reading this weblog, since Blogger is also blocked.
It looks that, compared to the early days of the internet, censorship has become so subtle, people have a life online without using the websites and services that are blocked by the officials filters.
Possibly today´s news the Chinese editions of Reuters and the Wall Street Journal are no longer blocked, fits into that subtle censorship message. As long as enough information is seeping through the filters, people do not seem to bother. And they do no realize what they are missing.

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My China news radar: the target (1)

News Media At The Obama Event (Photo credit: MarkGregory007)

Can you set up a Twitter account for me? That is the most asked question when companies, organizations or people set up their social media operation. And you can replace Twitter with Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Weibo or whatever the person who asks the question is fascinated with at the moment.
But they often forget to ask the most important questions: what is it you want to achieve? Is it a feasible target? So, before I set off to explain how my China radar screen is working, I want to tell you what I want to achieve. 
In short, I want to set up a meaningful selection filter of news on China.

The basis of my digital radar screen was a report by some of the better US journalism schools on how those schools should prepare for their digital future. At the time, I still called myself a journalist, so I took note. The report was written five, six years ago (forgive me, no link anymore) and drew two major conclusions.
First, the number of journalists was too large, and schools had to reduce the intake of students.
Second, journalists had to focus on managing online information, rather then collecting it themselves. They had to become human filters.

I do not think many journalism schools took that advice serious. Intake of students has gone up since the report was discussed, despite a dismal job market; even the number of journalism schools has gone up. And despite a drop in media resources, when you go to major events like the Olympic Games, the Oscars or any other popular event, the number of journalists there seems to grow, despite the falling number of jobs, and the lack of real news at those events.
I looked at the time at my online operation, and saw that I had already started to behave like a human online filter, in my case regarding China. And as a human filter, what I pass on is important, but the garbage that does not pass my filter, might even be more important. This report on US journalism schools I had in mind, when I started to organize my filtering activities in a more sophisticated way.

Now, by running the China Speakers Bureau, I have transformed my human filter activities also into a support activity for this commercial venture. Where applicable, I will mention this, since I believe becoming a human filter is a useful new activity for current and former journalists, also outside the traditional media companies.

So, after looking at the report, I started to make a few drastic decisions. My key business as a foreign correspondent in Shanghai was to make sense out of China for people living outside the country. I have never been in the business of telling the Chinese how they country is working. That meant a strong focus on English-language sources. Not in my mother tongue Dutch, since there would be too little to filter. And not in Chinese, although I greatly appreciate the efforts of so-called "bridge-bloggers", who translate increasingly Chinese sources into English. I can help myself in more languages, but in my function as a human filter, displaying all my language capabilities is only confusing for my audience, certainly as long as online translations services are not perfect, to put it mildly.
Second, it had to be news. What makes any online operation better than the traditional media is that they can be faster and more comprehensive than the traditional media. So, when an event has already been reported by dozens of news media, I mostly ignore it, unless I can dig up some sources with new angles.
Third, it had to be relevant news, again, from my perspective. Strikes, accidents, floodings, mining deaths and other mass incidents - as they are called in China - are only interesting for me, if they have a mean that is larger than the incident itself. It Tibetan no 102 setting himself ablaze news? I do not think so, although it could be different if you would be working for a human rights organization.
Fourth, they have come come from trustworthy sources. While what is trustworthy might vary from case to case (and we will dive deeper into this later), but quoting just anything interesting is not what a human filter should do. I'm far from perfect, but a split-second decision on the trustworthiness of a source is always a consideration, before I pass on links.

I never counted it scientifically, but I estimate that only one percent of all the stories and links I see pass my filter. That sounds like very little, but it is rather similar to journalists at news desks scanning the incoming news from press agencies for what is relevant to them. By doing it a lot, you become more efficient.

My filter is set up into two different larger operations. To illustrate that (and they will be separate postings later on) can I take you back for a second to some of the old theories about mass media? Those theories might be losing their usefulness, together with the diminishing value of mass media, but one concept I still like.
You might remember the differences between ‘senders’ and ‘receivers’ of mass communication? The mass media were sending their information to us, suckers, the receivers of that information. Now, that rather strict divide has been eroded as we are both ‘sending’ and ‘receiving’ through the same social media tools at the same time.
Still, for analyzing your own activities, that old concept is still useful, for example when you are building up your own social network, as an individual, a company, an organization, government agency or otherwise. And for me as a human filter, making that distinction is extra useful.
First, on receiving, the subject of the next posting. You have to learn how make a selection among your potential friends, followers, information and other news items. You have to ask yourself what the purpose is of accepting a friend, or looking at a certain website, or opening up a new stream of feeds.
A part of that information you receive, you decide to pass on into your own network of friends, followers, or whatever they are called. That ‘sending’ process is the subject of the third posting. receiving part.

Any thoughts, additions, questions or remarks? Let me know.

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