Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

China found its publish sphere in the internet - Kaiser Kuo

Kaiser Kuo
In a decade the number of internet users in China grew from 22 million to 513 million, creating the country's first publish sphere ever, cause great changes in society, tells Baidu communication director Kaiser Kuo to China.org.

China.org:
Kaiser Kuo, director of international communications at Baidu, believes Internet access has become a basic fact of life for Chinese citizens. He said: "China has very much embraced information communication technology. It is something the Chinese government has taken very, very seriously." 
Social media differs from traditional forms of media because of its user-generated content. It allows users to connect with other users and create an enormous amount of content on a daily basis. Popular micro blogging platforms such as Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo have revolutionized Chinese culture and, according to Kuo, define it. 
"There has never been a time in Chinese history where there has been a comparably large impactful public sphere. It is now driving, in many ways, the entire national dialogue."
More in China.org. Kaiser Kuo 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.

Kaiser Kuo, speaking on China's internet, at Storify.  
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Monday, May 07, 2012

Why Sina Weibo is a winner, despite rules - Jeremy Goldkorn

Jeremy Goldkorn
Despite much domestic competition, the twitter-like service Sina Weibo is technical better and offering most interesting conversations,tells internet watcher Jeremy Goldkorn in the Artman Talks. And why the 'real name registration' did not really work.

Nanny instincts from the government to register the real names of weibo users did not work, just like previous efforts for user registration. "It is an authoritarian system not being that authoritarian at all." Revenue for companies seems to be more important than real control, Goldkorn says, explaining why shutting down popular internet services is not high on the agenda.

More in the Artman Talks. Listen here for the full podcast.

Jeremy Goldkorn is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting of conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' registration form.
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Thursday, May 03, 2012

Dealing with a tsunami of information - Jeremy Goldkorn

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Jeremy Goldkorn
Over 500 million Chinese are on internet, and 300 million have a Twitter-like weibo account, causing a tsunami of information that is hard to manage, tells internet watcher Jeremy Goldkorn in the Deutsche Well. That offers the citizens an inprecedented freedom, despite censorship. 

Deutsche Welle:
Chinese censors are currently focusing most of their attention on the Internet. Their greatest annoyance has been a social media website similar to Twitter called “Weibo”. About 300 million Chinese have at least one Weibo account. 
“The Internet and options like Weibo give people the chance to express themselves more than ever before in the history of China,” said blogger Jeremy Goldkorn, who lives in China. 
A new law requires Weibo users to register with their real names. The legislation still hasn't gone into effect. 
Goldkorn has seen regulation of Internet use grow stronger through censorship in China. Aside from the Weibo-law, censorship has limited itself to traditional methods, such as shutting down websites. When a power struggle was taking place within China's Communist Party, the government disabled the comment function for three days on social media websites similar to Twitter. 
The problems stems from more than just one website or trying to control public opinion on politics. ”We're dealing with a tsunami of information that didn't exist before,” Goldkorn said.
More in Deutsche Welle

  Jeremy Goldkorn in 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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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Why Facebook would not make it in China - Jeremy Goldkorn

Goldkorn_for_screen
Jeremy Goldkorn
For a few hours China's internet filters failed to block Facebook, causing some excitement. But internet watcher Jeremy Goldkorn explains in Techcrunch why the would-wide famous social network does not make much chances in the largest internet market. 

Techcrunch:
Jeremy Goldkorn, founding director of Danwei.com, a website and research firm that tracks Chinese media and internet, tells us that it was just a temporary bug that is getting fixed. He also adds that this is not a market where Facebook is making much headway at the moment: 
“There is nothing Facebook can do to sort itself out in China,” he said in an email exchange. “Any attempt to enter the market as Facebook itself or to sneak in using a smaller company like Instagram is doomed and will lead to world of pain — a PR nightmare in the U.S. and a huge waste of money and energy in China.” 
He adds that “the only smart thing” for Facebook to do in China is to invest in or acquire notable startups, “if they can find any.”
More in Techcrunch

Jeremy Goldkorn 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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Saturday, April 14, 2012

A more subtle management of the internet censorship - Jeremy Goldkorn

Goldkorn_for_screen
Jeremy Goldkorn
While the government is still firm in control, the online debate in China has become more outspoken, and the authorities rather try to manage the information flow, rather than shut it up, tells internet watcher Jeremy Goldkorn in the Global Post. 

Some critics see China's recent moves to regulate the sector as an attempt to exert a softer kind of control. 
“I think they are using a strategy of trying to shape and guide the conversation rather than shut it off,” said Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of Danwei, a blog about media in China. 
“[This new policy] shows the party is as serious as it’s ever been about controlling information, and that message isn’t lost on people. But I haven’t seen that any of the recent measures have had the effect of dampening the conversation."... 
In the last several years, microblogs have become a crucial outlet not only for frank political opinion, but also breaking news. In August 2011, a high-speed train crashed in Zhejiang province and killed 40 people. While the state-run media largely steered clear of it — as with other controversies — weibo users broke the news and covered it obsessively, generating 10 million messages on the crash in a single week. 
“Weibo is absolutely key to understanding the Chinese media landscape,” Goldkorn said. "Everyone in the media in China is on weibo. Your taxi driver who doesn’t get online will eventually hear about news because it’s broken there first.” This power to drive the news explains the Communist Party's urgent concern about microblogs — especially in a once-a-decade election year. This fall, seven new members will be nominated to the nine-man clique that rules China, the Politboro Standing Committee.
More in The Global Post.

Jeremy Goldkorn 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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An outspoken internet generation - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang
Despite ingenious internet censorship, China's internet users has always been able to circumvent those filters to a certain degree. Sociologist Tricia Wang see even a new group emerging, who is becoming more outspoken, under their own name, write Global Post.

The Global Post:
Ingenious users have continued to evade the censors by devising ever-new ways of referring to verboten subjects. On Wednesday, the phrase “big news” came to stand for the Bo Xilai murder mystery; previously the word “tomato” and “Chongqing hotpot” also served as code for the scandal. 
Even now, the most politically outspoken users are continuing to post actively, even defiantly. Tricia Wang, a sociologist based in central China, explains for some users speaking publicly under their own name has always been part of the appeal. 
"Those people say, 'I don’t like the policy of course, but it doesn’t bother me — I’m still going to use weibo.' It’s not like old China where people are going to disappear. This group of people say, 'Yeah it’s my real name, and yeah, I stand behind my forwards,'" she said.
More in the Global Post.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

More about Tricia Wang, exploring China's underbelly, at Storify.
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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Internet firms serve two masters, the government and the consumer - Kaiser Kuo

Kaiser Headshot
Kaiser Kuo
The online debate before and after the dismissal of Bo Xilai, has put Chinese internet companies firmly in the limelight. Baidu's director international communication Kaiser Kuo explains how they deal with their customers and a often opaque internet law in the Voice of America and The World. 

The Voice of America:
Kaiser Kuo, director of international communication for Baidu.com, China's most used search engine, says Chinese Internet firms serve two masters - the government and consumers. 
“None of these Internet companies labors under the illusion that people prefer censored search results, but at the same time, we are multiple stakeholder companies," Kuo said. "We are obliged to obey the law in China, and we are also sort of compelled to explore the elasticity of our boundaries.  So, it is tough.” 
Kuo says the developing Internet in China represents two opposing forces to him. 
“On the one hand, you have this ratcheting up of controls, but in the same period essentially, you've seen the Internet develop into a full-fledged, or mostly fully-fledged, public sphere in Chinese life. This is unprecedented. There's never been a time in China's history where there's been a comparably large and impactful public sphere,” Kuo said.  
And he adds in The World:
“I think it’s clear that the whole process [of Bo Xilai's dismissal] would have been a whole lot more opaque, that this really did shoot a lot of holes in the roof and allow a lot of sunlight in,” said Kaiser Kuo, director of international communications for China’s leading search engine, Baidu. 
He added that China’s leaders have conflicted feelings about the role the internet plays these days in China. 
“There is almost immeasurable amount of economic gain China has realized as a result of rolling out the internet, of being so aggressive in doing so,” Kuo said. 
But at the same time, all those Chinese online means public opinion takes on a life of its own, especially at times like these. 
“There’s never been a time in China’s history where there has been a comparably large and impactful public sphere,” according to Kuo. “It is now driving, in many ways, the entire national dialogue.”
More in the Voice of America and The World. Kaiser Kuo 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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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The government balancing act on the internet - Jeremy Goldkorn

Jeremy Goldkorn
It took China's internet censors weeks to crack down on the internet after the rumors surrounding the now disposed leader Bo Xilai started to make their rounds. But that should not be seen as a trend towards liberalization, tells internet watcher Jeremy Goldkorn Bloomberg.

Bloomberg:
Even as Beijing once again asserts its heavy hand over the Chinese net, many are wondering why it waited so long. Indeed, more notable than the latest crackdown has been the surprising openness allowed over the last month. That’s not to say there has been any liberalization trend however, argues Jeremy Goldkorn, founding director of Beijing-based Danwei, a China Internet and media research firm that publishes at danwei.com. He points to the new rule that bloggers must use their real names to register, only partially enforced to date, as proof of a counter, tightening trend. 
Rather the relative looseness seen recently is due to the substantial challenge Beijing authorities face in monitoring the world’s largest Internet population. China has 485 million Internet users and 300 million registered microbloggers, according to Zhang Xinsheng, an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as reported by Xinhua news agency late last year. “This is more because it has become a Sisyphean task to monitor the Internet,” says Danwei’s Goldkorn, pointing to how difficult it is for censors and software to keep up with the evasive tactics, such as the regular use of puns and homonyms by China’s netizens... 
At the same time, it appears the Internet has become a battleground for different factions within China, or more specifically, for those wishing to bring down Bo during the unfolding scandal. “It is true they did not clamp down on the Wang Lijun and Bo Xilai rumors at first. Some of the stuff that was spread online seemed to be allowed in order to blacken Bo Xilai’s name,” says Goldkorn. “I think Bo’s enemies have used the Internet to hasten his downfall.”
More in Bloomberg.

Jeremy Goldkorn 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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Monday, April 02, 2012

China's internet "freer than ever" - Jeremy Goldkorn

Jeremy Goldkorn
The internet in China might face yet another clampdown by the authorities, internet veteran Jeremy Goldkorn points out in USA Today that despite those actions, China's internet is freer than ever, although microblog services of Tencent and Sina had to hold commenting temporary.

USA Today:
The clampdown on Sina and Tencent is "not an extreme act of censorship but reminds everybody of who is in charge; it sends a signal to the Internet companies and users that the government is watching you," said Jeremy Goldkorn, director of Danwei.com, a website focused on Chinese media and Internet. 
China's Internet today "is the freest platform of public expression ever, but there is also a constant effort by the government to rein it in," Goldkorn said.
More in USA Today.

Jeremy Goldkorn 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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Sunday, April 01, 2012

The shot across the bow of internet companies - Jeremy Goldkorn

Jeremy Goldkorn
After weeks of flying rumors on the internet, China's authorities moved in to curtail stories on disposed leader Bo Xilai and even about a coup d'etat. Internet watcher Jeremy Goldkorn guides us in The Guardian through the political minefield.

The Guardian:
"The underlying problem is that you can't get the truth out of the government, so you might as well believe stuff flying around on the internet," agreed Jeremy Goldkorn, who runs the Danwei website on Chinese media. "But what this does is remind everyone who is in charge … Sina and Tencent are going to be pretty cautious and I think will be stepping up censorship: this is a shot across the bows." 
Some have asked why rumours about senior political leaders – particularly Bo – have circulated for so long recently, given that censors are usually quick to delete such speculation. 
"I do get the sense that some things have been tolerated that perhaps in other times would not be. Certainly, it seems it's been allowed that enough has been circulated about Bo Xilai to blacken his name," said Goldkorn.
More in The Guardian.

Jeremy Goldkorn 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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A massage job and a laptop in Henan - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang
Sociologist Tricia Wang reports on a massage worker in Henan, an interview she had while investigating migrant workers and the way they use mobiles, computers and other communication tools. They are fully part of daily life, Tricia Wang describes on her weblog.

Tricia Wang:
Her husband works as a miner in Guizhou, she works as a masseuse in Changsha, Hunan. They see each other 1 time a year and have a 1 and half year old daughter who they have seen once since she was born. Her husband's mom takes care of her. When they went home during Chinese New Years, her mother-in-law  told her daughter to call her, "mommy." Though, when her baby cried or smiled, she looked to her mother-in-law, and not her or her husband.  I asked if this made her feel sad, she said, 
"what does it matter? sure I feel sad, but back in our town this is normal. Everyone has their parents raise their baby. We all work in cities far away." 
She uses a feature Nokia phone & only texts on it. She bought a laptop so that she could chat with her husband when he goes to the Internet cafe. She uses wifi from another office downstairs. The massage boss has wifi but put a password on it when he saw workers streaming movies when they were resting. During breaks, everyone does their laptop out and they joke that they could open up an internet cafe. She locks her computer up downstairs when working and sleeps with it next to her in the dorms because things get stolen all the time.
More on Tricia Wang's weblog.

Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.    
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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

How internet users avoid key word filters - Jeremy Goldkorn

Jeremy Goldkorn
China has a wide range of filters on its internet, but Chinese users have developed a set of tools to circumvent the censorship of certain banned words, tells China internet watcher Jeremy Goldkorn in The Brisbane Times. Premier Wen Jiabao as teletubby.

The Brisbane Times:
''Teletubby'' is code for Wen Jiabao, who chided Bo publicly before his ousting - the Chinese version of the children's TV show, Tianxianbaobao, shares a character with the Premier's name. The popular instant noodle brand Master Kong is known as Kang Shifu in Chinese and stands in for Zhou Yongkang, who is reportedly supportive of Bo. 
''Tomato has retreated; what flavour will Master Kong still have?'' asked another user. 
In keeping with the food theme, the former Chongqing party boss has been dubbed ''tomato'' or ''xihongshi''. 
''It's the classic way that people have evaded keyword filtering: using puns, homonyms, abbreviations or English acronyms of Chinese names,'' said Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of Danwei, a website on Chinese media. 
''Some are pretty standard, like zhengfu [government] becoming ZF. But a lot of the ones in the last few days are new. With this last round - like Master Kong - you would have to be following internet chatter [regularly] to really get them.'' 
Offbeat China, a blog that spotted the spate of references, said at one point ''Master Kong'' was the seventh most searched-for term on Sina's popular Weibo service.
More in the Brisbane Times Jeremy Goldkorn 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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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Unprecedented online chatter on Bo Xilai - Jeremy Goldkorn

goldkorn_2
Jeremy Goldkorn
The recent dismissal of Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai triggered off a lot of comments on China's microblogs. Even veteran internet watcher Jeremy Goldkorn has to admit in the Wall Street Journal he was amazed, this time.

The Wall Street Journal:
"I don't recall ever seeing anything like this on the Chinese Internet," said Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of Danwei, a website that tracks Chinese media, of the recent proliferation of political gossip. The presence of so much rumor online is one likely explanation for the stepped-up censorship, he said. 
"Things are getting a little too out of control, so they've decided to rein it in," Mr. Goldkorn said, adding that it was difficult to say whether the decision to block searches came from government authorities or the websites' own in-house censors. 
Searches for "Ferrari," "coup" and Zhou Yongkang's name were also blocked on Sina Weibo this week. To beat the blocks, users have begun referring to Mr. Zhou as "Kang Shifu," using the name of a drink and instant noodle brand in a wordplay on the last character in Mr. Zhou's name.
More in The Wall Street Journal Jeremy Goldkorn 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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