Reaching customers in a meaningful way - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Sociologist Tricia Wang dives into the world of China's migrants to investigate the place of internet and mobile communication in their communities. In Market Sentinel she explains how how study relates to the needs of companies to understand their customers.

Tricia Wang:

 I do think that companies are hungry to reach their customers in more meaningful ways. People want authenticity and they want value. Companies want to deliver this. Though I’m not sure if this is translating into a greater demand for ethnographically driven research insights… just yet. 

One of the hurdles to overcome is that people still mistake ethnography for marketing or the other way around. But much in the same way that we now recognize the value of design in the production process, I’m hoping to see companies embrace ethnographic methods in the strategic development. Five years ago no one valued user experience and now it’s central to many tech companies. 

DS: Your work requires you to observe people and investigate what motivates their actions and behaviour. Is the “power of the peer” as strong outside of west as it is in? 

TW: I haven’t noticed a difference in the strength of peer groups as if one place has stronger peer group influence than another. This is because the universal power of the peer group speaks to the deeply social quality of human beings. We all care deeply about how people around us perceive and receive us. We are all dealing with insecurity, growth, and identity in different ways. 

However, the notion of the “peer” is relative and is cultural. The declaration of one’s peers in online peer groups unfolds in different ways depending on the social context. An interesting case study is the Chinese equivalent of Linkedin that failed in China. Why? Was it because Chinese people didn’t care about peer groups ? No, the answer is that Chinese people didn’t want to be explicit about their social connections with their peers.

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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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Telecommunication changes for 2012 - Tricia Wang

Tricia Wang

Sociologist Tricia Wang maps out for 88-bar.com the competitive playing field between China's largest telecom providers, China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile. What can their customers expect for 2012?

Tricia Wang:

From the clouds to the ground, 2012 looks like it’s going to be an exciting year for mobile  industry. China Telecom is going abroad to offer mobile services for the transnational elite who travel between China and North America. China Unicom just launched a new mobile internet platform, the Wo-plus Opening System. Let’s see how long China Mobile 600 million 2G users can wait for 3G before switching to Unicom or Telecom. Now that China is the world’s largest smartphone market, how will the future of hardware and software evolve? We already have a glimpse from HTC of their new Sina Weibo smartphone. And then to top if off, both China Telecom and China Unicom may lower broadband prices! 

With all these technical and market changes, one of the big questions for 2012 is will Chinese citizens will be relieved of telecommunications costs? Or will 2012 could be the equivalent to the 1996 Telecommunications Act in the United States where institutions benefited more from telecommunication reforms than individuals? [1] We’ll have to see who benefits from thee anti-monopoly investigation. 

With the stable divisions of China Unicom, China Mobile, & China Telecom, we don’t hear of potential industry shake ups like this very often. I imagine that Chinese Telcom scholar, Eric Harwitt, is giddy with news. But luckily we have Marc Laperrouzag, so we won’t have to wait a few years for a book or paper to be published to stay up to date on the details. 

Let’s hope for faster and more equitable broadband access in 2012! 新年快乐!

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Tricia Wang is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. She will be in Europe for an academic conference in Switzerland and is available for speeches in the third week of February. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch, or fill in our speakers' request form.

More on Tricia Wang's exploration of China's economic underbelly at Storify.

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