It’s also worth noting that Japan has added 500,000 users and Korea 347,000 users in the past month – Japan has the highest growth rate (8.01%) of the top 25 countries – so we also expect to see the social media landscape changing rapidly in both these markets in 2012.

Facebook Asia – January 2012 (as quoted from Socialbakers.com).

]]> http://www.asiadigitalmap.com/2012/01/india-now-worlds-second-largest-facebook-country/feed/ 1 http://www.asiadigitalmap.com/2011/09/about-taiwanese-bbs/ http://www.asiadigitalmap.com/2011/09/about-taiwanese-bbs/#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 04:53:25 +0000 Jean-Francois Amadei http://www.asiadigitalmap.com/?p=4320 Social Media users in north Asia countries (with the notable exception of Hong Kong) tend to favor local specific platforms (Mixi, Renren, Cyworld…etc) over international leaders.

As an AsiaDigitalMap reader and an Asia’s social media landscape savvy person, you must have heard about these huge Chinese “BBS” where buzz, fame, memes born and die. These forums are powerful way to communicate and a true piece of the Chinese digital culture, hence the tight control by the government.

Taiwan has a mixed usage of Social Network. People can be Facebook (11m users of a 17m netizens, +9000% growths between January 2009 and January 2011) or Youtube heavy users but also be fond of local platform such as Wretch.cc (Yahoo owned, still the 3^rd most visited website in Taiwan. Weibo’s Taiwan page is heavily inspired by Wretch’s one), Pixnet or PPT.cc

Taiwan’s BBS (to be differentiated with “Forums”) really are unique as they are Telnet based social network and, as incredible as it sounds like, this largely technology savvy population still use a network protocol that has been developed in 1969, 43 years ago! These BBS are only accessible with special software ( such as PCMan for Windows or Nally for OSX) via a command line style interface:

High School and university students mainly compose BBS population, they spend their time on PPT.cc, the largest BBS of its kind in the world with 1.5m registered users and about 40 000 posts are created everyday listed in different “Boards”  encompassing vast ranges of topics that go from gossiping, make-up tips, news, products/brands test advices, romance issues, music or artist discussion…etc.

Here is a short list of the most famous boards on PTT.cc :

• Gossiping (Mainly about politicians, social events, or gossips. It’s the most famous board on PTT.cc, simultaneous board surfer online is at least 12,000.)
• Joke
• Sex
• StupidClown (Share stupid things in your life)
• Movie
• Food
• Beauty (Talk about handsome boys and beautiful girls)
• e-shopping (Share e-shopping experiences)
• BuyTogether
• WOW (Talk about the online game-WOW)

The very interesting thing with Taiwan’s BBS is that despite their prehistoric interface, they’ve included all the modern Social Media ingredients and features, way before the words “Social Media” was even mainstream:

• “Journalists” was and are still crawling BBS for sensational news
• Brands tracked and monitored what is being said about one of a products and sometime don’t hesitate to openly or secretly interact with users.
• People are asking questions and expect crowdsourced answers, in the very same way how Quora is operating now
• People post advices, tips, tests and reviews of products, ideas, places, travels…etc
• Some people are become “experts”, “influencers” and their advices can be followed but hundreds or thousands of people.

BBS is facing a tough competition from “modern” forums such as Mobile01 or Facebook, the traffic is certainly not as strong as it has been in 2007 when only Wretch.cc (which started as a Telnet BBS itself) was the uncontested leader in the Taiwanese market, but a brand must not completely overlook its power and they must be included in most of social media strategy targeting a Taiwanese audience.

The difficulty here is that, due to the archaic nature of the system, it’s very difficult (but not impossible) to use modern listening tools such as Radian6 or K-Matrix, researches on these platforms can be performed but on one board in the same time and with a lots of restrictions.

If you are interested to take a look at this very specific social network, please follow these steps (mind that you cannot use “mouse click” on PTT, keyboard is the only way you interact with this board. You can use ↑↓→←to surf on PTT and all the boards are in Chinese, no English one available on PTT.cc.

• Step1: Download the software (PCMan for Windows, Nally for OSX)
• Step2: Type the URL of the BBS (here is “ptt.cc”)

• Step3:  Enter “new” to register a new account

• Step4: Then you can use it

Tencent tests microblog translation tool, opening door for Chinese sites to adopt English

http://thenextweb.com/asia/2011/06/22/tencent-tests-microblog-translation-tool-paves-way-for-chinese-sites-to-adopt-english/

Chinese Internet giant Tencent has recently partnered with Kingsoft, maker of the machine translation product PowerWord, and Youdao, Netease’s online dictionary, to bridge the language gap among users of its microblogging platform by developing a microblog translation tool. The technology will be responsible for automatic translations to and from English, while Youdao will offer translations for Japanese and Korean. In addition to these two, Tencent is reportedly in talks with several other major translation companies to bring other languages into its microblogging platform.

Cartier joins other luxury brands by getting a Youku channel

http://www.penn-olson.com/2011/06/21/cartier-lv-youku-video-channel/

Cartier has launched a branded channel on Youku.com, China’s biggest video-sharing site. It joins six other upscale brands – Louis Vuitton, Dior, Burberry, Gucci, Omega, and Mido – in opting to engage with Chinese consumers via Youku as a part of their social media strategy in the country.

Apps in Asia – China huge, Japan most expensive

http://mashable.com/2011/06/22/china-app-store-market-study/

China is now the second largest iOS apprket in the world (after the USA). Japan accounts for most of the revenue in Asia, as Japan is the most expensive in the region. The study also found that the majority of popular iPhone apps in Asia are only popular in Asia. This is especially true in China, South Korea and Japan. In countries such as India and Indonesia, app localization is less important.

Other Asia

Consumers in Southeast Asia bought over 260,000 tablets in the first quarter of this year

http://www.gfkrt.com/asia/news_events/news/news_single/008189/index.en.html

261,000 tablets spanning almost ten brands were sold across seven Southeast Asian markets* from January to April this year. Tablets operating on the Android operating system (OS) has been rising in prevalence and is today the most popular platform embraced by users. In April, almost half of all tablets (46%) purchased by consumers was an Android compared to five months before, in November, where the proportion was only slightly just over one out of ten (13%).

Taiwan-based chip developer reveals Amazon’s plans to release tablet PCs in September

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20110621PD222.html

Amazon adopts processors developed by Texas Instruments, with Taiwan-based Wintek to supply touch panels, ILI Technology to supply LCD driver ICs and Quanta Computer responsible for assembly, the sources indicated. Monthly shipments are expected to be nearly a million units. The autumn launch will allow Amazon to target Thanksgiving and Christmas shoppers in key markets.

The problem with Facebook in Japan

http://www.penn-olson.com/2011/06/20/problem-with-facebook-in-japan/

In a survey of Facebook users in Japan, all participants agreed that Facebook is less secure, has a more complicated user interface, and is definitely not popular compared with Mixi. Many also had issues with Facebook’s real name policy. Participants also pointed out the Facebook goes against the traditioncal Japanese values of harmony and also is too literal for the very escapism and fiction-frenzied culture of Japan.

Tsutenkaku Tower to get LED lights

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110622f1.html

Hitachi will replace most neon lights for its advertisements on Osaka’s signature Tsutenkaku Tower with light-emitting diodes in a bid to cut electricity consumption by half and contribute to nationwide energy-saving efforts.

Southeast Asia to ship over 100 million smartphones this year

http://www.zdnetasia.com/sea-to-ship-100m-phones-this-year-62300828.htm

106 million mobile phones are expected to be shipped across Southeast Asia this year, marking a 19 percent increase from 90 million units last year. The number will increase to 163 million by 2015 at a compound annual growth rate of 39 percent. This region encompasses Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

South Korea – eCommerce Cannes winner for Tesco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPM4Ui6Sjfk

This week we decipher a series of terms from China’s bureau of riddles: financial spin masters describe the current internet bloated IPO valuations as a “good bubble”; cryptic shenanigans with China’s three mobile operators under scrutiny in an affair over RMB350m of “illegal” money; Xinhua hits back at Google’s “chimerical complaints” of cyberattacks emanating from Jinan, China.

China

China embraces its inner tech bubble

http://blogs.forbes.com/ericjackson/2011/05/31/china-embraces-its-inner-tech-bubble/

Tech industry leaders in China seem to agree that a “bubble” is currently underway in their country. Rather than dread the inevitable fall, however, the executives are focused on the golden age of development that they are currently in. As one leader said, “We’re in the midst of a bubble but a good bubble.  It’s going to create a flight to quality.  The bad companies will lose momentum or die. The market will shrink to a small base of companies.” Soon investors will stop and companies will go under, but the industry as a whole (in China) is focused on the positive.

Western view: Chinese hackers use fake Gmail site to steal activist data

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/01/google-hacking-chinese-attack-gmail

Google has revealed that it had been the target of a phishing campaign seemingly originating in Jinan, a mid-sized Chinese city (six million) known mostly for exports, [72 fresh springs, its muslim population and its status as the IT capital of China twinned with Bangalore, India]. It was aimed at gaining access to the accounts of senior officials in the U.S., Korea and other governments, as well as those of Chinese activists.

China view: “Google’s Chimerical Complaints”… against local chefs making cider-snacks cyberattacks

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-06/02/c_13907875.htm

It was the second time that Google arbitrarily pointed its finger at China. Last year, Google groundlessly accused the Chinese government of supporting hacker attack against it and pushed China to abandon legal regulations on the Internet by threatening to withdraw from the Chinese market. The chimerical complaints by Google have become obstacles for enhancing global trust between stakeholders in cyberspace. However, it was too imprudent for the online giant to lash out at others without solid proof to support its accusation. Last year, Google invited the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), a spy agency, to help with its inquiry into cyberattacks against it… they traced the attackers to computers at Chinese Shanghai Jiaotong University and Lanxiang Vocational School.. The report amused many Chinese at that time since Lanxiang Vocational School enjoys a good fame at training chefs for local restaurants. It is really hard for people with common sense to understand.

Ma might bite Yahoo – Alibaba Group CEO Jack Ma on the Alipay affair, Yahoo and loving employees (video and transcript)

http://allthingsd.com/20110601/alibaba-group-ceo-jack-ma-live-at-d9/

Jack Ma reveals several insights in this interview, including his thoughts on employee training (which he feels should all be done internally), cultural trends in China (customs, people, and government) and business trends in China (mobile, gaming, and search), and Yahoo (which he’d love to buy some day).

New Sina Weibo profiles leak reveals vitual goods, eCommerce integration

http://thenextweb.com/asia/2011/06/02/new-sina-weibo-profiles-leak-reveals-virtual-goods-ecommerce-integration

A leaked screenshot caught reveals more details on what seems to be Sina’s new “QWeibo” profiles, which feature virtual goods and eCommerce integration. Sina has been adding features to the Weibo platform in an attempt to turn it into a complete social network experience instead of simply being a microblogging platform.

10 reasons why China is different

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/roach5/English

This report singles out strategy, commitment, delivery, saving, rural-urban migration 316 million Chinese are expected to move from rural to urban China over the next 20 years), consumption, services, foreign direct investment (China is a magnet for the investment of multinational technology companies), education (1.5 million engineers and scientists graduate in China every year), and innovation (China’s aggressive pursuit of patents and new technologies is what sets it apart) as the main differentiator between China and other nations.

China’s seizure of China Mobile leads to wider corruption probe

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-01/china-s-seizure-of-china-mobile-executive-leads-to-wider-corruption-probe.html

All three of China’s major mobile carriers (China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom) are now under investigation following the arrest of a China Mobile executive in March. The investigation is a probe of more than 60 people that may involve 350 million yuan of “illegal money”.

Other Asia

Indonesian president responds to defamation in social media

http://www.penn-olson.com/2011/06/01/indonesian-president-defamation-social-media/

The Indonesian government has been facing criticism on social media platforms like Twitter, blogs, in text messages recently. Last week the political world in Indonesia was turned upside-down by the emergence of a specific SMS text containing allegations of corruption against the nation’s government. The SMS spread far enough for the president to comment on it, saying, “I think with the development of information technologies — such as SMS, Twitter, websites, and Blackberry — as well as all types of online media can improve our lives in this nation. But, for those who are not knights, those who use (these media) for character assassination or verbal abuse. That is freedom of speech, [but] when it comes to defamation then it must be accounted for.”

Malaysian to tweet apology 100 times in Twitter defamation case

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/02/malaysian-tweet-apology-defamation

A Malaysian social activist will apologise 100 times on Twitter in an unusual settlement with a magazine publisher in a defamation case. The penalty has sparked debate among internet users about the pitfalls of social media in Malaysia, where authorities have warned people to be more cautious about what they write on blogs, Facebook and Twitter.Fahmi Fadzil, an opposition politician’s aide and respected commentator on social issues, claimed on Twitter in January that his pregnant friend had been poorly treated by her employers at a magazine run by BluInc Media.

Vodafone India sues customer for defamatory Facebook statuses

http://thenextweb.com/in/2011/06/01/vodafone-india-sues-customer-for-posting-defamatory-facebook-statuses/

Vodafone India has sent in a legal notice to a man who has complained about its services on Facebook, asking him to take down the ‘defamatory’ posts. This case is interesting because if the court gives an injunction, it could become a precedent for other popular brands to start sending legal notices against other microbloggers.

Playstation Network coming back online everywhere except Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/31/us-sony-network-idUSTRE74U07A20110531

Following the closure of the service after information was stolen from 77 million accounts, Sony has announced that it will re-launch the service in every market except for Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Sony has declined to comment as to why they are excluding these countries. Around 10% of the affected PSN users are in these countries. Sony has hinted, however, that services will return to these Asian nations only a few days after the others.

The Social Web

Zynga to launch new game – “Empires and Allies” in Indonesian, Chinese, Malay, and Korean

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/zynga-launch-new-game-empires-193468

Social gaming developer Zynga has announced the global launch of Empires & Allies, its first strategy combat game – a release “that includes more social features than any of its other games.” It is debuting in 12 languages, including Indonesian, Traditional Chinese and, for the first time, Malay and Korean. Zynga has more than 250 million monthly active users and is the developer of games such as CityVille, FarmVille, FrontierVille, Mafia Wars and Cafe World.

Facebook close to 700 million users

http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/171-facebook-is-globally-closing-in-to-700-million-users/

The top country (in terms of growth) in the last month was Brazil, which added 1.9 million new users. The rest of the top ten included Indonesia (up 1.5 million), the Philippines (up 1.3 million), and India (up 0.9 million).

Mobile

Intel Ultrabooks are front and center at Taiwan IT expo (Computex 2011)

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers/computex-2011-intel-unveils-ultrabook-talks-medfield-tablets/6004

The first ultrabooks, which will be available later this year, will be based on Intel’s second-generation Core processors, measure less than 0.8 inches thick and cost less than $1,000 US. The size, performance and features of these ultrabooks will evolve over the next two to three years as Intel introduces new processor technology.

Location-based marketing hits Colombo

http://www.asiadigitalmap.com/2011/06/location-based-marketing-hits-colombo/

Marketers are beginning to use location-based marketing in the Sri-Lankan capital. They are mainly targeting the “New Urban Middle Class” – a new, small social category. Smartphones aren’t nearly as prevalent as feature phones in Sri Lanka, so ambitions are still tempered.

(Thanks to Asia Digital Map)

Long Reads

Bigerati: May’s most explosive stats

http://www.slideshare.net/OgilvyAsia/bigerati-ogilvy-asia-pacific/

Digital Life: today and tomorrow 7mins state of the world overview

http://youtu.be/iG8KaWxr2gs

Creative

Turkcell Twitter campaign

http://www.simplyzesty.com/twitter/brilliant-twitter-campaign-case-study/

(Thanks to Supavadee Tantiyanon for the link)

LG Loves Indonesia

https://www.facebook.com/LGLovesIndonesia

(Thanks to Dhanushree Sant for the link)

Kitty and Lala: Chinese bloggers take center stage as Intel unveils global campaign

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFbUbAWbB-s & http://www.campaignbrief.com/asia/2011/06/chinese-bloggers-take-centre-s.html

& Finally…

Take a minute to focus on yourself with these social media visualization tools…

Intel’s Museum of Me

http://www.intel.com/museumofme/r/index.htm

Link this to your Facebook account and embark on a tour of your Facebook world, complete with exhibits showcasing your photos, friends, and statuses.

(Thanks to Alexandra Mecklenburg for the link)

The Social List

http://www.the-social-list.com/

See your “worth” on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Foursquare

John lists three categories for evaluation with critical questions for each (full post here).

1) Enterprise Readiness

2) Local Market Readiness

3) Market Conditions

I’d offer up few specific points worth investigating for enterprises with priority markets in Asia:

1- Don’t Build in a Vacuum

The reality is enterprise readiness is not easy. It takes considerable organisational horsepower to build consensus on measurement, putting pen to paper on the brand playbook, leaping over the sales, marketing, pr silos. It’s messy and takes time.

Brands at the twilight of phase one – nearly but yet not complete – should already be activating and training local markets. This evaluation process is not liner. In fact, the leading enterprises I’ve worked with run this simultaneously with a built in feedback mechanism so the important lessons bound to pour out while building capacity at the local level are channeled back up to global.  Ready the enterprise while simultaneously building local capacity and both hub and spoke benefit.

We often subscribe to the multiple hub and spoke model for clients (it works for us at Ogilvy) and we’ve learned that those spokes need to flow both ways. See below for reference from the Altimeter Career Path of the Corporate Social Media Strategist.

2- Two-way Hub and Spokes

Successful enterprises know that Asia is an exporter of ideas and creativity in social media. Show up at a brand or agency brainstorm in Ho Chi Minh City, talk to digital creatives in Beijing or ask your Taiwan team to give you a demo of their wildly popular BBS ingeniously run off of Telenet.

A UK or US-headquartered client cannot toss the enterprise social strategy and brand content to Hong Kong or Shanghai and expect a word -by-word translation.

This import model doesn’t work in social media because enterprises risk serious innovation leak if there’s not a pipeline in place designed to channel the creativity and ideas destined to come flowing back to global HQ.

Be warned: do not make the mistake of dividing your Asia social media efforts based on the number of Facebook fans by country (see below from Tom Crampton) or any other stat your Intern googled. Indonesia, as an example, is the second largest Facebook market in the world, and also home to a fascinating and jaw-dropping complex cultural and business environment that may consume resources at a faster rate than other markets.

3- Pilots to build local teams

The following are must-have stats that your local team can and should easily pull (riff off of John’s post) and the second list of questions will yield deeper insight when planning and evaluating long term engagement:

• Dominant social networks (local vs global socnet)
• Dominant search engine
• Mobile penetration
• Broadband penetration
• Trust in WOM
• Censorship Level in Social Media (reality of some Asian countries, particularly China and Vietnam)

In order to know where to focus your efforts long term, a pilot program in a carefully chosen market answers to deeper questions designed to assess local market readiness:

• Is the local market an influencer or grassroots driven web ecosystem? Hint: No market in Asia is a symmetric 50 /50 split
• Does that social media monitoring tool really work in Vietnamese, Bahasa Malaysia, etc?
• Does this global enterprise program need further tweaking to “fit” in China?
• Can we really get general consensus on measurement?
• Do we need a regional hub serving Asia for added support – a mini-hub in cities like Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai that can serve as a single contact point for global HQ while coordinating 23 cities in Asia.

With so many languages, cultures and different web-climates, Asia warrants an extra level of attention and evaluation. Curious to know lessons learned from others as more and enterprises assess market readiness in social media.

psfk.com/2010/11/which-nation-is-the-most-innovative.html

Japan leads in terms of total patents granted, but it’s the Republic of Korea that is the most efficient in its innovation – each dollar spent on research is likelier to result in a patent.

Tencent Profit Increases 52% on China Online Games Sales, Advertising Surge

bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-10/tencent-profit-rises-52-on-china-online-games-sales-update1-.html

The company had 636.6 million active user accounts for its QQ instant-messaging service at the end of September, compared with 612.5 million three months earlier, it said. The online- chat program had 18 times more subscribers than Microsoft Corp.’s MSN service in China at the end of last year, according to research company Analysis International.

How Baidu Won China

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_47/b4204060242597.htm

The company has a 73 percent share of the world’s largest Internet market by users, and has the fifth-largest market capitalization ($38.3 billion) among the world’s pure-play Internet companies. It’s now 57 percent bigger than Yahoo!.

Baidu’s stock price has more than doubled since January, when Google first disclosed … “a new approach” to China, with the company saying it would no longer censor search results.”Every once in a while a gift is handed to you. We handed one to Robin,” says Eric Schmidt CEO of Google.

Social Media Booming in Indonesia and India

While you weren’t looking, Indonesia became Facebook’s second largest market, Twitter’s fifth largest market, and the number ONE Foursquare nation. The social media boom in Indonesia is also spreading its influence to other Asian nations.

techcrunch.com/2010/11/06/hey-facebook-twitter-and-foursquare-zynga-and-i-are-in-indonesia-where-are-you/

The mobile social network Mig33, which boasts over two million Indian users, has just secured US $8.9 million, most from an Indonesian entrepreneur.

watblog.com/2010/11/09/mig33-raises-8-9-million-from-indonesian-entrepreneur/

India’s Challenge to Facebook

bbc.co.uk/news/business-11525627

Ibibo is making a good challenge on Facebook by developing a range of local relevant games. Those games include “The Great Indian Parking Wars”, where users collect points by parking “legally or illegally” and – in a very local touch – removing idle cows. Like its home base of Gurgaon, which has turned from a village near Delhi to a shining new city in a matter of years, Ibibo has come seemingly out of nowhere. Since it was set up in January 2007, Ibibo has massed 3.7 million users, making it the largest locally based social network in India.

Kik, the Skype of Text Messages, is Registering 250,000 New Users a Day

venturebeat.com/2010/11/05/kik-sms-growth/

(Thanks to Rohan Deshpande for the link)

Fashion Forward in China’s Booming E-Commerce Market.

bloggerinsight.com/blog

Chinese business to consumer fashion e-commerce has grown by 100% in the past three years. TaoBao controls 76% of China’s eCommerce, but increasingly growth will be driven by more sophisticated offerings that can differentiate on service and style. With Gap joining established Chinese forces such as VANCL and Taobao, the industry is poised to grow even more.

Bain & Co on Luxury in China

What luxury goods to Chinese consumers buy? Bain and Co. have just released their new study of the Chinese luxury market. Research points to a new generation of luxury shoppers. 67% of the growth in 2010 is from new consumers. Also, luxury interest in expanding from Tier 1 cities to China’s Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

bain.com/bainweb/PDFs/cms/Public/China_Luxury_Market_Study_2010.pdf

Let’s start with the numbers: in recent months Facebook has slain mighty 
giants Yahoo and Google to become the number one site in virtually every SE 
Asian country (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia and rapidly growing in Japan and Korea). This 
staggering growth has happened in the past nine months. Indonesia is 
Facebook’s second largest market in the world with 30m users (3m in the 
last month alone), with Philippines the sixth largest with 17m users and 
India with 15m and poised to explode. Most Asian markets are growing 10-15% 
every month. Hong Kong has one of the highest penetration rates of 48% of 
the population; Indonesia has 100.3% penetration of people online. Facebook 
users tend to be 16-30, spending about 30mins online every day, and no 
surprise that the Facebook audiences the more influential one – therefore 
the one that brands need to engage with most.

Never again can we talk about digital not being mass media. There has never 
been such a penetrated concentration of humankind in a single media or 
social entity.

Check out the stats below:

http://www.facebakers.com/facebook-statistics/?interval=last-6-months#chart-i…

How has this happened?

• In Taiwan, Facebook has exploded from 400,000 to nearly 7 million users in only 12 months
• Significant growth in Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia
• Indonesia is now the world’s #3 country in terms of total Facebook audience size (behind US and UK)
• Facebook has overtaken hi5 in Thailand and Friendster in the Philippines (formerly the top social networks)
• …But Facebook has seen little growth in Japan and S. Korea

Taiwan’s rapid adoption of Facebook is a particulary interesting example, as it is now one of the few non-English speaking countries with over 30% penetration, joining Hong Kong and Singapore as one of Facebook’s Asian sucess stories.

Why Taiwan?

• A key driver for this growth has been social gaming apps, like Happy Harvest, Pet Society and Restaurant City
• These apps pull users away from other social sites without games, like Taiwan’s other social network Wretch.cc
• More games are being developed in or translated into Traditional Chinese, such as Mahjong by Godgames

Though perhaps Taiwan doesn’t represent a gateway to the rest of Southeast Asia,  it does show that Facebook can be successful in the region. Perhaps social gaming will also open doors for Facebook in tougher markets like Japan and South Korea…

• Our customers are all above their 40s. Besides waiting for the younger generation to grow up and become our new customers, what can we do on social media for those middle-aged?
• Could you advise what could you recommend to a Chain-store who want to engage social media? Should I focus on brand image, not sales in the near future?
• My company want me to do something on social media but our major customers are not using internet. What can I do?
• What’s the next driving power of social media?
• If the social media is fragmented, how to run the “diversified but targeted/fragmented” marketing campaign in SNS successfully?
• Do you have specific advices (do and don’t) to international enterprises who want to engage social media in many countries?
• How to leverage Facebook API to do marketing?