Business and Blogging

Business Blogging in China

by Des Walsh on May 24th, 2007

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of being on a panel about blogging, at the ad:tech interactive marketing conference in Sydney. The audience was mixed, ranging from the large proportion who indicated they did not have blogs to pro blogger Darren Rowse, who included some comments on the session in his report here.

Some time afterwards, I was invited to put in a proposal to participate as a speaker at ad:tech Beijing, scheduled for October 16-17 this year. I’m planning to be in Beijing around that time anyway, so I put my hand up and am now waiting for a reply.

As I don’t speak or read Chinese, I have to rely on English language blogs and commentary to have any idea of what is happening with blogging in China. My reading of the section on China in the fairly recent Edelman white paper A Corporate Guide to the Global Blogosphere is that:

• blogging is big in China (as are bulletin boards/BBS)
• blog-savvy companies are able to glean useful information about the market’s perception of them and their products
• any company planning to use blogs for marketing in China needs to have complete transparency and proceed with care

Tony Tao, who contributed the China section of the white paper, observes:

While companies are beginning to pay attention to what is being said about them on blogs and BBS forums, few actually engage in constructive online discussion about themselves or their brands.

Of course, as is the way once you start to give a topic some attention, I have now started to notice blogs about and from China, such as the China Blogging Tour by my esteemed colleagues Debbie Weil and Philippe Borremans. It’s the blog for a proposed Edelman-sponsored China tour in October, to coincide with the launch of the Chinese version of Debbie’s The Corporate Blogging Book - a must-have for any company blogging or thinking about it.

Another interesting blog I’ve discovered is the bi-lingual recruiting/human resources focused talent - HR Process Quality in China, produced by Frank Mulligan, China Director for Accetis International and the founder of Talent Software.

I have a longer list, which I intend to put into some order as a page on this site. All suggestions for additions welcome - must have some connection with business, please.

Share This

Related Stories

• Long-running Blog on China Business
• Social Media Platform for China Business
• Good Tips on Doing Business in China
• International Blogging
• More Japanese Language Posts than English: Latest State of the Blogosphere Report

POSTED IN: Events, General, International, Marketing