The big question on many marketer’s minds that lead to :

What is social media? What’s so special about Asia’s social media landscape? What are the numbers like in Asia? What are the insights for Asia? How do we do it? How do I start? Can the success be measured?

And all I’ll say is….

Coming very soon:
OgilvyOne Worldwide’s Social Media Report for Asia

Countries covered:
China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam

And most importantly… IT’S FREE!

Leave a comment here with your name, country of residence, email address and organisation (if any); or email Brian Koh (brian.koh@ogilvy.com) for priority delivery

Not to be outdone by Tania (good internal competition keeps us on our tippy toes of the razor’s edge), i recently came across Sacha Chua’s Gen Y Guide to Web 2.0 at Work.

It’s only 14 slides, absolutely no death by powerpoint, and drawn in the most charming of ways.

starting a blog isn’t rocket science (or a lot of money). If you’ve got something to say and want to start connecting with other brilliant people, i suggest you take the plunge and be smart (not just inane) with your blogging and start learning from others like you, and sharing with others like you!

So simply put. Thanks to Pat Law for sharing this:

Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo.

To continue from my previous post “Facebook Penetration In Asia Pacific [2008]”, I’ve decided to do a small Google Insights test of how popular Facebook is searched on Google as compared to other social networking sites in Asia.

I’ve decided to compare it against just 1 other main competitor social networking site per country because the lines won’t be as messy as compared to a comparison with 3-4 other competitors.

Please also note that like Facebook, Google is not the number 1 search engine all around Asia as well… hence the data is not 100% accurate. This is especially so for countries like South Korea & China, where their local search engines (Naver & Baidu respectively) are utilised much more than Google. Yahoo! is also very widely used in Asia. This test is just a rough gauge of how popular Facebook and other social networks are.

The results starts from July 2007 and ends July 2008.

Here are the results:

China- Facebook Vs Xiaonei

Xiaonei is China’s version of Facebook and looks almost exactly like it. Though there’s a recent spike interest for Facebook in China, I doubt it’d have much impact on the chinese population as they are likely to stick to QQ, their Bulletin Board Systems and Xiaonei.

Hong Kong- Facebook Vs Xanga

Facebook appeals to the slightly older and western educated people in Hong Kong.

The motivation for Xanga, however, is far more reserved. For young Hong Kong secondary school students, it’s a way to express oneself and to passively share thoughts on things that matter to them amongst their inner circle – an evolution in some ways from personal blogging and instant messenging .

India- Facebook Vs Orkut

There are only 3.1m broadband users out of 60m internet users in India. My guess is that Facebook is probably too bandwidth heavy a social network site for the common Indian user as compared to Orkut. Unless Facebook comes up with a lite version for lower bandwidth countries like India, I guess the Indians will still be on Orkut for at least another year.

Indonesia- Facebook Vs Friendster

I think Indonesia faces similar issues with India in terms of broadband issues. Though Indonesia has 25m internet users, there are only 241k broadband users. In addition to this, Friendster has Bahasa Indonesia as a listed language. Therefore making Friendster a big draw for Indonesian users as english may be a problem for the common indonesian.

Japan- Facebook Vs Mixi

With great local social networking sites like Mixi, Gree and a very robust mobile social network site Mobagetown, it is no surprise why Facebook has not taken off in Japan. The Japanese are very interested in customizing their pages with skins, avatars and online items… something not available on Facebook. Most importantly, Facebook’s mobile version holds little to the mobile capabilities of japanese social networking site.

Malaysia- Facebook Vs Friendster

Although Facebook usage is increasing in Malaysia, this is only apparent for Malaysians and expats who are more westernized. Friendster’s dominance in Malaysia is due to its early market entry and more importantly, offers the Bahasa Malayu language which is the main language used in Malaysia.

Philippines- Facebook Vs Friendster

Friendster is so huge in Philippines that it accounts for 38.8% of Friendster users worldwide. Friendster, recognizing the low internet penetration in the country, decided to complement online advertising with a mobile phone text messaging service exclusively for Filipino users. Friendster also set up a Mobile Broadcast System, a chat application, between the web and mobile phones to extend the use of Friendster Mobile in the Philippines.

Singapore- Facebook Vs Friendster

No surprise that Facebook popularity is increasing in Singapore. For people who live in Singapore (that includes me), you’ve probably noticed Facebook appearing on the news and even on Prime Minister Lee’s national day rally speech. What surprises me is Friendster’s constantly strong results on the chart. I guess many people who moved on Facebook are still some what using Friendster as they still have a network of friends on it. In addition, there are also people who have yet to move on Facebook and are happily using Friendster still.

So don’t rule out Friendster just yet!

South Korea- Facebook Vs Cyworld

Like I explained earlier, Google is not the de facto search engine for a number of countries in Asia. This is especially so for South Korea. Google is probably only used by english speaking Koreans as Naver, Daum and Yahoo! Korea are top choices for Koreans to do their online searches. Therefore Facebook ranks higher than local social network king Cyworld in times of searches on Google.

To prove my point that Cyworld is THE social network for South Korea, over 44% of South Korea’s Population has a Cyworld account. Now beat that.

Thailand- Facebook Vs Hi5

Thai language availability plays a huge part for Hi5’s popularity in Thailand. As most Thais are not as fluent in English, their natural preference would be towards thai language sites. I also feel that Hi5 has a much easier to use interface as compared to Facebook and this could be another possibility why Thai residents on Hi5 would not want to switch to a more complicated interface on Facebook.

Vietnam- Facebook Vs Yahoo 360

The results here comparing Facebook and Yahoo 360 do not seem extremely far apart. In actual fact, they really are as Yahoo! is Vietnam’s top choice for online search, not Google. Also, why would you search for something Yahoo on Google?

The Vietnamese are very into blogging and hence Yahoo! 360 is far more attractive to them as it allows blogging. Currently, Yahoo! 360 is the top social network in Vietnam, followed by Cyworld Vietnam.

End Note:
For marketers who are looking to market on social networks in different parts of Asia, I hope my small test on social network search popularity on Google has enlighten you that Facebook is not the only social networking solution in Asia. Even in countries where Facebook is gaining huge popularity, the other players are still going strong and should not be left out completely.

And just in case people think I’m anti Facebook… I’m not! In fact, its my main choice for social networking. I’m just trying to debunk the myth that “Facebook is everything”

Not a client of ours here in Singapore, but very very impressive (to me at least!)

I love the way EA identified a user-posted glitch on their Tiger Woods’08 title, and instead of spending hundreds of thousands buying advertising space on television networks, promoting it in banner ads or even spamming you on facebook, simply posted a video response.

Posted just SIX DAYS ago, it’s been viewed 1.6 million times, and dare i say, counting, EA shows us it’s not too difficult to find the opportunity and use it to your advantage.

i believe this keen eye for the opportunity, and the execution of the response, the content behind it and the transmission methods were all due to keen insight into the audience they wished to connect with.

don’t believe me? i think this trailer for their upcoming game “Battlefield Heroes” demonstrates that they understand the changing consumer landscape in the way “inside jokes” or “culturally specific” references are used.

the product is another hint of genius in it’s entirety. making a high quality, credible game available for free online FOR the consumer / fan, is a gift of love to the people who love you already. check out their site to know what i mean http://www.battlefield-heroes.com

it reminds me of when Southpark made all their episodes free for public consumption. it’s a new business revenue model, they’ve almost become their own network.. a micro indie channel perhaps. maybe they’ll sell the content cheaply to other internet tv stations like Miro or Joost, and they retain their creative licenses as well. a lot to chew on, but i think these two ideas show us how nothing’s really set in stone these days. www.southparkstudios.com

To all our digerati friends, we hope you can join us for another Open Room chat ‘n chill session ‘cuz we’ve got Rohit coming to spend a couple of days with us. The face behind the award-winning Influential Marketing Blog needs little introduction, and will be coming to town fresh off a stint in Beijing, where he’s been busy for the last few days at the Olympics, doing some pretty neat stuff with Lenovo’s Olympic Blogger Program (I’m so envious).

When: Monday, August 18 @7pm (yes it’s happening real soon!)
Where: The Ogilvy Centre, 35 Robinson Road, Level 3
RSVP: Drop me an email ASAP so I can save a seat for you

Rohit recently launched his book, Personality Not Included, which is full of practical advice for brands looking to regain their human voice. PNI’s been steadily climbing the charts and was recently chosen by Soundview Book Summaries as their best business book for the month of August (a big honor considering the thousands of new books they evaluate a year). Join the PNI Facebook group for updates.

For the Twitter-mad, follow Rohit at Twitter (watch out for the mad chicken wallpaper!)

You’ve probably heard people going “Everyone is on Facebook”.

But… is that really the case for Asia Pacific? I chanced upon this blog by Eric Baillargeon, and the Facebook numbers on it simply left me drooling. Eric obtained his global penetration figures from the the Facebook ad center and has been extremely generous to share it with the world.

So back to the topic of “Everyone is on Facebook”. I am part of the consultancy department in OgilvyOne Singapore and we are currently putting together a report on “Can Brands Have A Social Life in Asia Pacific”. The reason why we’re producing this report specifically on Asia Pacific is simply due to the lack of it around. Asia Pacific is an extremely diverse region and it is not fair to compare it against the world or the west.

To give you a preview of what to expect in the report, here are some figures I’ve compiled from Eric’s blog and Internet World Stats. Latest figures are dated 3 May 2008.

Top 5 Users in Asia Pacific (n)
1) Australia, (2 865 600)
2) Hong Kong, (753 300)
3) India, (589 600)
4) Singapore, (419 340)
5) Malaysia, (360 440)

Bottom 5 Users in Asia Pacific (n)
1) Vietnam, (25 715)
2) Sri Lanka, (53 639)
3) Taiwan, (56 500)
4) South Korea, (71 200)
5) Thailand, (97 240)

Top 5 Users in Asia Pacific (% of Internet Users)
1) Australia, (18.48%)
2) Hong Kong, (15.44%)
3) Sri Lanka, (12.53%)
4) New Zealand, (10.94%)
5) Singapore, (10.59%)

Top 5 Users in Asia Pacific (% of Population)
1) Australia, (14.02%)
2) Hong Kong, (10.79%)
3) Singapore, (9.21%)
4) New Zealand, (8.19%)
5) Malaysia, (1.45%)

Top 5 Growth (%) In Asia Pacific (8 Jan 08 - 3 May 08)
1) Indonesia, (+36.82%)
2) Sri Lanka, (+31.70%)
3) Vietnam, (+28.15%)
4) Australia, (+27.59%)
5) Malaysia, (+26.33%)

Top 5 Growth (n) In Asia Pacific (8 Jan 08 - 3 May 08)
1) Australia, (+790 700)
2) Malaysia, (+94 900)
3) India, (+87 260)
4) New Zealand, (+79 760)
5) Indonesia, (+55 740)

Top 5 Negative/Slow Growth (%) In Asia Pacific (8 Jan 08 - 3 May 08)
1) Thailand, (-18.16%)
2) Taiwan, (-10.10%)
3) South Korea, (-8.71%)
4) China, (+1.78%)
5) Japan, (+2.72%)

Top 5 Negative/Slow Growth (n) In Asia Pacific (8 Jan 08 - 3 May 08)
1) Thailand, (- 17 660)
2) South Korea, (-6 200)
3) Taiwan, (-5 706)
4) China, (+2 940)
5) Japan, (+3 600)

Hong Kong may be missing from some rankings because I could not obtain its data on 8 Jan 2008. Nevertheless, you get the gist of Facebook in the Asia Pacific Market. Facebook is naturally more popular in more english speaking countries like Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. But other social networks still give Facebook a fight in these countries.

However, many other major markets in Asia Pacific have certainly not gotten on the Facebook fever. South Korea has a drop out rate of 8.71% because they probably found Cyworld much more interesting. Japan has only 132,440 users with a growth rate of only 2.72%. Comparing these figures to local social networks like MIXI and Mobagetown is equivalent to comparing the size of a mouse to an elephant. China with its 1.3 Billion people and 210 Million internet users could only garner 165 120 Facebook users with a 1.78% growth rate. I guess they’re still loving their BBS and QQ more than Facebook.

Though India ranks 3rd in terms of number of users in Asia Pacific, Orkut is still the main social network for Indian Internet users. But I guess 589 600 with a 14.80% growth is still pretty decent to market to the Indian folks.

More statistics and insights coming your way in the report If you have any queries about the report, you can email me at nicholas.guan@ogilvy.com.

If you’ve been in Singapore for the past few years, you probably know who Mr Brown is.

The self proclaimed “L’infantile terrible of Singapore” does not hold back much on his views on current affairs and politics in Singapore. With Mr Brown’s unrivaled wit and humour, it is little wonder that his blog is one of the most widely read blogs in Singapore; his podcasts are so famous that Singapore Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsieng Loong mentioned about it in his National Day Rally Speech.

Having put up the perspectives of Media/ Brand Owners (Google, Yahoo!) and journalist (Jeremy Wagstaff) have on social media, we are glad to now present a blogger’s perspective on social media.

For marketers out there looking to reach out to bloggers and the social media community, these videos are a must watch!

Many people I meet ask me what exactly is Digital Influence? And why does it stem from Public Relations (PR)?

Well, to better understand what Digital Influence is, is to appreciate that Digital Influence is a communications discipline. Much like what Public Relations is. We can communicate on behalf of our client, or we give them counsel and how they should communicate, and where they should communicate.

Why do companies have to communicate? To inform the decisions that you make on a daily basis (whether you’re a concerned member of the public, consumer, stakeholder, employee, employer, policy maker… etc) What we consume, is what shapes our perceptions.

Originally, businesses would use the mass media to communicate with the wider audience, but as the media continued to evolve into multiple channels, audiences started fragmenting due to choice.

Then came Web 2.0, faster broadband speeds and the rise of Social Media (Or the media that users share with each other, a bit like a social transaction - i hate that word.) [Pat Law has an excellent post about social currency to help you understand what makes media, social. Link]

With the advent of Social Media, businesses, brands, corporations and finally, the public could communicate with each other using a wide variety of social tools:

Blogs
Forums
Twitter
Plurk
Facebook
Myspace
Wikis
Vodcats
Podcasts

And you could finally have a real two way dialogue, which was what communications was always about. Messages are conversations. What we tell someone isn’t always what that audience will perceive, they will interpret it, and Web 2.0 has enabled the interpretation to be published by that same audience. Thus forming a dialogue.

What’s changing is the way people communicate. We’re no longer content waiting for the 930pm news, or the music the radio wants us to hear, what the TV guides want to show us, when they want to show us. We’re not at the mercy of reading the news the publications deem worthy for us to read. No, we want information on demand.

As communicators, isn’t this the space you want to be? Where the messages you have aren’t forced at people, but accessed on demand by the public? While you’re still thinking about that, the power of information is now with the people, and we are all informing each other. That’s what social media has enabled us to do, inform each other on an amplified level.

Digital Influence, we’re communicators, we’re where the conversations are at and helping brands form bridges into their communities, people who use their products, who become passionate about them, and in turn, brands should also be passionate about their people. -)

“Social Media Vs. Traditional Media”

Not a new topic but some how causes a lot of debate whenever the two compare against each other.

We’ve been posting up videos of Dr. Vinton Cerf from Google and Ken Mandel from Yahoo! and it is no surprise that they are extremely supportive of social media… they are a technology firm after all! So to balance the opinions out, OgilvyOne Singapore decided to interview a journalist on his opinions about social media.

Jeremy Wagstaff is a Technology Commentator at the Wall Street Journal, BBC and Loosewireblog.com. With loads of experience writing on both traditional media and social media platforms, he is probably one of the best media neutral journalist to give us his honest opinions about social media and the effect it has on traditional media.

Key take outs from the videos:
1) Social media is starting to gain more respect and prominence among journalists.

2) Social media cannot be underestimated as a source of credible news.