When All Is Blocked in China? What Next?
The social media landscape in China is unique compared to the rest of the world. This is in large part due to restrictions of access to international social media, but also because the Chinese have created their own unique platforms.
The young population of educated "tech savy" and globally minded travelers are changing the way the tourism industry uses social media platforms.
These globally minded travelers are using social media before, during and after they travel. Before they travel they use social media to explore new destinations and search for unique places. During their travel they use social media to search for local guides and translated maps. After their travel the use social media to share personal experiences and also to give reviews of the different attractions and restaurants.
Just like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – managing content and developing a loyal consumer fan-base on Chinese social media platforms take a lot of work. However, looking at how many active and consumers you reach (nearly 600 million Chinese netizens) it's something that is worth considering.
Sina Weibo
Sina Weibo, or more commonly referred to simply as Weibo (pronounced Wēi Bó, which means “Micro-blog”), is a Chinese micro blogging website, usually described as a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook.
With over 500 million registered users as of January 2014, it is one of the most popular social media sites in China. Sina Weibo is often referred to as "The Chinese Twitter" however the functions on Weibo is much more versatile and is closer to a combination between Facebook and twitter.
Weibo offers an easy and open operating platform, which allows an administrator to post content, add events, and interact with his or her followers through comments, newsletters and private/auto messaging.
The platform also allows strangers to interact with each other, just as we are familiar with on Facebook's Pages.
Users of Weibo, contrary to twitter, tend to share more personal experiences and information about themselves. They are also more active in responding to other users and repost another users’ content more often. So, you can say that Weibo is a much more personal platform that only will keep on buzzing in future.
Youku
Youku, meaning “excellent (and) cool”, is the second largest online video platform in the world after YouTube.
In 2012, the two largest Chinese online video sharing sites, Youku and Tudou merged into Youku Tudou, making it the largest Chinese video-platform by far.
Even though the two platforms remain separate, they now share the same search engine.
Youku is one of China's largest user-generated content ecosystems in China. On Youku, successful Influencers or Key Opinion leaders (KOL's) have a specific type of personality or an active presence on various platforms.
Youku has a dedicated section on the website called Youku Channel, here people who post videos can interact with their subscribers, as well as manage and distribute content.
WeChat is a mobile voice and text app similar to WhatsApp.
It was introduced by one of China’s most influential internet companies, Tencent.
Tencent’s messenger app, QQ, has nearly 800 million users, and WeChat now has nearly 400 million users.
Unlike Weibo, WeChat operates with a closed circle, where users only are able to interact with people that they are connected with.
Users can also receive push-messages with pictures, videos and texts from public accounts that they are following.
This is why many Chinese use WeChat to communicate with their friends in real-life, while still heavily using Weibo to browse/share news and seek inspiration.