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The Global Recession Impacted the Use of Social Technologies. The Chinese netizens is recognized as one of the most social on the internet; not simple measured by time online or number of users (now over 338 millions) but in terms of social engagement such as IM and SNS usage. During this years financial crises it showed that more Chinese gained access to the internet in China and tended to spend more time engaging with BBS, SNS and gaming sites. Many bloggers/commentators have stated the recession has pushed people online as they struggle to use their shrinking disposable incomes to eat out and seek entertainment outside the home. Maybe... But I am not sure that this is the core contributing factor to why we see such a rapid increase in SNS , BBS and IM here in China. I would suggest it has more to do with fundamental social change and as the recession lifts I expect to see a continued growth in social media as it is the preferred method of communication for younger people.

Some Brands Adopted Social Marketing Because of the Global Recession. Globally, marketing budgets have been slashed this year (eMarketer indicates that companies are slashing print budgets by 37% and TV by 21% as a response to the recession). Yet, here in China we also saw a lift in TV (as reported by CCTV) but a general shift towards digital marketing both by MMC's and local Brands as a way to extend reach into their audiences and also because the digital side of marketing offers unprecedented levels of measurement and analysis. Of the digital marketing spend, the increases have been predominately in search marketing but certainly social marketing started to gain mindshare in the later part of this year with promises of lower costs and bigger returns. That said, we are yet to see a noticeable increase in social marketing budgets, as brands find ways to innovative marketing.

Social Networks Made the Chinese Government Nervous. So as the amount of user generated content in Chinese started to rapidly increased the attention of Government in Beijing was gained. This year we saw the blocking of many Western SNS tools like Facebook and Twitter. Even the local micro-blogging platforms where shut down. We even got a glimpse at the lengths the Government would go when they tried to push out "Green Dam" as a way to filter content on computers. Also, just this we also saw many file sharing sites get shut down.   So although we have a rapidly growing internet population, the moderation by the Government has forced many to adopt local SNS sites (copy cat versions of their Western counter parts) or resort to using VPN's or Proxy Servers to gain access to their old favorite SNS.

Netizens Are In The Drivers Seat. When I speak to a CMO or Marketing Exec, the one common area of concern is their online reputation. I would say universally, they understand the impact on Brand that a negative comment could have in the Chinese BBS's or SNS sites. I believe that 2010 will have many Brands reassessing the ways that they monitor their online reputation and also engage with their consumers. In the West, Twitter has signed a deal to allow Microsoft's Bing and Google access its real-time data, displaying real-time tweets which appear along side traditional search results. So what is the impact of this increase in real-time data? It means that consumers can instantly give feedback about their product experiences and tell their friends. For brands, it means they have to move faster to keep up with consumers who are sharing. I believe Baidu will do a similar thing with some local micro-blogging services and no doubt, Google's twit search results will display in China

What Does This Mean For Marketers?: This year, Chinese consumers are more connected, and moving faster than ever before. It's essential for digital marketers to use this knowledge to plan for their future campaigns and communication strategies. These four trends indicate that people are connecting and sharing with each like no other time in history. Therefore, Brands (or their Agency proxies) need to develop strategies and plans to respond, not simply react to these latest trends.