Happy New Year

This is my first blog post in five months, and for this I am both ashamed and apologetic. I won’t be making any excuses, but rather will say that this year I will try much much harder.

The second half of 2009 was very interesting, wasn’t it? Social media related enquiries continued to soar from all sectors and some were even spending some marketing dollars on it. Traditional PR programmes started to embrace digital communications, with many organizations now incorporating an element of social media tactics into activities. On the other side of the fence, bloggers and social media platforms became more savvy and better understood the potential influence they have for brands and as such changed the way they work.

I won’t try and pretend I know what will happen in 2010, but a few things are clear in the world of PR. Below are my top three observations on the way things are moving:

1. Any agency or PR consultant who still does not want to, or cannot, embrace social media to some degree will be out of the job within 5 years (probably less). PR is about creating, communicating with and influencing advocates and more than ever this is moving towards digital.

2. Any journalist who does not, or cannot, embrace social media to some degree will be out of the job within 5 years (probably less). Most of them already have done, using social media platforms for research, networking, raising their profiles etc.

3. Any media outlet that does not, or cannot, embrace digital communications will cease to exist within 5 years (probably less). Most publications now have some sort of online presence whether it be a standard website or a fully fledged online only version, but some smaller publications are still in the dark ages, and for them I fear.

On a final note, I just wanted to say that my background is in traditional PR and I hoped my blog would reflect this. But more and more, I write about digital communications. This is due to the way my role has been evolving, but I have not forgotten my roots!

Till next time….

Social Networking is Hot in Hong Kong

The latest figures released by Hitwise (an internet traffic monitoring company) shows that social networking is hot in Hong Kong.

Social network Xanga (www.xanga.com)is currently ranked at #3 out of all sites monitored by Hitwise in Hong Kong, just behind Yahoo! Hong Kong (hk.yahoo.com) and Yahoo! Hong Kong Search (search.hk.yahoo.com). Xanga, is the highest-trafficked social networking site in Hong Kong, outperforming its competitors MySpace (www.myspace.com) and Bebo (www.bebo.com).

Over the past 12 months, Xanga's market share has rocketed from 2.49% to 3.22%, while traffic levels of its nearest competitor, Yahoo! Hong Kong Search, have stayed relatively stable. In addition, the Blogs sector has also experienced a phenomenal rise over the past year. Traffic to sites in the Hitwise Blogs & Personal Websites category in Hong Kong has increased by 52%. Xanga is the highest-ranked website in the Blogs category, consuming a massive 72.22% of market share.

Digital communications is surely a cost effective way of reaching an audience that is far larger than the most popular newspapers and magazines - but why aren't more companies doing it?

TwestivalHK a great success...see the video here

A great night was had by all at TwestivalHK on February 12. I, for one, was impressed to see the number of Twitterati come along to support Charity: Water.

HK Twestival - join the unique event

I am proud to be helping out in the Hong Kong Twestival on February 12. It feels great to be part of a unique event that raises money for a great cause.

Hong Kong has proudly joined the ranks of more than 175+ cities worldwide to participate in the world’s largest Tweetup for Charity: Water. You can see great promo videos and find out more information about the cause here.

Hong Kong’s Twestival will be held at the Yumla Bar (just off the top of Pottinger Street) on Thursday February 12. It kicks off at 8pm and will feature live music from N™ and a DJ. There is information on the Hong Kong event here.

Tickets are just HK$100 and include a free drink. All proceeds go to Charity: Water. To ensure that none of the money gets “lost”, tickets must be purchased from the Twestival charity website in advance. Space is limited, so get your tickets early online. (You need to have a Twitter account, so sign up and experience the joys of Twitter too!)

I hope readers in Hong Kong can make it along on the night and join in the fun.

See you there

Cultural Differences

I liked this post on China Rises, by Tim Johnson a Beijing Buereau news chief, about cultural differences between Western and Eastern cultures (using Germans and Chinese as examples in this case).

The examples are very true. I find it amusing that many dual nationality citizens like myself (Born in Hong Kong, raised in UK) find ourselves balancing these cultural nuances on a daily bases without even realising it. By osmosis we learn the differences in the cultures and seem to be able to switch depending on the company we are with - the question is, which culture do we prefer?!

Here are some of the examples, depicted by Liu Yang (German in Blue / China in Red)

Status of the boss:


Attitudes towards children:

A party:

Noise levels in a restaurant:

Problem solving:

Preferences towards transport:

Mood towards weather:

Time keeping:

Networking:

Queing mentality:

Ego:

High streets at the weekend:

Community:

Dealing with a complaint: