XQ. January, 2013

Agenda
• Culture of Social in China
• Top Chinese Social Media Platforms
• User Demographics and Behaviors
• The Big Player: Sina Weibo
• Case Studies
• LAT Multilingual Services

CULTURE OF SOCIAL IN
CHINA

BILINGUAL IS NOT
BICULTURAL

WHO ARE THE CHINESE
SOCIAL MEDIA USERS
 Most of the social media users are young, mid-
income and educated Chinese.
 Users who spend more time on social media sites
are young, well educated and high-income urban
Chinese

 Geographic Disconnection: Rural-to-urban migrations
 Social Disconnection: The loneliness of China’s one-child
generation and the need to be part of a collectivity
 Information Disconnection: Distrust of information from
controlled media
WHY SOCIAL MEDIA SUITS THE
CHINESE CONSUMER

A “SAFE” WAY
TO EXPRESS OPINION
73% of Chinese netizens
agreed with the statement:
“Online, I feel free to say and
do things I wouldn’t do or say
offline,” compared to only 32%
of US netizens.*

86% of Chinese live “some
of their lives ” online,
compared to 42% of
American youth.
A LARGE PART OF SOCIAL LIFE

HOW DO THEY USE IT
0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00% 45.00% 50.00%
Personal stories sharing
Music, movie, sports information sharing
Self-help information sharing
Jokes
Current affairs discussion
Brand, company information sharing

CHINESE NETIZENS ARE VERY MUCH OPEN TO
HAVING SOCIAL INTERACTIONS WITH BRANDS

71%
Watch commercials on
Youku & others
60%
SNS ads makes them more
aware of brands
43%
Take part in branded
competition
43%
Friending a brand
23%
Blog about a brand, product
or service
21%
Make a video about a
product/brand and share
49%
Read blogs produced by
brands
39%
SNS ads lead them to search for
more info on brands
34%
SNS ads makes them more likely to
buy a brand

CHINESE SOCIAL MEDIA
ECOSYSTEM

CHINESE SOCIAL MEDIA
ECOSYSTEM IS
COMPLICATED

CHINESE SOCIAL MEDIA
IS MAINSTREAM
• On average, each have 2.78
Social Media accounts
• 228 million bloggers in 2012
• 80%+ log in at least once a
week
• Average of 20 hours/week spent
on socializing online

AND IT IS HUGE
80 % of Chinese Netizens are on Social Media platforms
564 million Chinese are internet users
420 million Chinese are mobile internet users
450 million
USA
CANADA 35 million
315 million
> +

POPULAR
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
400 million 748 million
As of Q3. 2012
210 million162 million62 million

CHINESE SPEND
MORE AND MORE
TIME SOCIALIZING
ONLINE

MICROBLOG IS THE MOST
POPULAR PLATFORM

ONLINE VIDEOS

POPULAR VIDEO PORTALS
Number of users
Popularity

SAME SAME,
BUT DIFFERENT
“Less than 8% of content on video sites is generated
by users. Around 50% of the videos are TV
programs, movies, soap operas and sports. The rest
are commercials and Youtube videos.”

THE KEY PLAYER
SINA WEIBO

“400 million accounts, over 130 thousand corporate
accounts, millions of international and domestic
celebrities, businessmen and politicians are on Weibo, including
Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Bill Gates, Gregor Robertson, Kevin
Rudd, Christine Lagarde, etc.
Sina Weibo has been a darling of both domestic and international
brands. The platform offers brands a quality, diversified target
audience and sophisticated engagement tools. 56% of Weibo’s
400 million users follow at least one brand.
100 million new posts a day.”

USERS ARE YOUNG
AND WELL-EDUCATED
 Although most registered users are
male, active users are female.
 65% active users are female.
 70% content concerning brands from
woman.

PURPOSE OF USING SINA WEIBO

Entertainment and
“fun” content are
reposted most often
compared to twitter
Magnitude of reposts
are also much higher
than twitter

CASE STUDIES

Appendix: Tables & Additional info
•Mainland vs Hong Kong immigration
•Annual growth of Chinese travelers (to Canada)
•Spending habits of Chinese travelers
•Chinese immigrants to the US
•Overseas Chinese – top 10 countries

MORE PRC IMMIGRANTS
THAN THOSE FROM
HONG KONG

NUMBER OF CHINESE TRAVELERS
GROWING 10% ANNUALLY

AND THEY SPEND
THE MOST

According to the statistics released by its
Department of Homeland Security, the
United States approved the settlement of
1,971 investment immigrants from the
Chinese mainland in 2009, surpassing the
entire number of 1,360 foreign immigrants
who came to the US in the previous year.
Obtaining a US EB-5 visa (for immigrant
investors) requires at least $500,000, or over
RMB 3.4 million.
CHINA RANKS 1ST IN INVESTMENT
IMMIGRANTS IN THE US

CHINESE CUSTOMERS
ARE AN IMPORTANT ECONOMIC
FORCE WORLDWIDE