By: Helen Yu, Zafka Zhang, Lisa Li

‘Every day once I turn on my computer, I would firstly check out friends’ news feeds on Xiaonei, and then park my ‘cars’ on Kaixin before I do whatever I need to do …’

In the recent couple of months, the heat of Kaixin has spread as a virus. Xiaonei has 30 million users already, and 51.com has more than 100 million. SNS (Social Networking Service) has become a pivotal part of the online life of Chinese youth.

As the Internet in China undergoes a fundamental shift away from the era of BBS (forums), great changes are expected. In the past, brands communicate with consumers THROUGH media; today consumers = media (social media), and brands need to learn new ways to communicate with consumers.

Companies and thought-leaders (such as Forrester Research) have started to teach brands why and how to do marketing and communications on social media (incl. SNS). Some of the researches are really thought provoking and actionable (for example, Best And Worst Of Social Network Marketing)

However, we have noticed the lack of consumer insights about Chinese netizens (in which youth counts for great majority) in this regard. Starting from a couple of months ago, China Youthology have been using, watching, and researching Chinese SNS and the users in hopes to understand: 1. How does SNS change the online behavior (networking, self-expression, acquisition and sharing of information, and entertainment); 2. How does SNS alter the life and mind of the youth; and 3. How does SNS change their experience of brands.

SNS is founded on the basis of ‘real profiles’ of people, the online profiles are at least consistent with the offline real persons in some aspects (be it demographic, job info, or interests, hobbies). The gap between online and offline is blurred – online life is further integrated with the offline life; and online identity with offline identity. (We have talked about the higher value of SNS for understanding consumers versus that of BBS)

When BBS is becoming notorious for untrue discourse about brands (网络打手背后隐现亿元黑金), SNS can apparently attract brands and consumers with its ‘trueness’ and ‘credibility’. What’s more intriguing for brands, however, is the unique ‘experience’ that brand can deliver to consumers on SNS in a ‘personal’, ‘experiential’, and ‘interactive’ way. ‘Personal’ means ‘my’, or ‘relevant to myself’; ‘experiential’ because brands can be perceived in ‘my’ ‘particular network’ or ‘real life story’ and the experience can hence become my ‘memories’. You can find some examples below – some of them are not even brand activities yet, but operators’.

‘I’ have FINALLY got my DREAM car!’
‘Car parking’ is the most popular game on Kaixin. The Mini Cooper is no longer just an image on magazine. It is MINE. I couldn’t have got it without MY TWO WEEKS OF HARD WORK ON THE GAME. I CHOSE my favorite color for my Mini Cooper. At this moment, MY Mini Cooper is parked at MY B.F.F’s parking lot. And I dropped a note to her saying ‘HEY, CHECK OUT MY NEW CAR!’

(Picture 1)

‘This is the new model cell phone THAT MY FRIEND GIFTED TO ME.’
Helen received a ‘gift’ a couple of days ago. It’s Moto EM30. She clicked on the ‘cell phone’ and was whisked to the official website of the model. (How can she not click? It’s a gift FOR HER.)

（Picture 2）

(Picture 3)

‘The boy I had a crush on has just gifted me a Chanel!’

(Picture 4)

More to come…

Filed under: Internet & Web2.0, brand experience, Kaixin001, SNS, social media, Social network, Xiaonei, youth