Jing since 1997... this is my story

"Beijing... a city full of tradition, tradition..." was the opening ad line by my good friend, during my days with the InterContinental. This will probably be my last blog entry... from Beijing. I haven't given this moment much thought, but 12 years... "Don't they go by in a blink?"

I still remember when I first arrive, Beijing was a city like no others I've seen Back in the days, there was no skyscraper, no luxurious shopping malls, no LV, no Prada, no Benz roaming the streets. It was all just bicycle back then, the city has just started to discover itself and rising as fast as a lightning. Today, bicycle population are getting less and less, population and pollution growing by the millisecond.

I've lived and worked in five parts of the city, nicknamed 'JING':

  • Chongwen, back in the imperial days these are the residential areas and not the most upper-scale ones. Here I would often bike my way to Temple of Heaven or other parks in the area. Biggest and probably still the largest shopping mall in the area is New World, where I met my hobby for martial arts.
  • Haidian, the silicon and universities area for Beijing. Where foreign students and computers would gather around. The area is always bustling with trading of computer hardwares and it has evolved a lot more than just rudimentary streets back in the days.
  • Shunyi, the way to the airport and "luxurious" villas built for CEO and rich entrepreneurs, basically the suburbs area where your kids can bike safely without getting hit by high-speed cars (if only you know the country's road accident rate). There must be over 10,000 units of villa already in the area, although each are built faster than the previous, as well as lower quality.
  • Xicheng, China's own Wall Street or the government area. Probably one of the most expensive land development ever. The government has not stopped pumping money and inviting foreign bankings to open their branch office in the area, in return for "future partnerships" or lower tax rates when doing business in China.
  • CBD... ah the lifeline of the city, where everything revolves. The two tallest skyscraper is located here just opposite to each other, luxurious shopping malls and expensive cars... things people don't buy. I don't understand that they keep on building malls and branded stores, but hardly any people ever go in and with the high tax rates of luxury goods in China, yet the development still goes on. I guess the fact that the rich of the richest are concentrated within the city does attract the brands to come in and open their stores. The east area of the city is probably the earliest and fastest part of the city to grow, whether it is land or building development, as well as lifestyle. Most of the trendiest malls are in the east part of the town.
Beijing has been my second home now, I've grown accustomed to the lifestyle, the way thing works around and how people go about each others business. Sure its tough due to the nature of the political capital city, like any other political cities elsewhere in the world. One thing I will miss of the city, is the security, unlike back in my hometown - Jakarta, crime rate in Beijing is rather low compared to others, as the government has to ensure stability in their own capital city. Second, the city's layout is built on squares and blocks, pretty much like NY I guess, where once I know which way is North I'll find my way around (except for Wangjing, where I always manage to get lost around this area). I've enjoyed my life here, met truly wonderful friends (that I hope it will be for life) and met some of the city if not the world's most notorious villains. But it is part of the life natural cycle, I am grateful that the experience granted and given to me has brought me so far until this very day. I am grateful in Beijing I met my beautiful wife and enter a new chapter in my life.

I guess I am running low on words, there are so many stories and adventure I want to share, but... I'll close it here for now.

And like all good things it must comes to an end, a destiny we cannot control, a wheel that turns and a road that will turn and bend like we can't imagine. But life goes on... look into my new chapter in the coming weeks/months.
(download)

More China Groupon Ads

If you are in China recently, you'll see a lot more of Groupon ads from different websites. Its just blanketing the whole city, on every channel you can imagine - banner ads, bus, TV, posters and so on. According to Gang Lu, China tech Internet expert the Groupon industry in China is spending millions and millions or RMB to promote their service superiority.

Direct quote from Technode, below are the amounts some of the Groupon sites will spend on advertisements:
  • Groupon.cn said that in 2011 they will  spend RMB 550millions (~$83.7millions).
  • It’s said that Lashou‘s $50millions capital, most of them will be spent on the advertisement;
  • Nuomi (RenRen or Oak Pacific Interactive company) said their budget is RMB 200millions (~$30.4millions).
  • It’s RMB 130millions (~$19.8millions) for Meituan and Manzuo is RMB 100millions (~$15.2millions).
Although I felt each service provides the same deals, I guess its just a matter of 'numbers game' in China - which is race for how many users they can garner. I would be interested to know how much is Dianping and Gaopeng (official Groupon China) plans to spend for ads in China, any takers?

According to Tencent latest presentation:
  • In 2010, Groupon users in China has grown 250x times.
  • By end of 2010 there are 18,750,000 Groupon users in China, with a total transaction value of RMB 8.9 billion.
  • It's a 760 million dollar industry, globally.
  • Groupon US refused Google buyout at USD 6 billion.
Img_1937

Sina Weibo App - Weico

Since I started my Sina Weibo, its been quite a ride, I guess its geographic circumstances... but everyone I met here in Beijing has a weibo account and instead of asking my mobile number or email, they asked for my weibo ID.

Thanks to my good pal Foniz, which has been cruising on weibo for a lot longer than I do. He shared with me this really cool weibo app - Weico and I have to say after using it, I really don't want to use anything else.

To start with, here is the list why I like it:
  • Design wise its really clean and not straight clones from Twitter or Sina weibo own's iPhone apps.
  • Got lots of different themes, my favorite is the Fish Eye, cool sleek soothing blue.
  • If you are already following someone on weibo, you can easily use the "@" sign to mention that person, instead of manually typing it (which sometimes result in typo).
  • The pound or hashtag is not there yet as the function above, hopefully it will be soon and it should include the latest trending topics.
  • The built-in lomo camera effects, pretty much like Instagram, but different (so again not straight clone).
  • If you've been categorizing the people you follow into lists or groups, then this is the right app as you can filter out streams now by groups.
  • Built in check-in location, you can either use your geotag or sync via JiePang.
  • Best of all it's free, you can download it here :)

(download)

Flipboard from Sina Weibo

I guess social network concepts and mobiles are not the only one copied in China, but also iTunes app. Check-out this one SinaMag, which is very very similar to Flipboard. It streams content only from Sina Weibo right now, maybe in the future they can combine it with Kaixin001, Renren or other Weibo channels. The app also has several magazines available for reading, but very limited at the moment.

(download)

China All-out Groupon Wars

Groupon after somewhat rough entry into China market (contradicting Tibet advertisement, hiring first time laowai as their China boss and launching the site without the partners consent), finally launched their Chinese website in conjunction with Tencent. It's funny, in marketing there is one part where it is said (and proven) that once you have found a unique niche business, be careful of the followers. In order to "keep your head above the water" (or competition), you have to stay ahead and fast, as well as have the next phase of development. I guess this applies true in today's Internet business. Groupon although was the first to start in 2008, it was the last to enter China market which represents the biggest bulk portion of Internet citizens of the world.

Anyway, I spotted their online banner ads today and thought this might make an interesting blog post. According to Gang Lu from Technode, Groupon or 团购 in China is spending millions of RMB of ad budgets ranging from 50 million to 550 million. I'm looking at the main page of Gaopeng or Groupon (official) China page at around noon time, so far they are selling an RMB 155 deal and only 28 people have bought it just for Beijing market (Beijing is a city with population of 18 million people). I will post an update at the end of the day to see if their deal is successful or not, as there is peak season which is the morning before work and night after work (as companies have started blocking out Groupon sites).

The second interesting thing I thought is good for sharing is the ranking of Groupon sites in China by iResearch for January 2011 only, Gaopeng or Groupon (official) China being new is not in the game yet. Conclusions as follow:
  • Taobao groupon is leading in terms of how many people visited their site - total 75 million people total for January.
  • Meituan groupon is leading in terms of how long people spent on their site - average a month at 8:48 in January.
  • Also interesting to note that QQ has its own Groupon, which is largely and clearly under Tencent (wonder if this is conflict of interest).
  • Groupon.cn is not affiliated with the official Groupon, but the name's site (Groupon.cn and Groupon.com.cn) has been registered in China. Although it seems they affiliate themselves with the official Groupon.
I've also included several screenshot of other China Groupons main page.

(download)

A Review of Why Sina Weibo is Awesome

After a very long struggle I've finally give in to the awesomeness of Weibo and finally opened my account - http://t.sina.com.cn/adhigoen.

Here is a list on top of my own why I think it is not a direct Twitter clone, but a better one:
  • Launched officially in August 2009, it reached 50 million users by November last year. (Technode has the full story)
  • First off, Sina has always been a strong news website that has similar concept like Yahoo!.
  • Obviously their years of success in China results in a lot of fundings. This means they are able to develop partnership easier and more technology support for further improvement.
  • Sina was also one of the early platform with Sohu that develops bloggers, they educate the blogging scene in China. This helps them a lot in terms of having an immediate database access for them to work with.
  • They also actively approach well known Chinese celebrities, this definitely draws a lot of attention. Where Twitter has never really worked on this, but rather celebrities open up on their own.
  • When you subscribe on Sina Weibo, you'll be prompted with questions like your mobile, your ID, where exactly do you live.
  • Further to that they also ask (optional) where you have worked before, the company names. This also makes it easier for you to connect to your friends or colleagues a lot faster. As you will be connecting with people you already know.
  • Synchronize your Weibo account with mobile (I know Twitter has this, but it doesn't support a lot of carriers and certainly not China).
  • Rewards, this is something like Foursquare badges. There are different awards and I haven't explore all of it yet.
  • Unlike Twitter that doesn't have their own hosted site on what API they have open, Sina Weibo host their own app store like Apple - http://t.sina.com.cn/app. This gives people a certain level of trust.
  • Desktop users can either use the web or their Adobe Air app.
  • Customize the background, this is probably the only thing that is similar to Twitter background setup. But they do come with more preset themes.
  • Hashtags, similar like Twitter but they use double # (pound) # signs.
  • The way the whole Weibo is layout is customized on how a Chinese would use it, it is also remarkably easier and more like blogging meets BBS - the two things Chinese social media scene like.
  • They also have their own dedicated hotline to handle enquiries or complaint about Weibo, how's that for customer service.
  • Sina Weibo is also a lot more faster in terms of giving verified account status compared to Twitter, you'd probably have to wait after Twitter check millions of people first. But you will need to provide ID and several verification that you are really representing who you are. Currently they will provide 4 types of verified account status:
    • Celebrities - movie star, artist or sport person, etc
    • Well known figure in public, e.g. entrepenuer
    • Well known companies and representatives such as PR, executives, etc
    • Media, publications, editors and journalists
  • Last they have been very aggressive and were able to achieve probably twice if not ten times faster than Twitter - the integrated check-in service, photo, video, voicemail, native iPhone and iPad apps. It took twitter quite a while until they have their own native apps, by then other people like Uber Media has launched their own. Photo service is still not integrated into Twitter yet, not mentioning video.
  • Last year they also launched partnership officially with MSN, I guess they foresee the coming combat with Tencent Weibo.
  • Finally I don't believe there is a fail whale for Sina Weibo, although they do have 警察叔叔 (you'll know this word if you're here in China).
    (download)

Sina Microblog iPad App Review

Sina Microblog has been on the offensive move, within a year they have achieved more than what Twitter can. Currently Twitter features over 200 million users, but Sina Microblog reached 100 million just in a year. This year they announced two service - direct video uploading and voicemail for sending tweets, as well as Sina LBS or geo-location check-in service directly via their native app (plus you can also now stalk your favorite celebrities). I guess they don't want to lose the race and momentum, as there are many other microblog service in China market. I do think Twitter needs to learn more from Sina Weibo, for example their process is a lot faster on verified accounts if you provide the necessary ID and proved that you are actively using their service.

Below are my review of the iPad App:
  • Looks strikingly similar to... this
  • Its free, that's always a good thing :)
  • Different than the iPhone app
  • Easy to use if you're accustomed to Twitter's native iPad App
  • Preview message on the right side pane
  • Access direct message
  • Upload photo directly, you can also rotate the photo if you wish
  • You can announce where you are directly via their location service
  • You can use the automatic hashtag feature to tag your topic
  • Here is something different from the native Twitter App, the capability of changing the background although currently there are only 5 wallpapers available (hopefully they will open this for users to be able to upload their own favorite wallpaper)
Sina Weibo HD App (launched in 24 February 2011) is available on iTunes and can be downloaded here.
(download)

Flexamail, Access Social Network from Your Email... for China?

After Egypt incident, Flexamail kicks in as a service provider that allows people to access their favorite social network directly from email. Their API access your Facebook or Twitter and can pull recent updates or tweets. Although you do need to find a way to authorize the accounts first before you can do this, I've tested it and it's pretty handy. Once you've set it, its not necessary for you to logon to Flexamail, the emails are delivered straight to your personal inbox of your choice. Flexamail is just a medium or bridge between your errr... Internet Freedom and your inbox.

You will also get an instruction manual via email on the different email address and function, best to save these into your address book as they are quite long. You can basically do image hosting, retrieve file up to 25 MB, browse website (its done by saving the website in a pdf format, Facebook and Twitter - follow, search, reply to a tweet, send photos, etc. You can learn more here, currently it is free (I suspect they are getting fund through advertising, hey somebody got to pay the bills right).

This can be the answer for China and a way around the Great Firewall, as it is difficult to block email servers... but then again we may never know. Let me know if anyone has been using this constantly from China? I don't use it a lot, as I found it tiring after a while sending those emails and waiting for a reply and then having to send another reply... simply put quite a lot of emails exchange.

(download)