Social Games in China: The Prospects of Online Social Gaming

Because of the growing popularity of the Internet in China, online gaming has also been on the rise. As a matter of fact, 2 out of 3 online users in the country engage in online gaming in any type or form. As worldwide technology adoption provided the kick that helped expand the entire video game industry, there is no question that the online social gaming is the next big thing in gaming experience.

By 2013, it is predicted that 53 percent of people in China or 718 million people will have access to the Internet. This growth is simply staggering considering that in 2010 merely 35 percent or 469 million people had access. China currently has the highest number of online users in the world. At the end of 2013, the market for games that are played on a browser – known for being more accessible and user friendly – are seen to reach $1 billion in market value.

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The emergence of micro-client games has added to the popularity of social gaming. This version uses files that are usually less than 50 MB, which is significantly smaller than a regular client-with a normal size of more than 1 GB. The smaller file size allows the game to be downloaded in less than 15 minutes through a broadband Internet connection, and the micro-version works well with social network platforms.

With the exception of Zynga's titles, most of the titles that have barged into the top 10 are locally produced in China. Rekoo is currently the biggest in the Chinese social gaming industry after it acquired another local social game developer HappySNS in 2011. The deal increased the user base of the Beijing-based developer to 50 million monthly active users (MAU) in their US, Japan, and China markets spread across various social network platforms including Facebook, Tencent, and Renren.

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A few years back, developers of social games based in China were composed of teams working on a small budget and their products usually landed on local networks like Renren. Due to the flow of investment from big foreign companies, developing social media games in China has become a huge business and their products have expanded their reach to more lucrative overseas markets like Japan.

Reeko CEO Liu Yong admitted that despite their strong market position in China, their plans will be focused in getting a piece of the action in Japan's social game market. Compared to China, the average revenue per user is estimated to be 10 to 20 times higher in Japan, which is the highest in the world, followed by the U.S., and then China. The market for online social gaming in China remains to be fully realized given that 3G penetration just exceeded 10% in September 2011, according to the research by Isp.org.cn.



Thinking of launching a social media campaign in China? Contact us today or visit the Moonlight Marketing website to discuss the most effective approach.

If you liked this article, you will also enjoy Digital Media in Southeast Asia: The Future of Online Advertising and Consumer Behavior and Taiwan Social Media: Facts and Successful Digital Media Campaigns.


Sources:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/online-games-market-in-china-144881985.html
http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2012/01/09/rekoo-becomes-largest-social-game-company-in-china-after-acquiring-happysns/
http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2012/04/12/the-sims-social-launches-open-beta-in-china-via-tencents-qzone/
http://seekingalpha.com/article/375361-china-s-online-gamers-find-growth-in-social-and-mobile-networks
http://wireless.sys-con.com/node/2238001
http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2012/02/13/ea-trying-china-again-with-the-sims-social-on-tencent/
http://www.cn-c114.net/576/a649972.html
http://www.chinasocialgames.com/?p=460
http://digicha.com/index.php/2010/04/rockyou-and-cto-jia-shen-%E6%B2%88%E4%BD%B3-rock-the-house-at-china-social-games-summit-2010/
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/china_social_gaming_landscape_whats_coming_next.php

Polyvore: Unleashing Your Passion for Fashion

What is Polyvore? The best way to describe it is to quote the description it has given itself on its website and it goes: “Polyvore is the web's largest fashion community site, where users are empowered to discover their style and set trends around the world.".

That doesn’t sound so detailed so let’s dig deeper on how it actually works. Polyvore allows users to assemble or create sets of clothing from the website’s database of items. It brings out your inner artist because aside from mixing and matching of different fashion pieces, you are given the web-based scrapbooking tool for the overall layout of the sets to form collages. Apart from the site’s database as a resource, you can also clip your favourite products across the web for a wider and global variety of choices. Just like the “Pin it” browser bookmarklet from Pinterest that you need for pinning, you also need to install the Polyvore Clipper to start clipping.

To give you a better overview, here are some of the cool sets we've come across:

Design contests are also being hosted by Polyvore to inspire creativity among its community. Kate Moss is one of the celebrity icons that judge the contests. Accessories designer Rebecca Minkoff also took advantage of the platform to find a stylist for her first show at New York Fashion Week in February of last year. Users had to create fashion collages with pieces from Minkoff’s spring collection, create the ultimate urban gypsy look and submit them to the contest. And the prize? It's a sweet trip to New York City for three days to help her style the show and a seat in the audience during the event! Minkoff received over 700 entries from 468 members who participated. 

The winner goes by the username crisss26 and here's her winning look:

Is this something that interests you? I am not at all creative but Polyvore definitely teases my hidden "creative side" (if there actually is one) and I feel like somehow giving it a shot. One thing is pretty clear though, there is a good opportunity for designers and designer wannabes to grow and be discovered on this platform. Not only that they get to do what they want, they can also share their passion for fashion to the community where it matters the most. 

Have you already started creating your sets? Please feel free to link us to it through the comments and we'd be very happy to feature it on our next write up!

If you find this article interesting, you might also want to check out What the Pinterest Craze is All About.

Sources:

http://mashable.com/2011/01/21/rebecca-minkoff-polyvore/

http://mashable.com/2011/01/16/design-your-own-clothes/

http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/06/polyvore-hits-15m-monthly-uniques-by-embracing-the-pinterest-effect/

Twitter in Japan: Microblogging Site Plans Expansion

Just this April, Twitter announced its plans to expand its sales staff in Japan. In an effort to drive more growth in advertising revenues, CEO Dick Costolo flew all the way from their San Francisco headquarters to personally announce a major undertaking to add more sales staff to their Japan office.

It was just four years ago that Twitter introduced its Japanese version. Since then, the popular microblogging site's usership base has expanded and diversified rapidly. Internet marketing research firm comScore said that Twitter Japan is actually more popular than Facebook there. Japanese users usually prefer to use aliases rather than their real names while on the web, which is why Twitter was seen as the much preferred platform.

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The popularity of Twitter among Japanese users can also be attributed to a more cultural factor.  A study by San Francisco-based brand strategy firm Bassett & Partners and another California-based communication agency interTrend Communications reveals that the Japanese people's fondness of the traditional haiku short poetry has struck a connection with Twitter's 140-character tweets.

Not only Twitter has seen massive growth in users within Japan, but also Facebook. During the six months covering the third quarter of 2011 and first quarter of 2012, the social networking site has seen its number of accounts doubled, surpassing the 10 million mark. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in fact in Tokyo in March where he even met some members of the government.

Meanwhile, Twitter has already launched a new Facebook-like feature that allows users to easily tweet with each other. It is just one of the strategies by the company to monetize the platform that some say has enjoyed a near fanatical user base in Japan.

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Paris-based Semiocast released a study stating that most Twitter users still come from the U.S. with more than 107 million accounts, which is more than thrice the size of accounts originating from second place Brazil. Japan holds the third spot with more than 29 million user accounts, although it ranks second worldwide with the most number of active accounts.

Based on Semiocast's findings, an account is considered active if the user has tweeted at least once in the last three months. Japan's percentage of active users is 30 percent, which just trails the Netherlands that has the world's highest percentage of active users with 33 percent. The massive number of Twitter accounts and active users has made Japan a strategic place for the company to expand their operations.


Thinking of launching a social media campaign in Japan? Contact us today or visit the Moonlight Marketing website to discuss the most effective approach.

If you liked this article, you will also enjoy Digital Media in Southeast Asia: The Future of Online Advertising and Consumer Behavior and Taiwan Social Media: Facts and Successful Digital Media Campaigns.

Sources:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-16/twitter-to-expand-japan-sales-staff-on-local-growth-ceo-says.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-29/facebook-s-zuckerberg-says-japan-users-doubled-in-six-months-1-.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/17/twitter_expand_japan/
http://www.simplyzesty.com/social-media/twitter-sets-sight-on-japan-with-agressive-advertising-expansion/
http://www.buzzom.com/2012/04/twitter-to-expand-its-sales-operations-in-japan/
http://tweets.riolan.mx/tweets/88449149309169664
http://semiocast.com/publications/2012_01_31_Brazil_becomes_2nd_country_on_Twitter_superseds_Japan

E-Commerce in Singapore: TackThis Helping Small Businesses through Social Media

A start up company based in Singapore is helping small businesses and entrepreneurs connect with customers via social media. For years, marketing of products has been common in the blogs and social networking sites. A company called PayWhere Pte Ltd has taken that to another level when it developed innovative tools that allow small businesses to boost their efficiency for online transactions.

In September 2011, the company introduced TackThis, a platform that makes it possible to set up an e-commerce store that can easily be embedded on Facebook, Blogger, Wordpress, or Livejournal pages. Basically, it allows anybody to start an online shop on their social networks. It is similar to how users can embed YouTube videos in their sites and Facebook page, only this time it is an online store.

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Included in this e-commerce solution is a product catalog, a payment system, and an inventory management system for retail merchants to better manage their online retail shop. Around 1,000 retail merchants have signed up with TackThis, which is currently on open beta. Buyers online can conveniently pay for their purchases using Paypal, MOL, ATM transfer, or internet banking.

TackThis also has a "Share Promotion" feature, which offers buyers a discount on the items that they buy when they share a photo of the merchandise on their Facebook wall. Likewise, it offers merchants the ability to create their own affiliate incentives scheme and customer loyalty system.

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Paypal, a leading online money transfers company, projected Singapore's e-commerce market will grow to US$4.4 billion by 2015. TackThis hopes to address the low adoption rate of fully functional e-commerce sites among small and medium businesses in the island state. Only less than a quarter of small businesses in Singapore have fully embraced e-commerce. Moreover, even if many merchants have used social networks as a promotional tool, buyers are not able to make a purchase immediately off these sites.

Paywhere was started by three young entrepreneurs based in Singapore after realizing the difficulty of collecting payments for online transactions. With TackThis, the company hopes that more Singaporean small businesses will enter the e-commerce space because of the technological efficiency offered by TackThis in providing seamless retail merchant-customer interaction through social media. The company also hopes that TackThis will gain ground within Southeast Asian markets especially in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.


Thinking of launching a social media campaign in Singapore? Contact us today or visit the Moonlight Marketing website to discuss the most effective approach.

If you liked this article, you will also enjoy Social Media Success in Hong Kong - The Case of Huggies and Social Media Facts and Recommended Strategies - South Korea.


Sources:

http://www.youngupstarts.com/2012/03/20/tackthis-helps-small-businesses-in-singapore-sell-online/
http://techielobang.com/blog/2012/03/20/paywhere-helping-local-businesses-to-sell-online-with-tackthis/
http://www.techinasia.com/tackthis-social-commerce-embed/
http://tackthis.com/tackthis
http://www.paywhere.com/

Introducing Facebook's Scheduling Feature and the Different Admin Roles

One of the hottest Facebook updates is definitely great news to all page administrators – the ability to schedule posts in advance similar to what third-party apps like Hootsuite are famous for. Having mentioned that, what seems to be pretty good news to page admins is not quite good for third-party apps making them less relevant. As a guide on how this new feature works, Facebook has a new help center page that outlines how brand pages can now assign specific duties to multiple page admins, each with different degrees of permissions.

To make it a lot easier to understand the different terms and degrees, Facebook has created a table below that breaks down the 5 admin roles and the specific tasks they can perform.

Now, how do you schedule posts? If you are having a hard time finding the scheduling feature, don't despair because you are not alone. Take a closer look - it's already there, you already have it.  Begin writing a post and when you're ready, click on the small clock sitting on the bottom-left corner. In order to schedule a post, you have to set the date and time the same way you would date a milestone, only in the future. Check out the example below!

If you choose a date in the past, the post will appear at the appropriate place on your Page's timeline right after clicking "Post". All times are equivalent to the current time zone you're in.

So, is this one of the features that you have been waiting for? Are you going to utilize it and choose it over third-party apps that you've had for a long time? Let us know through the comments below and share with us your experience!

Looking for the right person to manage your Facebook page and social media campaigns?  Contact us today or visit the Moonlight Marketing website!

If you find this helpful, you might also like "Social Media Trends: How Companies Are Using Social Media".

Sources:
Mashable, Facebook, Social Media Today

Facebook in China: The Challenges of Cracking the Chinese Market

As Facebook reached 900 million users in April 2012, the company continues to ponder on their strategy on how they can keep on growing in the future. With this, the matter of China always comes to play, and how the social networking giant can crack the market that is beginning to be tech savvy by the day and by the millions. Here is the problem: Facebook is currently banned in China. Moreover, local social media providers are becoming stronger in their position within the Chinese market leading to questions whether it is worth for Facebook to make the move inside this market of over 500 million internet users.

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Shaun Rein, the managing director of China Market Research Group, is not very optimistic about Facebook's chances in becoming successful in China. Rein, who also authored the book "End of Cheap China", believes that there are two reasons for this. First, Facebook will face tremendous competition in the Chinese market from local players like Tencent, Sina, and Renren. Second, it is not certain if Facebook will be able to make money in China even if they will be allowed to start operations there.

With all the possible government regulations Facebook will need to deal with, Rein echoes the opinion of many analysts that CEO Mark Zuckerberg will have difficulty in leading his company to profitability in China. Facebook would perhaps even have to censor some of their content in order not to get into trouble with the Chinese government. It will not be the first time a U.S. internet firm had bouts with Beijing with the issue of censorship, since Google also had a heated battle with the government when they became unwilling to cooperate with them.

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That does not stop Facebook in looking for ways to enter the Chinese market, and its latest $1 billion purchase of social photo sharing app Instagram may have provided the key to the door. Instagram allows users to tag, edit, and share photos easily and has its own Chinese version. The app is currently also available in several Chinese microblogging services like Sina Weibo.

As Facebook becomes a publicly owned company, it now has to be aggressive in finding new ways to boost revenue to keep investors and the markets believe in its long-term outlook. According to digital marketing intelligence firm comScore, there are only six countries in the world where Facebook is not the top social networking site of choice - China, South Korea, Poland, Japan, Russia, and Vietnam. As the Chinese government is not bent on lifting its ban on the site just yet, Zuckerberg may need to look for unconventional ways to make them happen.



Thinking of launching a social media campaign in China? Contact us today or visit the Moonlight Marketing website to discuss the most effective approach.

If you liked this article, you will also enjoy Social Media Facts and Recommended Strategies - South Korea and The Vietnamese Take on Social Media.


Sources:

http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2012/01/18/facebook-ousts-googles-orkut-as-brazils-top-social-network/
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/91855237/
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/04/10/will-instagram-help-facebook-crack-china/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-08/facebook-faces-uphill-battle-to-crack-into-china/3818520
http://www.infodocket.com/2012/04/26/new-infographic-putting-facebooks-900-million-users-into-perspective/
http://www.internetmarketinginc.com/blog/top-search-engines-social-media-sites-and-ecommerce-sites-in-china/