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Re: 10 Dirty Little Web Development Tricks › Yongfook | Web Producer and Consultant based in Tokyo

yongfook — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:38:53 -0000

excellent advice!

Re: ok Omnigraffle, you have my $100. And actually…you’re kinda worth it. › Yongfook | Web Producer and Consultant based in Tokyo

pedrorica — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 03:40:22 -0000

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Re: 5 Interesting Facts About the Internet in China

tvnewswatch — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:54:06 -0000

It is a myth to say that Internet restrictions do not affect business. The 20th century benchmarks for international trade were how many containers or freighters one nation sent across the water to another. In the 21st century, it is as much about data, viewers and users. The few big sites that have been blocked and restricted in China are powering thousands of small businesses and driving the future of online commerce. China has become a dead-zone for any business planning on building an international online presence. Twitter for example, though a haven for the likes of Stephen Fry and other celebrities, is also a powerful business tool.

Sites like Youtube, Facebook and Twitter aren't just used for social networking ; increasingly, they are being used by small and medium enterprises as platforms for marketing and communication, and even multinationals have woken up to the potential of these platforms.
Some of them have begun to use Twitter, for instance, as a frontline interface with customers to redress their grievances. In a recent poll on a popular media website in China, 84 per cent of those who responded said China's Internet blocks made their work more difficult; 90 per cent said it made their personal life and entertainment access more difficult. And strikingly, about 60 per cent said they would consider leaving China because of the Internet blocks.

Admittedly the sample size was small, a little over 150, and it may have been weighted in favour of heavy Internet users. The respondents primarily came as a result of a Twitter feed put out by the media site Danwei themselves and a technology blogger in China known as Flypig. Given that both Twitter and Danwei's site is blocked within China, the fact anyone replied to the poll is an achievement in itself. It also illustrates how difficult it is to promote an idea or message under such restrictions. A business idea would have failed just as badly.

One businessman working in China as a safety consultant said that videos posted on his website showing the achievements the company had made in mine safety could not be seen in China since they were hosted by YouTube, which is blocked. The argument might be to use a Chinese equivalent site which isn't blocked. However many westerners are both unfamiliar with those sites or of the the language in which they are displayed.

While some of these blocks may be temporary, the uncertainty over when the services will return and if they'll be blocked again is not acceptable to business. YouTube has been blocked since March 2009, and Facebook & Twitter have been down for over two months. In the 24-7 world of online commerce, that level of service interruption is total. YouTube may come back someday, but no IT or Marketing department will ever again be able to rely on the platform in China. The same goes for Twitter and Facebook. Even Google has been restricted and blocked to the point where it is not a 100% reliable business tool within China. For business owners the bad news is already in the market and they are responsible for finding a way around it.

The frustration is heightened by the realisation that traditional methods of using technology to get around the Great Firewall of China are being hampered. Virtual private networks, or VPNs, are increasingly being blocked and proxies are also unreliable. While some enable access to sites blocked by the firewall, sites requiring user identification is impossible due to security issues. Freegate and other methods have also been hampered in recent days.

This hurts China at several levels, and reflects poorly upon it. With its crude censorship of the Internet, China is in effect choking the flow of ideas.

By drawing up its moat and cutting itself off from the online world, China is showing itself up to be a paranoid power that lacks the self-confidence to deal with the free flow of information -- to the point where it is beginning to neutralise, slowly but steadily, its other advantages as a place that's open for business.

Mandelson, a former EU trade commissioner, said that while Europe had gained though its trading with China, the benefits were dwindling. "I have no doubt we have gained. But I have previously estimated that these barriers were costing us [Europe] something in the region of €20bn [£17.5bn] worth of trade – and I think if anything that is growing," he said in Beijing this week. He said that while it was in everyone's interests for China to continue growing, "We need a constant dialogue with the government to exert quite legitimate pressure; when we are open to China's goods and services, it must become progressively and more speedily open to ours."

There are of course other more fundamental issues at stake beyond the use of the Internet. EU's recently imposed tariffs on steel pipe imports and the United States' consideration of restrictions on Chinese-made tyres concern China greatly. But China too has suggested moves that would hit the west extremely hard. Recently China talked of restricting the export of rare earths that are widely used in developing technologies and the electronics industry. This has concerned many who believe that China is setting out to monopolise certain manufacturing sectors.

There also remains unsolved issues of so-called bribery allegations connected with the arrest of several Rio Tinto staff. The issues are relatively complex but some have accused China of not playing on a level playing field when it comes to domestic and foreign negotiations.

Mandelson later met with Premier Wen Jiabao. But while Xinhua, the state run news agency, reported on the business secretary's visit, there was no mention at all of his concerns. Running under the headline "Premier says China's market economy status good for boosting trade with EU", Xinhua quoted Wen as saying the "vitality of the China-Britain all-round strategic partnership" was important. Mandelson's comments were edited down to one line; "We need to develop a clearer and consistent channel for communicating with China, especially on trade and climate change issues."

There is, it appears no free market, no free press, no free flow of information and no level playing field when it comes to doing business in or with China. Anyone who says otherwise is probably hoodwinking themselves.

Re: 5 Interesting Facts About the Internet in China

yongfook — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:19:02 -0000

The way I see it though, is boutique services like Digg and Tumblr are
very western-centric services anyway. I doubt the average Joe on the
street in China cares whether they have access to these services or
not (they aren't even localised in Chinese). So that leaves a
frustrated minority of foreigners - like me - without access, but we
are a minority of people who are savvy enough to know how to get
around the GFW, I think. Anecdotally, most foreigners I've spoken to
in China know how to fumble their way round the filters even if they
are not web geeks like me.

So in a nutshell, I don't even see why services like the above are
banned in the first place. China is protecting people who don't care
about it, and the people who it affects know how to get around it
anyway.

Google search, images, news etc is a different kettle of fish though.
That's a company that has put money into China, employs Chinese
people, provides their products in the local language and continually
develops them, but is being shuttered out whilst their local
competitors enjoy seemingly fewer restrictions.

There's a big hoo-haa right now about US trade protectionism with the
tyre industry - the US is levying import duties on all Chinese tyres
to protect US tyre manufacturers and China is pretty angry about it.
Pot kettle black.

Re: 5 Interesting Facts About the Internet in China

tvnewswatch — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:06:29 -0000

Good to know, GMail doesn't give you any problems. Issues with it [probably due to distance from servers, GFW filtering, and internet speeds] often show as a slow response. For example one may notice that text does not appear immediately as one types. Image search is highly filtered, esp after earlier troubles with PRC gov in June this year. Google have to edit out undesirable images. Many images also do not show in Google news and the Google News service is, to use your words very 'flaky'. While Baidu and other Chinese based services do not suffer the same restrictions, Google has been particularly singled out by Chinese authorities. YouTube, Blogger, Picasa web & Google Video, all owned by Google are blocked, are hit by GFW filtering. Of course it's not just Google. Other Western Internet services have also suffered restrictions, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Digg, to name but a few. These hit companies hard to as many use these services to promote products and services. This is not a level playing field. And despite comments by Lord Mandelson and US representatives recently over such practices, China carries on regardless.

Re: 5 Interesting Facts About the Internet in China

yongfook — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:47:26 -0000

I've actually never had a problem with gmail in China, but I have noticed google search (particularly image search) being flaky at times.

Re: ok Omnigraffle, you have my $100. And actually…you’re kinda worth it. › Yongfook | Web Producer and Consultant based in Tokyo

pedrorica — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:42:03 -0000

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Re: Superior Golden Bucket

yongfook — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 04:31:29 -0000

it's lovely and cheap... but I do find that it tastes a bit samey after a while.

Re: Superior Golden Bucket

yongfook — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:34:10 -0000

true but it would be so worth it. that stuff is embarrassingly tasty...

Re: Superior Golden Bucket

yongfook — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:09:14 -0000

test

Re: Advertisements on Blogs

Roy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:24:30 -0000

I would use the "Like" button if there was one. Either way, qft to the poster above.

Re: Advertisements on Blogs

yongfook — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:30:32 -0000

"Just what are we truly lacking?"

Focus.

The problem with 90% of personal blogs (like this one) is that it's difficult to pin down exactly who your audience is. So any ads you put up will likely be relevant to some people and an irritation to others. Magazines and newspapers don't have to tread so carefully since they have an order of magnitude more ad space to sell - on a blog where you see the same ads in the sidebar over and over, you'll see a different level of tolerance.

On the question of "selling out" - I think you only have to worry about that if you're not providing any value. If your audience values your writing and they are consuming it for free, don't feel bad about cranking up the ads. In fact, you're better off alienating the type of user who wants to have their cake and eat it. Let them go elsewhere and accuse other bloggers who provide them with free content of "selling out" if they balk at your advertising.

Re: The Blog is Dead! › Yongfook | Web Producer and Consultant based in Tokyo

mak1e — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:38:11 -0000

so... how was your kidney on ebay? was thinking doing the same as well... ☺

Re: Grow an Audience on Twitter with Peashoot

yongfook — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:10:17 -0000

Jud,

To address your points:

1) Manual controls for this will be implemented, but just so you know
there are already limits in place - Peashoot would never follow 500
people in an hour. The maximum number of people who will be
auto-followed in a day is much less than that and is IMO a good
balance between feeling organic and being generous enough to help grow
your stats.

2) That's actually something I would steer clear of, automation-wise.
Twitter calls that process "churning" and it's kind of frowned upon.
You risk your Twitter account being suspended if you indulge in a lot
of churning (i.e. if you automate the unfollow process).

Follow-back metrics are a great idea - I'm all for that. Fits nicely
into the theme of Peashoot too, as an analytics tool.

As for Tweet scheduling, yes that's on the roadmap too :)

Cheers
Jon

Re: Secret Blog − Hello world!

yongfook — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:49:47 -0000

well testy doody doo!

Re: Peashoot Launches Social Media Campaign Manager and Tracker

abrudtkuhl — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:59:18 -0000

Thanks - peashoot definitely looks more promising with a free trial

Re: Peashoot Launches Social Media Campaign Manager and Tracker

yongfook — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:42:53 -0000

Just to update you, Peashoot not only now offers a free trial, but also has a cool "Audience Builder" feature, enabling you to automatically grow a targeted twitter following based on keywords. More info on that feature here:

http://zygote.egg-co.com/grow-an-audience-on-tw...

Re: Grow an Audience on Twitter with Peashoot

Bubbo — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:00:44 -0000

Thanks for the quick reply!

That sounds good... will Peashoot be able to keep stats/info on campaigns, even if the Twitter account is changed? For example, perhaps I could name a campaign "@bubbo Test Campaign" to internally keep track of what Twitter account was used for that specific campaign.

It also means that the Automatic-follow feature will only work with one account at a time... still extremely useful, but it could get expensive if I wanted to actually have multiple accounts.

Re: Grow an Audience on Twitter with Peashoot

yongfook — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:15:16 -0000

Thanks! It's something I've wanted to build in for a while now and I
think it really makes Peashoot more attractive overall - especially to
companies who are maybe just starting out on Twitter. For them the
prospect of measuring ROI is nice and all, but they need an audience
to market to before they can do that meaningfully, and now Peashoot
helps them with that too :)

Re: Grow an Audience on Twitter with Peashoot

yongfook — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:07:18 -0000

Right now you can't use multiple accounts simultaneously. However,
you're not tied to the same twitter account for the duration of your
subscription to Peashoot - you can keep changing the connected twitter
account, if you wish.

Re: Improving User Retention with Achievements

yongfook — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:23:47 -0000

awesome - it's very cool to hear about this sort of thing implemented out in the wild.

Re: Improving User Retention with Achievements

yongfook — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:22:27 -0000

great example - I like the idea of "negative" badges :)

Re: Clearing Something Up

yongfook — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 07:19:05 -0000

In the days of Old Media you'd write a letter into the editor and gamble on being heard in a future publication (when no one will remember what the fuss was about anyway).

The benefit in this generation is that Fred has his own platform to clarify things. Which keeps everything balanced and open... but also drives traffic back to offending site... effectively encouraging bad journalism... meaning we're all part of the problem... *unplugs computer and goes to live in a straw hut by the beach*

Re: Seth Godin’s Twitter Prediction from 1999

yongfook — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:00:00 -0000

I think with a new concept such as Twitter, that's understandable. Anecdotal example - I was one of those "single post twitters" for about a year after I signed up. It took a whole year for me to revisit the service and "get it", and now I'm a fiercely loyal user.

It's that same fierce loyalty that is the interesting value proposition for marketers. The more valuable metrics are not whether the market has critical mass or not, it's whether the market has relevant prospects (for technology companies marketing to a huge volume of so-called "early adopters", I'd argue it has high relevance) and how much it costs to use - the cost in terms of hard costs and barrier to entry are very low for companies using Twitter. Compare it to email where the cost of delivery is high as well as having someone who can produce nicely formatted emails that look right across all email clients.

I wouldn't say penetration is that low either - Twitter has surpassed Digg in terms of traffic, usually lauded as one of the most high traffic information sources on the web: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/cnn.com+digg.com+...

Re: 8apps.com is now closed

yongfook — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:48:11 -0000

I'm aware how much of a big deal they are - did my presentation
belittle them? Didn't intend to. They are a big, old company -
formed pre-WWII etc - and I just wanted to show that even they get in
on the mascot thing.

On Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 11:40 AM,