Michael Netzley, PhDhttp://communicateasia.asia

Asia’s Social Media Map and Users’ Online Behavior

Two Premises

Ethnocentric Bias

Fragmented Markets

Predominantly American and western European perspective in PR research

- K. Sriramesh

Same pattern in social media discussions

“Asia” is often used as a geographic generalization. • 4+ billion people• 47 countries• 2000 spoken languages• Economic, political, religious, & historical diversity• Reflected in media use

Why Map Asia’s Digital Space?

The western-centric conversations overlook what is unique and important about digital media in Asia. Here you will find the world’s most advanced mobile market, many of the world’s leading information societies, the largest Internet market, and leading media companies which have bested global competitors such as Google, Yahoo, My Space, Facebook, and many others).

22% 21% 19% 18% 17% 16% 16% 15%

29% 29% 28% 27% 26% 26% 25% 25%

34% 35% 38% 39% 40% 41% 42% 43%

9% 9% 9% 9% 10% 10% 10% 10%

5% 6% 6% 6% 7% 7% 7% 7%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

North America Europe

Asia, Asia Pacific, and Oceania Latin America and Carribean

Middle East and Africa

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Source: JupiterResearch Worldwide Internet Population Model (3/08) Steven Noble, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research. Presented Ad-Tech, SG

Asia: Fast-Growing Internet

ICT Development Index (2002-07)Economy Rank 2007 IDI 2007 Rank 2002 IDI 2007

Sweden 1 7.50 1 6.05

Korea (Rep.) 2 7.26 3 5.83

Denmark 3 7.22 4 5.78

Hong Kong, China

11 6.70 12 5.10

Japan 12 6.64 18 4.82

Australia 14 6.58 13 5.02

Singapore 15 6.57 16 4.83

Malaysia 52 3.79 50 2.74

Thailand 63 3.44 70 2.17

China 90 3.11 73 1.95

Measuring Internet Societies with ICT Development Index

• The ICT Index illustrates the level of advancement of information and communication technologies (ICT) across more than 150 countries and compares progress made between 2002 and 2007.

• Various factors were incorporated into the index:

– ICT infrastructure and access: Available infrastructure and individuals’ access to basic ICTs.

– ICT use and the intensity of use: Actual use of ICTs and level of intensity of use.

– ICT skills: Proxy indicators like level of education and literacy.

Leading Internet Markets

Countries Number of Netizens Country Population Internet Penetration (%)

China 338,000,000 1,338,612,968 25.3%

Japan 94,000,000 127,078,679 74.0 %

South Korea 37,475,800 48,508,972 77.3%

Developing Internet Markets

Countries Number of Netizens Country Population Internet Penetration (%)

India 81,000,000 1,156,897,766 7.0 %

Taiwan 15,143,000 22,974,347 65.9 %

Hong Kong 4,878,713 7,055,071 69.2 %

Singapore 3,104,900 4,657,542 66.7 %

Catch Up Internet Markets

Countries Number of Netizens Country Population Internet Penetration (%)

Philippines 24,000,000 97,976,603 21.1 %

Vietnam 21,524,417 88,576,758 24.3 %

Malaysia 16,902,600 25,715,819 65.7 %

Follower Internet Markets

Countries Number of Netizens Country Population Internet Penetration (%)

Indonesia 25,000,000 240,271,522 10.4 %

Thailand 13,416,000 65,998,436 20.3 %

Source: Thomas Crampton

National Networks Vary

Wikis Social Networking Search Engines

China Hudong Renren (formerly known as Xiaonei)

Baidu

Japan Wikipedia Japan Mixi Yahoo Japan

South Korea Wikipedia Korean & Naver Dictionary

Cyworld Naver

National Networks Vary

Blog Service Provider Email File Sharing Application

China Blogbus 163.com Xunlei

Japan FC2 Yahoo Mail Japan Share

Share (ソフトウェア)

South Korea Tistory Hanmail by Daum ClubBox

SG 2009: Behavioral Preferences

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 10

0

Watch Videos

My SNS

Visit Friends' SNS

Leave Comment Blog

Upload Videos

Personal Blog

On-line Ratings

Microblog

wiki contribution

© 2009 Michael Netzley, research.

30+ 20-30 <20

n = 480

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Watch Videos

My SNS

Visit Friends' SNS

Leave Comment Blog

Upload Videos

Personal Blog

On-line Ratings

Microblog

Wiki Contribution

© 2010 Michael Netzley, research. 30+ 20-30 <20

SG 2010: Behavioral Preferences

n = 578

Grew 308.5% Compare to 2009 Results

SG: Why We Go Online

Digital Media Across Asia Wiki

Internet Blocking and Communication Risk

Bibliography

• Shriramesh, K and D. Vercic (2009) Chapter 3: The Relationship Between Culture and Public Relations. The Global Public Relations Handbook: Theory, Research, and Practice, pg 52.

• International Telecoms Union (2009) Measuring the Information Society: The ICT Development Index. Accessed online at http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/idi/2009/index.html

• Digital Media Across Asia Wiki at http://comm215.wetpaint.com/