On May 14, 2008, just days after the Sichuan earthquake, a young college student in Chengdu saw a news report that the Chinese military was having trouble finding a place to land a helicopter to bring aid to Wenchuan, the town at the epicenter. The woman, who is from Wenchuan and who had knowledge of a place to land the helicopter, posted a message on various BBS forums pleading with the military to call her mobile phone number (which she also posted) so she could provide details to help out. Within 24 hours, someone in the military saw the message and contacted her, and as a result, the helicopter landed safely. This is just one of countless examples of how Chinese netizens, in the face of such a terrible, national tragedy, naturally looked to the Internet community to come together to provide assistance and mourn as a nation. In just the first week of the aftermath, major portals hosted over 23 million netizen comments and blogs received over 12.6 million comments.
Clay Shirky, in his book Here Comes Everybody, suggests that the Internet community essentially levels the field between institutions and individuals. Individuals such as the university student from Wenchuan can now connect to a massively bureaucratic institution like the Chinese military with a simple BBS post. Further, through Internet community, individuals can organize themselves to accomplish tasks which institutions were either ill suited to accomplish or not motivated to accomplish. In fact, Chinese netizens have been organizing themselves online to accomplish tasks for some time. Fans of American TV programs have been translating subtitles and uploading shows to BitTorrent networks within 24 hours of shows being broadcast in the US. Participants in the "Human Flesh" Search Engine, which is a more institutionalized form of the group search behavior found in Shirky's 2006 stolen Sidekick example, will commonly seek justice on behalf of individuals who "wrong" or who have been wronged. Though the most high profile cases of the "Human Flesh" Search Engine are not always positive, it demonstrates, just as the reaction on the Internet to the Sichuan earthquake demonstrates, that netizens can organize themselves and create massive effects.
How is it that Chinese netizens so are naturally and effectively turning to the Internet community? China has, using Tim O'Reiley's term, a solid "architecture of participation." China has more netizens, more blogger and more BBS (online message board) users than any other market in the world. Even more important, Chinese have the "habit of participation." According to Netpop, 47 percent of Chinese broadband users have commented on a blog, a chat room or offered some other form of participation, compared to 28 percent of American users. The fact is, for those who have access, the Internet has become the primary entertainment, information and social device.
What does this all mean for brands? With the "architecture" and "habits" of participation solidly in place, the opportunity exists to redefine the relationships with consumers. This "leveled" playing field that eliminates barriers between institutions and individuals, in practical terms, has leveled the field between brands and consumers. Brands can now easily "connect" to targeted, relevant, communicative and empowered consumers directly.
For marketing, the important redefinition of the relationship is that within a community, consumers are no longer just an audience; they are conversation partners. This means finding the right conversation to participate in, in the right place and at the right time. In addition, brands need to identify where they can provide value to the conversation, not astroturf fake messages. Zappos, an online shoe company in the US, who has over 400 customer services reps on the microblogging platform Twitter has perfected this, regularly joining conversations and even receiving invites from consumers to join conversations about shoes and their product in particular.
Redefining the relationship between brands and consumers requires a mindset that the Internet is the community. Within the community, brands must recognize that they, along with consumer participants, are netizens on an equal level. This concept of 'netizen' is at the core of the definition of Internet Word of Mouth, where brands, as corporate netizens (similar to corporate citizens), bear the responsibility of being a "good" corporate netizen. Brands must bring value to consumers within communities, not simply "message" or send messages to consumers. By being a "good" corporate netizen, and real contact, brands have the opportunity to redefine relationships with consumers and reap previously unforeseen rewards. The opportunity and rewards can be even greater in China, where the architecture and habits of community participation are at a level unseen in Western markets.
Sam Flemming is CEO and co-founder of CIC.
