SOCIAL MEDIA  A few days ago Hasbro launched a free online version of Monopoly called Monopoly City Streets that makes use of Google Maps in order for players to be able to purchase locations across the globe. I too have begun playing this monopoly game thinking it�s going to be a lot of fun. Read on

SOCIAL MEDIA  SinoTech Group has been responding to a lot of social media marketing (SMM) proposals lately, and having a lot of discussions with our agency partners and clients about how to approach social media. Again and again, the conversations confirm that the SMM market is still immature. People wanted to talk about process, how they will get from start to finish and know they have arrived, what are the core metrics for success.... etc etc .. So to that end, I wanted an easy to understand conceptual framework that could help the SMM consultants and our partners with an approach to developing campaigns that would provide simple steps in developing a campaign, undertaking the social marketing and then doing the review and measurement of the campaign against the stated objectives. Read on

SOCIAL MEDIA  I had an interesting discussion with Adaline Lau from "Interactive Marketing" about the types of measurements that could be used by marketers when undertaking a Social Media Marketing (SMM) campaign. This, in my mind is one of key factors that needs addressing by marketers or SMM risks becoming nothing more than a peripheral activity within a digital marketing campaign. As marketers, we must understand the value (and returns) that can be delivered to the advertisers when using this channel as well as being able to substantiate these claims. Read on

SOCIAL MEDIA  Is it me or have others noticed the tribalism within Twitter? I must admit I am an active social networker and participate in a number of social networking sites/platforms. Within each community there exists implicit rules, norms , culture and possibility even a cyber language. But in the most part I am not seeing the digital tribalism elements like I am seeing within the Twitter micro-blogging community. Read on

ADVERTISING & MARKETING  "2008 was a hallmark year for the Chinese online advertising industry, led by the explosive growth of the paid search market, and richer, more interactive and creative advertising facilitated by increased broadband penetration in China," said Dr Mathew McDougall, chairman and chief executive officer of the SinoTech Group. "We believe the momentum of the past 12 months is likely to continue in 2009, and our experts in media, search and technology are already anticipating the key trends and developments they believe will play a significant role in shaping the continued evolution of the industry in the year ahead." Read on

Google threatened to pull out of its operations in China after it said it had uncovered a massive cyber attack on its computers that originated here in China. The details of this cyber attack made public via a blog post, will certainly win no friends in Beijing (with the Government) and represents a longer term issue between the company and Chinese Government. Read on

According to statistics published during the 2009 China Internet Conference held in Beijing, by the end of September 2009, the number of China's Internet users had reached 360 million. Read on

Chinese Internet company Tencent Holdings Limited (SEHK: 0700)has published its performance report for the first half of 2009 and states it maintained a stable growth during the period, with net profit up 89.1% year-on-year to CNY2.228 billion. Read on

Did you hear that Google is getting into Caffeine Well this is the new code name for their upgraded search engine. According to Mashable.com (Googles launching a new, upgraded version of its search engine) Google has released it's developers preview. Their aim with this new version is to; improve the speed, accuracy, size, and comprehensiveness of Google search. Read on

Analysys International, in their report called,China Search Engine Market Quarterly Tracker Q2 2009; stated, that China search engine market size has reached CNY 1.81 billion in the second quarter of 2009, representing a increase of 47 % year on year, and 33% quarter on quarter. , that China search engine market size has reached CNY 1.81 billion in the second quarter of 2009, representing a increase of 47 % year on year, and 33% quarter on quarter. Read on