An interesting phenomenon for PR professionals to think about

Infographic of the Day: China's Social Media Map

BY Noah Robischon Mon Oct 12, 2009 at 11:13 AM

The major players in the U.S. social media world can be counted on one hand: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn. Not so in China, where the country's 300 million online users have a panoply of popular social networks to choose from--and Facebook doesn't even crack the top 10. This map of the Chinese social media landscape was created by the Shanghai-based social network marketing company Zero Degrees.

http://bx.businessweek.com/linkedin-and-business-social-networking/view?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftwurl.nl%2Fsw157h

This article was from Business Week and it provided PR professionals some interesting thoughts.
1. There is never a medium that works everywhere.
2. When an international crisis occurs, PR professionals need to take into account stakeholders in other countries and areas. From what we learn from class, organizations approach stakeholders and try to place a control over information flow by employing media with stakeholders' preferences. Therefore, if P & G has a crisis in the States as well as across the Pacific, PR professionals of P & G will have to use Chinese top traditional media and social media to approach the stakeholders from the other side of the planet.
3. Keep informed about social media development in different areas and countries in case a crisis happens internationally.
4. Facebook and other social media may think beyond providing multiple language versions of facebook. The important message needs to adapt to different cultures as well. So do PR professionals. Dealing with crises in the States and in China may be completely distinguished. Coorperation with local professionals may be a good way to settle crises.

LMK your thoughts!