social web

Web Service Lists and Projections from OpenWeb Asia ’08

November 4, 2008 By Des Walsh

I mentioned some time ago that the OpenWeb Asia event, in Seoul, Korea 2008, was to focus on the social web.

The program incorporated four streams:

Insights and Best Practices
Innovations in Asia
Collaboration – An Introduction to Asia’s Social Web
East Meets West – The challenges of Internationalization To and From Asia

Today I noticed, on the asiajin site, a very interesting report on OpenWeb Asia ’08, with the title of the post declaring that the next web services innovations would be from Asia. The post was by Japanese blogger Hiroumi Mitani.

The report incorporates a set of tables, supplied apparently by speaker George Godula, founder of Web2Asia, to illustrate the point that it is difficult for Western web services companies to expand into Asia because of domestic services available.

The tables, one each for Japan, Korea and China, list web services in those countries and their “global” counterparts, e.g. in the China table, Baidu – Google, Xaionei – Facebook. There are obvious challenges with this kind of table and I assume that there was no intention to present the various services as exact counterparts between the Asian country services and the “global” ones. The tables are certainly interesting and I will find them a useful reference.

I was also very interested to read the eight points offered by Mr Godula on why it is difficult for companies to move into Asia:

1. No formal internationalization/Asia entry strategy
2. Entered Asia too late/ too slow
3. Local HQ has no full decision power
4. Incomplete localization, Translation, Content, Pricing, Branding (name, colours, etc.), Features, Business model
5. No Local technical development team (Slower time to market, More expensive)
6. Domestic players sometimes simply have the superior technology/business model
7. Global corporate guidelines
8. Local legislation

No doubt some companies could find that list discouraging and I don’t know how it was received by the audience in Seoul. But in the absence of an alternative list I see it as providing a handy checklist for any company contemplating a move into Asian markets.

Inaugural Open Web Asia Conference to Focus on Social Web

August 26, 2008 By Des Walsh

On visiting China last year and since then I have been very keen to find ways to understand what is happening in social media in Asia. That interest underpins and drives my intention to establish a web site, working title “Social Media East” – with community-supporting features based on the WordFrame platform – as I have been writing about in the series Setting Up a Community Site, a process interrupted recently by some more pressing business demands.

Certainly the China visit and my conversations since, with people in China and with China connections, have made me very aware of differences in the way social media are perceived in Asia and more aware than previously of cultural and timing considerations in relation to introducing social media into the enterprise.

So I would really like to be going to the inaugural Open Web Asia conference, to be held in Seoul, Korea, in mid October this year.

The conference, being held in association with the 9th World Knowledge Forum (which sounds interesting enough in itself) is being declared as “the first truly pan-Asia web technology event” and has as its theme The Social Web.

The conference press release explains:

Socialization has been a game changing development in the internet industry and the social web is an area where Asia has its own strength and vibrancy. Asian countries have distinct internet cultures and market players, so informative and educational cross-country comparisons can be made.

It’s to be a one day conference, on October 14, with a very impressive lineup of speakers from various Asian countries and a few from outside the region.

The program will be divided into four sessions focusing on the key areas of:

Insights and Best Practices,
Innovations in Asia;
Collaboration – An Introduction to Asia’s Social Web; and
East Meets West – The challenges of Internationalization To and From Asia.

Given the array of speakers, the up-market venue, Sheraton Grande Walkerhill, and the opportunity to meet entrepreneurs, technology specialists and corporate executives from around the region, I was amazed to see that the registration fee is only US$400. Actually, it is only US$200, because the World Knowledge Forum is subsidizing each attendee at this inaugural Open Web Asia conference to the tune of US$200. Lunch and refreshments are included. It is not surprising then, that the organizers explain that “there will be no early-bird or other discount programs”.

It is slightly confusing that the registration site for the World Knowledge Forum gives the registration for Open Web Asia ’08 as $397 and (WKF support $297), a larger subsidy than the conference site indicates.

There are still travel and accommodation costs to be considered, of course, but whether the registration is $200 or $100, one could hardly quibble at the price of entry. (Update: it’s definitely $200 – see comments below.)

There are still travel and accommodation costs to be considered, of course, but one cannot quibble at the price of entry! Registration details here.

via TechNation Australia