Interactive Features of the Internet-based Information Platform
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After the May 12 Wenchuan Earthquake this year, through IP addresses, SINA tracked down 100 bloggers located in the quake-affected areas who were able to maintain their blogs. At a time when channels of communication were limited and news from the quake zone scarce, these blogs provided timely information to the public on the situation in the quake zone. We had only to click open the blogs to learn what had happened and was happening there in the quake-hit areas.
Before hammering out the new Employment Contract Law, on May 8, 2007 the Chinese Government issued the Draft Regulation on the Implementation of the Employment Contract Law to solicit public opinion. The draft mainly addressed intensely-argued issues in the old Employment Contract Law, such as open-ended employment contracts and the relationship between financial compensation and damages. SINA users took an active part in discussing the above issues by commenting on related news stories or writing blogs about them. Blog entries with the keyword "employment law" reached as many as 400,000. On June 29, 2007, the National People's Congress passed the 4th Reading of the Draft Employment Contract Law of the People's Republic of China, which we found echoed many of the opinions of the Internet users.
We can now state with confidence that blogs have become more than just an important element of Internet interactivity - acting as an online information channel, they have also become a tool for people to express their opinions.
According to a report released by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), those who run personal blogs or spaces account for 42 percent of China's online users, totaling up to 107 million individuals. Among these, 70 million, or 28 percent of the overall total, have established their blogs or spaces during the past six months.
Online surveys are often conducted when popular issues emerge, especially those concerning civil affairs, and often attract hundreds of thousands of participants. In 2007, before the adjustment plan for national holidays came into effect, the relevant government body asked Websites including SINA, Xinhuanet, and People's Daily Online to do online surveys on the plan. A total of 1,500,000 votes were cast, 610,000 of which were by SINA users.
One of the questionnaires found that 68 percent of respondents supported scrapping the weeklong May Day holiday and adding three new one-day holidays on traditional festivals, and 82 percent wanted the two "golden weeks" during National Day Holiday and the Chinese Lunar New Year to stay. These survey results were then quoted by state media, including CCTV, providing a key reference for the government to finalize the holiday adjustment plan. As some analysts say, the Internet facilitated the voicing of public opinion on holiday arrangements.
From this case we can also see that interactions on the Internet not only present a wide variety of forms, but take place between so many different groups: between different users, between users and Website editors, and between users and other media.
SINA runs daily and weekly popularity rankings of most-commented news stories and most-viewed blogs and podcasts based on page views or number of comments. And in return, the rankings themselves become new spotlights. In fact, journalists from other media often refer to these results of online interaction when they prepare the next day's reporting schedule.
My third point: the interactive features of the Internet-based information platform can create new business opportunities.
Just like SINA, other major commercial Websites in China are also developing their interactive platforms in a bid to offer their users diversified means of access to more information online. These interactive platforms are yielding huge page views, making it possible for new business models to emerge.
A business experiment SINA tried this year was to share with major SINA bloggers advertising revenues generated from their blog pages, by entering agreements with them. To date, more than 5,000 bloggers have accepted this offer and the highest income for an individual blogger has reached US$6,000 per month.
Finally, let's take a look into the future of online interaction platforms.
In my opinion, interactive features will play an ever greater role on online information platforms in the future, and the means of interaction will become more diversified. Right at this moment, vertical social networking Websites that target segmented customer groups like college students or white-collar workers are flourishing, forming new SNS models that go beyond blogs. Online users, divided into different groups by their particular needs, interact with each other for specific purposes on different platforms. These interactions will eventually go beyond the Internet to connect to mobile platforms. With the robust development of broadband and 3G technologies, mobile video sharing will be widely used in online news reporting.
It is foreseeable that 'interaction' will be one of the key words in the development of the Internet in the future. Technologies are tearing down the barriers of territories. Current one-to-one or one-to-many communication will give way to many-to-many communication. More and more information will be accurately delivered to every single IP address through the Internet. The Internet is certain to witness a very exciting future.
Thank you.
(China.org.cn November 7, 2008)
