Zhengyu Luo the leader of a famous Chinese We Media organization,
just started the second member recruitment for their organization. According to
Mr. Luo, they launched “the most irrational membership scheme” in the history
---- regular member need to pay 200 RMB/per people, for member fee (which equal
to 33 dollars), senior member need to pay 1200 RMB (which equal to 600 dollars),
however, the membership benefits are not ready yet. That is to say, people are
likely pay the money but can’t enjoy any welfare from the organization. Even
so, Mr. Luo’s organization still earns 1.6 million RMB (about 266,666 dollars)
by membership recruitment. Even Luo’s parents don’t understand why people give
their son money without get any product from Luo. Mr Luo's explanation is that
is because people love him and are looking for him. How this happening? (From
the photo we can tell that he is not a good-looking guy.) Let’s start with the
concept “We Media”.
 |
| Zhengyu Luo |
Dan Gillmor
published a book named We the Media in 2004 (The book is
available for free online).
According to
Gillmor, “a few big media corporations cannot control the news we get any
longer, now that news is being published in real-time, available to everybody,
via the Internet.”
In 2003, American
Press Institute defined we media as: “Ordinary citizens, empowered by
digital technologies that connect knowledge throughout the globe, are
contributing to and participating in their own truths, their own kind of news.”
 |
| Logo of API |
And it also listed several benefits of we media: (1) Increased the
trust in media; (2) Shared the responsibility in informing democracy; (3)
Memorable experiences created; (4) Increased the next generation of news
consumers; (5) Make better stories and better journalism; (6) A scalable virtual
staff; (7) Fostering community; and (8) Network identity.
Let’s go back to Mr. Lou’s store. Before he set up his we media
organization (named the logic), he used to works for China's most famous
TV station ---- CCTV. During the period he works for CCTV, he found that Media
organizations will become more and more worthless, but worth of the individual
is gradually reflected. So he decided to quit the job and embarking a “we
media” talk show called the logic. The show mainly talks about the hot
topics of the society, such as politics, economics, new technology etc. All
show videos are available for free online, and only online. Though the unique
insights and sense of humor, Mr. Luo win a lot of fans. Then he opens an
account on social media, also to share his opinion about hot agendas, again a
large number of fans followers he, make he instantly became the account with
biggest fans of that social media. Here is his marketing strategy: combine a
“we media” show with a social media. To support Mr. Luo’s show the fans would
like to send money to him and never care about the benefits, or some of them
look Lou’s new show as the benefits. It’s sounds easy, but he is the first
person do this way. In Chinese, we call this kind of people “the first one who
eat crab”, which means person with creativity and courage desire the taste of
success.
 |
| LOGO of CCTV |
Sum up the experience of those years, Mr. Luo found the differences
between traditional media of industrial society and social media for digital
age.
First is the change of organization structure. Many big media
organization appeared in industrial society, like the News Corporation. If
anyone wants to show their value, they have to be a member of the organization
first, then climb step by step from the bottom to the top. It is a long
process. However, social media and we media prefer "de-organization".
For example, traditional media need to pay a high salary for people who
responsible for review and censorship a new program. However, for Lou’s
program, all he needs to do is to put a notice on social media, ask for fans
who would like to do this job. According to Lou: “There are a lot of people to
sign up, we don't have to pay their wages, they will continue to work very
carefully, because they really like the show.” (Pictures at below show the
different news structure between traditional media and social media.)
 |
| Traditional media model ---- Top-down |
 |
| Social media model ---- Bottom-up |
Second, the
social media prefer to transfer products to services. In industrial society, if
people want to nail a pin on the wall, people only can buy a pin and a hammer,
and do it by self. However, in digital age, people's needs are personalized,
customized, and in a timely manner. Lou’s group send message on social media at
6:00 am everyday. They call it “the restroom partner”, 6:00 am is the time that
most Chinese office worker get up and using restroom. When people hold their
mobile phone, sitting on the toilet, they will get the first message from Lou,
it might be a joke or short story which could help people start a new day with
a small. That is a kind of personalized, customized service in a timely manner.
The third
difference is the advertising industry, in Luo’s opinion; advertising industry
will collapse in the future. In the past, the resources that only large
organizations can obtain, now available free on the Internet, and very
powerful. Industrial chain in the industrial society cannot form the attention,
they must be purchased it through the media, thus creates the advertising
industry. However, with social media, Entrepreneurs, as long as their career
developed, they can have attention.
At last, I
want to end this article with a TED talk show, again to describe the powerful
and difference of social media.
No comments:
Post a Comment