Publication: The Straits Times, Digital Life, p 14 Date: 7 August 2007 Headline: The business of getting others to praise yours

The business of getting others to praise yours Companies should jump in L ast September, Businessweek

blew the cover of two bloggers on all that talk in bloqs who were singing praises of and podcasts, But it ~al- art h their p~sts-calied' '~al-~ar-

tine Across America". real, the experts tell

" The couple were really fans of the

LESLIE GOH chain but also members of a group called "Working Families for Wal-Mart", an or- ganisation started by Wal-Marts' public re- lations company. They wrote their experi- ences in a flog - a fake blog - and Business-

Week said in its reportthat Wal-Mart

Mr Mitch Joel (right) believes

companies should involve

themselves in social media, even

though people would rather trust

other consumers, said

Dr Michael Netzley.

PHOTO: SINGAPORE MANAGEMENT

UNlVERSllY

was "paying plenty for their support". The expose led to an outcry.

This example was used by Mr Jorg Di- etzel, a lecturer at Singapore Manage- ment University (SMU), in stressing the importance of social media "being au- thentic and transparentJ'.

Social media - blogs, podcasts and oth- er online networks where the creator and the audience communicates with each other - was the subject of the first PodCamp held in Asia last week at SMU.

The event brought together web surf- ers, bloggers, podcasters and those inter- ested in new media. Organised by the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, it at- tracted 30 participants working mostly in marketing or communications.

Event organiser Dr Michael Netzley, practice assistant professor of corporate communications at SMU, painted a pic- ture of social media trends in Japan, Chi- na, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.

These findings came out of a study done by SMU's students. It was run over five weeks in June and July at the SMU.

Among the findings: bb Social media content must be

authentic, and should be localised. bb Most people would rather trust other consumers than they would trust govern- ments or corporations. But Asian compa- nies are more reluctant to blog, and most bloggers write as individuals. bb Increasingly, social media is also consumed on devices other than comput- ers. In Japan, most people spend much time commuting, and therefore socialise on the Web via their cellphones.

Dr Netzley said that cultural factors af- fect the consumption of social media. In Japan, where social harmony is highly re- garded, most people do not like leaving comments on other people's sites for fear of confrontation. This was unlike South Korea, where people are more vocal.

The highlight of PodCamp was a ses- sion with e-marketing visionary Mitch Joel of Twist Image, an award-winning dig- ital marketing company based in Canada.

Mr Joel said that discussions are al- ready "taking place out there on your product, your service and your brand". And that companies should not ignore or be "left out of this conversation".

The PodCamp Unconference, so called for the informal nature of the event, al- most did not make it to Singapore.

Dr Netzley said: "Up till three weeks ago, we were waiting to get the funding of PodCamp cleared. "

But with the buzz surrounding this year's event, he is already looking at Pod- Camp 2008.

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