Tracking Reveals Chinese Censorship Is Automated and Geotargeted

Due to censorship-tracking software developed by Harvard researcher Gary King, new conclusions can be made on how China’s social media censorship works. Here are the main points as elicited in MIT Technology Review:

Automation Is Huge

While censorship teams at Weibo may reach up to 1,000 people, the high volume and speed of censorship indicates that China’s model has many automated functions. Mass posts can reportedly be censored in a matter of minutes.

Censorship Is Geotargeted

King’s software has indicated in areas such as Tibet, that have seen more political opposition, posts with sensitive words are over four times more likely to be censored.

Government Participation Has Soared

According to Nele Noesselt, a researcher at the German Instute of Global and Area Studies in Hamburg, the government has begun taking a more proactive stance by channeling public interest instead of simply trying to battle it head on. This approach is much more popular with the public as it gives the government the appearance of prevalence and accountability while remaining positive.

Prevelancy of Censorship Can Predict Scandal

King has used his software to predict when either controversy is on the rise or mass arrests are to be made by tracking the number of censored posts in a certain area or about certain content. This new discovery has been recognized as a serious enough topic that he has been invited to speak with an undisclosed agency in Washington. Reportedly, after his talk, said agency has sought contractors to begin censorship-tracking.

 For more information on Chinese social media and which networks are what, read Chinese Social Media: What You Need to Know.

Chinese Social Media: What You Need to Know

More often than not, the place with the greatest potential to learn is where you'd least expect it. And with a field like social media that thrives on freedom of speech, there is no place more apt for study than China.

Not nearly as well-documented as Twitter or Facebook due to China's closed-door policy, Chinese social networks may very well hold the future of social media due to their significant size and sheer consuming power. The difficult part however is the differences in content-sharing.

Strength in Numbers
According to The Realtime Report as of April 6, 2012 just between China's top three social networks (Tencent's Qzone, Sina Weibo and Renren) there are over 970 million profiles--that's over three times the population of the United States. And these profiles are more active than any other country.

According to a survey from McKinsey & Company, 91 percent of Chinese correspondents said they visited a social media site in the last sixth months, a question that only resulted in 67 percent in the United States and 30 percent in Japan.

Content Sharing
Due to government censorship, the Chinese people hold a significant distrust of large institutions. Instead, word-of-mouth and in turn social media, have taken the lead as public authority. But since even social media are monitored in China--and topics such as politics or world events are kept at bay--consumer gossip and viral media run rampant.

In a study from HP Labs in Palo Alto, California this difference is compared between China's Sina Weibo and Twitter. They found trends exclusively follow media content surrounding jokes, images and videos while Twitter revolves more around world events and news stories.

This could prove beneficial for social media platforms but difficult for advertisers. It would not be outlandish to suspect new more underhanded methods of advertising to be on the horizon as advertisers try to distance themselves from their institutional persona. Needless to say the platforms will want to pander to these deep-pockets as well but if it is similiar to what we are beginning to see from Facebook we know public opinion can shift quick if privacy expectations are not met.

Fortunately there is one constant that crosses all social media studies--the desire to connect. From China's enthusiasm for online dating to their high mobile population, they echo the same emphasis on connectedness and outreach found in every wired country. The only question is how and when that potential goes worldwide.

The Networks to Watch
Mashable lists the top five Chinese social networks to watch.
1. Sina Weibo
This microblog platform houses more than 22% of the online Chinese population and is a major driver in social discourse and consumer activity.
2. Renren
A profile network more similar to Facebook, it began like its American cousin thriving with students and is now branching out to over 147 million users.
3. Tencent
Built on the QQ Instant Messaging service, this platform uses multiple platforms to house the largest Chinese community in terms of sheer registered users. Responsible for Qzone where over 500 million users write blogs and share pictures and music.
4. Douban
A bit more high brow for those inclined to review movies, music and books, Douban's strengths lie in their open format allowing 80% of all site content to be available for non-registered users and their high volume of 80 million registered users per month.
5. Wechat
More than 69% of the Chinese population accesses the Internet from a mobile device. That makes this voice and text app with constantly growing features a platform to watch in the war for Chinese mobile.