We need a Digital Influence Analyst in our Sydney office who knows how to engage people online, can do great outreach to bloggers, knows that listening is about more than just data, and knows a thing or two about Facebook and Twitter.

This is a hands-on experience for a sharp professional who understands the new era of “earned media.” That knows that listening is about more than just data and can spot trends and draw insights that lead to great engagement programs.

You will have proven strength in understanding research, developing relationships with influencers, and managing interactive programs that leverage social media and word of mouth. You are someone who participates in and knows social media - not just the theory.

Join the team that is defining the next marcom discipline around social media and digital marketing to drive word of mouth and action. We are the word of mouth agency (within an agency) focused on creating conversations online, engaging with new influencers and building community. You are going to need at least 1-2 years experience developing digital solutions for clients.

Contact:  Brian Giesen at brian.giesen@ogilvy.com.au or Graham White graham@howorth.com.au
Visit our blog: http://www.asiadigitalmap.com
Join our Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/ogilvypraustralia
Follow Us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ogilvypraus

Technorati Tags: australia, social media

My colleagues in the Tokyo Ogilvy Digital Influence team compiled a list of some of the most widely visited websites in Japan. You can download the list from Slideshare here.

Some editorial and qualitative judgments were made in compiling the list. There are certainly more highly accessed sites than the ones chosen; adult sites were omitted, for example. The focus has is on a sampling of portals, blogs and web destinations that matter most and resonate with a Japan audience.

The aim is to provide a sample listing to help people better understand what Japan is viewing and where the conversations are taking place.

The main source for the data is alexa, with editing done by Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (Japan).

Technorati Tags: Internet, Japan

My colleagues Brian Giesen and Graham White recently held one of our trainings on Social Media with the Wall Street Journal Asia and GoToWebinar.

This Webinar presentation deck provides concrete examples, action plans and case studies, including:

· 5 key steps for a business-to-business strategy;
· How to build and engage a community of potential and current customers;
· Real-life case studies from successful business-to-business strategies;
· The highly popular – and now extended – Question and Answer section;

The seminar was led by Brian Giesen a senior regional strategist in Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence team and moderated by Graham White, Managing Director of Howorth Communications in Sydney.

Technorati Tags: B2B, social media

I am trying to compile a list of Japan’s most interesting people in Social Media. Please add your name or others in the comments.

The list has begun based on those who turned up at a Twitter gathering I initiated at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. I learned so much on that evening and afterwards Steve Nagata generously took me on a great tour of Akihabara.

Add your name (or others) in the comments and I will be sure to invite you to the next gathering! (I am interested in interesting people, not companies, by the way. I enjoy hanging out with people, not companies!)

UPDATE: Shortly after I saved an early edit of this posting both Gen and Steve Nagata tweeted about the lack of Japanese names below. Be particularly great to get more names on that front!

Here’s the details of those in the video who attended that evening:

Rafik Dammak, a recovering blogger from Tunisia who now only Twitters. He is also a Non Commercial Stakeholder Group Board Appointee to the Generic Names Supporting Organization of ICANN (who manages the Internet.)

Alistair Townsend, founder of Bakoko Design Development, Tokyo who is on
Linkedin, Posterous, Twitter and has a company site.

Gen Kanai, the business director of business development at Mozilla has a personal blog, Mozilla blog and Tweets.

Robb Satterwhite, publisher of Bento.com, the best and biggest Japanese restaurant guide is also on Flickr and has a book. He also has FB fan page and a Facebook app “My Favorite Sushi”.

Rick Martin’s personal blog, CNET blog and Twitter.

Steve Nagata, Akihabara fan and tech consultant who blogs, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Kyle Hasegawa on Blog, Twitter

Michael Q. Todd on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter

Martyn Williams, Tokyo Bureau Chief for IDG News Service, on Facebook Twitter

Orlando Camargo, the President of Ogilvy PR, Japan has a great photo feed on Flickr, is on LinkedIn and Tweets.

A list of more from Steve Nagata:

A list of more from Steve Nagata:

Fumi Yamazaki, @fumi - Author and journalist.  Well known and highly respected in both Japanese and English speaking communities. recently published a book on twitter marketing.
Nobuyuki Hayashi, @nobi - Author and journalist.  EVERYONE knows Nobi. Following Apple since it landed in Japan.
Andrew Shuttleworth, @@ashuttleworth - Social Networks.  One of the biggest names in social media in Tokyo.  One of the founders of Tokyo 2.0
Paul Papadimitriou, @papadimitriou - Technology evangelist.  Technically not in Japan anymore, he continues to support Web2.0 ventures in Japan from across the globe.  Honorary virtual member.
Toshiaki Kanda, @@knnkanda - Author, journalist, television personality. A Japanese techno-celebrity.
Satoka Fujita, @lhuga - Social media enthusiast.  Heavy web2.0 user and founder of Tokyo Geek Girls
Danny Choo, @dannychoo - Blogger, Entrepreneur. Tokyo’s Dancing Stormtrooper. YouTube star and Otaku blogger.
Oliver Reichenstein, @Ia - Information Architect.  Creator of Tokyo Web Trend Map.
Dr. Serkan Toto, @serkantoto - Consultant, Blogger. Writer for Techcrunch.  Little happens in Tokyo tech he does not know about.
Hideki Francis Onda, @onebeat - Blogger, Entrepreneur.  First marketing director for Apple Computer in Japan. Now CEO of Focal Point Computers and Tunewear.
Shinya Ichinohe, @shinyai - Professor, photographer.  Technology and media enthusiast. Now living in Niigata
Dean Fuji, @docmacpro - Consultant, networking mogul.  Social media consultant and power networker.
Taro Matsumura, @taromatsumura - Journalist, Researcher. Always on top of what’s tech and geek in Tokyo.
Takuya Kawai, @himanainu_kawai - Social Media Entrepreneur. One of Japan’s first Social Media specialists. Still in the center of new trends and technology.

From Gordon Kanki Knight:
I suggest myself, @kankiknight (2,712 followers) and my website here, Craig Mod (2,744), Oliver Reichenstein (over 10,000 followers), the staff at Japan Times (including many Japanese), Tomoko Hosaka, Tomo Akiyama (@tomoakiyama), Jean Snow and Roland Kelts (if he qualifies as being in Japan).

Technorati Tags: Alistair Townsend, Gen Kanai, Kyle Hasegawa, Martyn Williams, Michael Q Todd, Orlando Camargo, Rafik Dammak, Robb Satterwhite, Steve Nagata

Internet and mobile entrepreneur Gulay Ozkan shared her thoughts on Social Media in Turkey and then was generous enough to invite me to speak at the university class she teaches.

Social Media is a very hot topic at the moment as it brings freedom to a culture that traditionally is shy, Gulay said. The open and free communication form offered by Social Media is very appealing to the Turkey’s young people.

This is particularly relevant in Turkey, where 70 percent of the population is under 35.

Facebook is by far the most popular social network in Turkey (third largest Facebook country in the world), but recently Twitter and personal blogs have gained in popularity.

Turkey’s mobile penetration is larger than Internet penetration, which means that people increasingly access their social networks from mobile phones. This is a trend that will grow even more in the near future, Gulay said.

As a young and emerging country, Turkey is a unique model for other countries in the region. And although YouTube is currently banned, Gulay believes that Turkey will continue to open up to the new form of communication. It just takes a little time, she said.

Interestingly, you CAN see YouTube on an iPhone and every student in Gulay’s class knew how to get around the block using DNS switching.

Technorati Tags: Gulay Ozkan

Reports to: Chairman of Ogilvy Group

Profile
Ideal candidate is an experienced, visionary, results-focused strategist / leader with a strong background in digital and social media, and solid marketing and business skills

At Ogilvy we believe the uptake of social media and how this is influencing new consumer behaviour has, just as digital, an impact on all marketing communication disciplines – brand building and advertising, demand generation and customer relationship management, shopper activation, and of course reputation management and PR.

As such the Head of Social, Ogilvy Group, needs to be an action- & results-oriented evangelist, networker and business leader who can work across the different Ogilvy Group companies to develop, connect and drive progress on social capabilities that will impact the solutions we develop for clients as well as grow Ogilvy revenue and reputation.

He/she hence needs an agency background, comprehensive digital marketing knowledge and broad as well as in-depth expertise in social media marketing in all its aspects – incl. influencer outreach and engagement, conversation monitoring and response, earned media and seeding strategies, social network community activation and management, social media campaigns, etc.

He/she will need to work closely together with OgilvyPR’s 360 Digital Influence team, part of an international network that has been spearheading the agency’s social capability.

He/she will also work with planners, digital strategists, creatives, account teams and their clients to create a vision for the role of social in clients’ digital and/or marcom strategies and initiatives, based on understanding of clients’ brand, business and marketing challenges & opportunities. He/she must be able to both inspire and convince internal agency teams and clients. This person must have a track record of delivering results and being valued by agency teams and clients.

He/she will routinely be part of new business and hence should be an experienced presenter, driven to bring in new opportunities for the agency. He/she will need to work their own network to identify opportunities.

He/she also has a thought leadership role inside the company and outside. Inside, he/she will support the training mission to spread knowledge and skills in social throughout the agency. Outside the company, he/she is encouraged to participate in any number of thought leadership activities so long as they are focused on tangible business development opportunities. These include: blogging, speaking at conferences, performing client workshops, serving in relevant associations and organizations.

Responsibilities
· Identify the social growth opportunity for the agency and develop a roadmap to deliver
· Identify social capabilities the agency needs to offer beyond what is in place and drive the development of these in collaboration with the different Ogilvy Group companies, leveraging similar initiatives across the Ogilvy network
· Connect and promote the different social capabilities across the Group
· Create opportunities for Ogilvy thought leadership and innovation in social
· Lead internal or client training programs around social
· Create and package best practices, case studies and trends in social for training and client use
· Understand global social media trends and local market realities and approaches to social media
· Partner with planners, digital strategists, creative and account teams to develop, present and implement social media strategies and initiatives
· Contribute to new business efforts

Requirements
· 8+ years minimum in senior account/client leadership position
· 6+ years senior digital and social marketing experience
· Knowledgeable at many aspects of digital marketing
· Participant in social media – not just pundits or theoretician, but a practitioner and ideally already a thought leader in social media space
· Ability to develop insights into social media uptake and plan effective strategies accordingly that will grow the client’s business; It is not enough to talk the talk, we want someone who can develop proposals that will sell.
· Significant new business experience and ability to create and deliver inspiring and persuasive presentations, proposals and POV
· Able to build rapport with clients, manage client expectations and grow trust and respect
· Ability to train and mentor other senior account staff
· Excellent written and verbal communication
· Passionate, curious, results-oriented, team leader and player.

Interested? Please contact jethro.ferguson at ogilvy dot com

ASSISTANT WANTED (Part-time)
A China-based publisher with a strong and steadily growing list of original titles on Chinese culture, history and contemporary society, is looking for a part-time assistant to work with two authors as they conduct research for a forthcoming title. A high level of spoken and written English is essential, as is an ability to translate Chinese text and audio files into English quickly and accurately. The ideal candidate will be confident conducting interviews and have excellent research and organisational skills. Duties include: research, arranging and helping to conduct interviews and acting as interpreter and translator. Interested candidates should send their resume and a cover letter to thornileyt at googlemail dot com.

Hugh Pope on Dining with Al-Qaeda
Uploaded by thomascrampton. - News videos hot off the press.

While in Istanbul, I met recovering journalist Hugh Pope to hear about his new book “Dining with Al-Qaeda”.

In addition to covering the region as a foreign correspondent, Pope has written some excellent books about Turkey and the Turkic peoples. Sons of the Conquerors is a must-read.

Pope describes the book as a reflection on his meeting with the Middle Eastern society; how he learned that it is not all about caravans, poetry and desert oases. Instead, it is a region of concrete buildings, violence and shattered societies.

As a young journalist, relating these facts to a US audience proved hard, and Pope often experienced editorial decisions that he felt hollowed out the “true” story. Although Pope has nothing bad to say about his former employer, The Wall Street Journal, his book describes the process of Americanization that shaped his stories.

Many Middle Eastern stories would be hard to understand for Americans, so they needed to fit within the US narrative of the Middle East and include a twist, Pope says.

There is hope now, however, Pope said. New platforms for open communication, including the Internet, offer ways for more nuanced views to spread.

Pope left journalism after trying to cover the Iraq war, an exercise he found extremely frustrating. Now he works for the International Crisis Group in a job he describes as everything journalism should be: A place where he can write what he wants. He also now feels he can get involved in shaping events.

What about the title of the book? While chasing a story on Al-Qaeda for The Wall Street Journal shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Pope found himself dining with one of the missionaries from the very camp where the suicide bombers had been trained. An Al-Qaeda missionary decided it was best to kill Pope. Pope disagreed. The two argued for about 15 minutes, when the Al-Qaeda missionary finally agreed not to kill him. They went on to have dinner together.

A Social Media compliant journalist, you can find Hugh on Twitter, LinkedIn, his blog and profile at International Crisis Group.

Technorati Tags: Hugh Pope

As part of my Turkey trip this week I have started compiling statistics and information about Social Media and the Internet here.

YouTube Banned
Similar to China, YouTube is blocked here in Turkey. This dates back an incident I wrote about in 2007 when a virtual war erupted between Greeks and Turks on the video platform.

Basic Internet Stats (various sources)
With more than 26mn Internet Users, Turkey is one of the 15 largest Internet populations in the world and roughly the size of Spain, Italy and Canada.
34% Internet penetration
30% Household Internet penetration
6mn Broadband Users

69% of Internet Users are 34 or younger
38% are aged 15 to 24
31% 25 to 34
18% 35 to 44
10% 45 to 54
3% 55

Turks spend a lot of time online
29.7 Hours spent online per month (Which puts Turkey behind only Canada’s 43.1 and the US’ 32.5, according to ComScore.)

Internet commerce and advertising growing
11.6% of Internet users buy online
33% growth of online advertising year-on-year

Turks love searching
More online searches are conducted Turkey than Italy or Spain, despite having a smalling online population.

Turks love Facebook
Turkey has the third highest Facebook population in the world. Following Facebook, the most popular Social Networking Services are Windows Live Profile, Mynet Eksenim, Netlog, Kalpkalbe, according to ComScore.

Met up with Asian art journalist and fellow blogger Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop this week in Singapore to hear about the biggest trends on the Asian art scene.

Sonia highlighted three:

1- China as a new major art consumer: Chinese art collectors purchase everything from art to wine and jewelry, and you increasingly see international art galleries catering to them only.

2- The rise of Indonesian Art as a serious, political and social commentary: Very much different from the tourist-driven known Balinese art that is more catered to the tourists.

3- The rise of Asian cities as international art hubs: Although Hong Kong is the number art hub in Asia, Singapore is fast catching up and will host its first international art fair soon. Key to Singapore’s strategy is a bonded warehouse zone near the airport for Art that is so secure the government plans to store gold there.

A related post in which I spoke with Oliver Stone about why the film director is selling his Chinese art.

Technorati Tags: Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop

One section of this year’s report focused on Social Media as used by 328 organizations that collectively represent 5 million employees in various regions around the world. (Full demographics of those surveyed at the bottom)

First a summary chart of how Watson Wyatt concludes Social Media is best used in a company’s internal communications mix:

Watson Wyatt’s findings:

Highly effective communicators are making greater use of social media than their less- effective peers.

On average, however, usage is fast outpacing effectiveness. While the use of social media has expanded over the last 12 months for all, highly effective communicators are more than twice as likely as the least-effec- tive group of companies to have expanded their use of social media (Figure 14).

The most prevalent reasons for not increasing the use of social media stem from a lack of resources and knowledge, rather than legal restrictions (Figure 15).

Companies that are using social media to engage employees are using these tools to address a variety of topics (Figure 16). The most prevalent topics are collaboration and team building, adapting to change, and promoting health and wellness. The difference between high-and low-effectiveness communicators was not significant in this area. It ranged from a 17 percent difference in providing a line of sight to the business to a 9 percent difference in promoting risk taking; however, less than half of participants are using social media to reach their workforce.

Highly effective communicators are using social media tools 2-3 times more than the low-effectiveness group of companies to reach employees (Figure 17). Most participants (65 percent) expect to use social media more next year.

To get a better return on their investments in social media, however, companies will need to build on their knowledge base and undertake these basic steps:

- Document their social media policy
- Develop tools to measure the success of social media at their company
- Build executive support

Companies are making greater use of electronic and face- to-face communication than before, while the use of print continues to decline (Figure 18).

Demographics of those surveyed:

In his speech Reg highlighted three interesting sites worth checking out for the way they relate to the future of news gathering:

Living Stories: An experimental Google site that aggregates articles around news as it develops, taking in all news from the Washington Post and The New York Times.
Muckety: A site that shows relationships between people and organizations graphically and dynamically
Politifact: A site that fact checks statements by politicians against their performance; what is unique the information is structured in such a way that you can see aggregation of statements and findings over time. A sort report card for politicians. Check out the Obameter!

Technorati Tags: reg chua, South China Morning Post, WAN/IFRA, World Association of Newspapers

Special thanks to stevechasmar. Check out his full photo collection on Flickr or his website. For another blast from the past, check out this Amazing Video Footage of 1930s Hong Kong.

Properties like Facebook, YouTube and Flickr have languished when blocked by Beijing, but Twitter has continued to gain in popularity.

Since being blocked, Facebook usage in China has plunged from hundreds of thousands of users in mainland China to tens of thousands. Based on anecdotal evidence Twitter, on the other hand, remains a lively source of news, information and discussion from within China. (If anyone can provide reliable numbers on the growth Twitter usage in China, I will add them here.)

Microblogging itself is an interesting phenomenon in China, due to the nature of the written Chinese language: A Tweet in Chinese is almost a short blog post.

But the case of Twitter raises the question of why it has remained popular even as the inevitable government-compliant copycats proliferate.

In terms of why, for one thing Chinese users have found relatively painless ways around the Great Firewall. Having worked around the blockage, users may have developed an even stronger loyalty to the service. Some cross post using the Chinese services, while others have rigged up sites using Twitter’s API.

As to who is using it, that has been hard to say until a recent survey done by Kenengba that was picked up and translated by Oi Wan Lam in a post on Global Voices.

Sent out over Twitter, the 1,000 respondents to the survey were

…overwhelmingly male…
13% female
87% male

…in their 20s…
70% between 21-29
Youngest Twitterer 12 and oldest 55

…highly educated with interesting bump among High School students…
The majority have a bachelor’s degree and the second largest group is master degree holders followed by Twitters with tertiary education background. Interesting to note there is a bump among users in High School. If this is due to university authorities being more successful at blocking Twitter, what will happen when those High School students go to campus?

…based in wealthier Chinese regions, such as the capital and coastal regions…
More than half of the respondents come from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong followed by Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian… The 6 regions constitute 67% of the respondents. They are located along the coastal line and economically more well off.

…mainly students and techies…
The data shows that about 30% of the respondents are students followed by computer software and hardware sector (15%) and then Internet related production sector (12.5%). If we group the two into I.T industry, then we can see that students and I.T professionals are the key player in Twitter community as they together constitute more than 50% of the respondents.

…why do they Tweet?
1. To know the truth and open the horizon
2. To record and share my life
3. To get information and show my concern about democracy
4. Because Fanfou has been shut down
5. To get all the gossips in order to clear information for my colleagues who live in Mars
6. Follow the planet that I like and later fall in love with everything in Twitter
7. The exchange in Twitter is very interesting
8. No censor here and we can preserve the primary mode of communication here
9. To kill time
10. To follow uncle leg (@kcome)
11. I learn about twitter from kenengba and feel that as a party member I should learn more about this world
12. I can say what I want here without considering whether I should say this or how I should say this. Whether or not I would violate any law. This is the taste of freedom that I enjoy.
13. In an army school where ideological control is very strict, Twitter allows me to keep my independent citizen conscious.
14. University teacher introduces me here
15. Less liars here
16. Job requirement
17. An inevitableness choice for journalist student
18. Passion for new technology
19. At first I come here because I have a crush with a girl who is using Twitter…
20. Why not?

Technorati Tags: China, Kenengba, Oiwan Lam, twitter

China’s hackers are not very good, according to one of Areddy’s sources, but there are many of them. As a result, they throw manpower at a problem.

How do China’s hackers organize themselves?

In China’s hacking community, each person does a specific job and, rather than working for a big score, gets paid piecemeal by selling his work, cybersecurity experts say. The programmer of malicious programs usually assembles his program, as Mr. Li did, with lines of computer code he bought elsewhere. The operation works like an assembly line: The programmer then makes customers of others who pay to undertake the broader attack, spreading the malicious software, triggering it and sharing the payoff.

“The chain business is uniquely Chinese,” says a Chinese security expert for a major U.S. technology company in Shanghai. Hacker conspiracies in China are structured like multi-level sales networks and even pyramid schemes, he said, not tight-knit criminal gangs that write “technically clean” code designed from the ground up.

Hacker “crowd sourcing”—when large numbers of people contribute to writing code and executing it—reduces the risks individuals face and leaves the network intact if someone does get caught or a forum is shut, Internet security experts say.

How do China’s hackers get training?

Like most Chinese hackers, Mr. Li says he was nurtured inside the informal but active network of online chat rooms where technology break-ins are plotted. According to hackers and Internet security people, such forums are little more than criminal training schools and hardware stores, a cyber underworld where the locks on technological secrets that power online games, bank Websites and Apple Inc.’s iPhone undergo brutal stress tests from the world’s largest Internet population.

To sidestep laws against selling malicious software, programmers euphemistically advertise their hacks as “training” and “tutoring,” hackers say. Would-be distributors tout themselves as “mail senders,” while “script kiddies,” keen to build an underworld reputation, will buy hacker tools and pull the trigger.

The full article tells the tale of 27-year old hacker Li Jun and the havoc he wreaked in 2006 and 2007 with the Panda Burns Incense computer worm.

SCUTTLED SANCTIONS: While the U.S. Navy’s second fleet patrols Atlantic waters to monitor Cuba — whose cigars are banned from the United States — sailors in the Pacific fleet freely purchase and puff on Cuban stogies at a U.S. government-managed facility in Hong Kong. The cigars are sold at the pier-side Fleet Arcade, a short stumble from Club Hot Lips and other bars in the Wanchai red-light district. A servicemen’s commissary that also serves as the embarkation point for boats out to visiting navy ships, the Fleet Arcade’s shops pay rent to the U.S. government at well below market rates. Numerous sailors on leave in Hong Kong from the USS Kitty Hawk battle group have stocked up on Cohibas and Romeo Y Julieta cigars. Some probably brought them back on board, a violation of American law. Nonetheless, the battle group’s commander, Rear Admiral Steve Kunkle, said the navy had more urgent concerns than conducting a body search of more than 7,000 personnel for smuggled smokes. The admiral’s effective establishment of a “don’t ask, don’t tell” cigar policy for the navy’s Seventh Fleet certainly pleased Tony Wong, the biggest seller of Cuban cigars in the Fleet Arcade. But, Wong added, sales don’t just spike for the navy. China’s frequent cancellations of naval visits have forced him to rely heavily on the ever-eager buyers among delegations from the U.S. Congress. Link to original article here.

PS: If you want to buy cigars from Tony, here is his website, complete with a page of compliments from the US Navy and Airforce personnel.

PPS: Lest there be any misunderstanding, I fully support allowing our hard-working men (and women) in uniform to freely smoke cigars and agree with many of the sentiments expressed by Thomas Friedman’s draft Nobel acceptance speech for Obama:

“Let me begin by thanking the Nobel committee for awarding me this prize, the highest award to which any statesman can aspire. As I said on the day it was announced, ‘I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize.’ Therefore, upon reflection, I cannot accept this award on my behalf at all.

“But I will accept it on behalf of the most important peacekeepers in the world for the last century — the men and women of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

“I will accept this award on behalf of the American soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, to liberate Europe from the grip of Nazi fascism. I will accept this award on behalf of the American soldiers and sailors who fought on the high seas and forlorn islands in the Pacific to free East Asia from Japanese tyranny in the Second World War.

“I will accept this award on behalf of the American airmen who in June 1948 broke the Soviet blockade of Berlin with an airlift of food and fuel so that West Berliners could continue to live free. I will accept this award on behalf of the tens of thousands of American soldiers who protected Europe from Communist dictatorship throughout the 50 years of the cold war.

“I will accept this award on behalf of the American soldiers who stand guard today at outposts in the mountains and deserts of Afghanistan to give that country, and particularly its women and girls, a chance to live a decent life free from the Taliban’s religious totalitarianism.

“I will accept this award on behalf of the American men and women who are still on patrol today in Iraq, helping to protect Baghdad’s fledgling government as it tries to organize the rarest of things in that country and that region — another free and fair election.

“I will accept this award on behalf of the thousands of American soldiers who today help protect a free and Democratic South Korea from an unfree and Communist North Korea.

“I will accept this award on behalf of all the American men and women soldiers who have gone on repeated humanitarian rescue missions after earthquakes and floods from the mountains of Pakistan to the coasts of Indonesia. I will accept this award on behalf of American soldiers who serve in the peacekeeping force in the Sinai desert that has kept relations between Egypt and Israel stable ever since the Camp David treaty was signed.

“I will accept this award on behalf of all the American airmen and sailors today who keep the sea lanes open and free in the Pacific and Atlantic so world trade can flow unhindered between nations.

“Finally, I will accept this award on behalf of my grandfather, Stanley Dunham, who arrived at Normandy six weeks after D-Day, and on behalf of my great-uncle, Charlie Payne, who was among those soldiers who liberated part of the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald.

“Members of the Nobel committee, I accept this award on behalf of all these American men and women soldiers, past and present, because I know — and I want you to know — that there is no peace without peacekeepers.

“Until the words of Isaiah are made true and lasting — and nations never again lift up swords against nations and never learn war anymore — we will need peacekeepers. Lord knows, ours are not perfect, and I have already moved to remedy inexcusable excesses we’ve perpetrated in the war on terrorism.

“But have no doubt, those are the exception. If you want to see the true essence of America, visit any U.S. military outpost in Iraq or Afghanistan. You will meet young men and women of every race and religion who work together as one, far from their families, motivated chiefly by their mission to keep the peace and expand the borders of freedom.

“So for all these reasons — and so you understand that I will never hesitate to call on American soldiers where necessary to take the field against the enemies of peace, tolerance and liberty — I accept this peace prize on behalf of the men and women of the U.S. military: the world’s most important peacekeepers.”

Technorati Tags: Tony The Tailor Hong Kong

Why use Wikireader? Living in Hong Kong we do not have room for a full printed encyclopedia and who would pay for one when Wikipedia is out there.

On the other hand, it is incredibly anti-social to pull out your laptop to check a topic under discussion at the dinner table. The Wikireader is a great solution. You can pull it out and quickly look up the latest version of the Wikipedia.

The curious aspect is that I could also use my Blackberry or an iPhone, but generally prefer not to. I am not sure why.

The Apps economy built by Apple made me wonder if Gadgets were dead, but the Wikireader makes me feel like there is still life in them yet.

There is something highly compelling about a single usage device.

My critique of the beta version I got is that the touch screen is a little slow to react. This is particularly noticeable just after using an iPhone. After a moment, you do, however, adapt.

For the future of Wikireader, I have urged William to produce a solar powered Wikireader. Not only would it be more green than the battery powered version, but it would allow it to be used in rural areas far from regular electricity. Can you imagine the value of passing a solar-powered Wikireader to a schoolteacher in a remote rural area?

As mentioned at the top of the post (and headline) this is not a paid endorsement, but I did receive the beta version of the Wikireader for free. Thanks, William!

You can see the Wikireader here.

While in High School, my school’s principal required all teachers to read “Megatrends”, the runaway bestseller by John Naisbitt about ten big trends hitting the world.

A few weeks ago at the DLD Conference I met with John and his wife Doris for the first time and learned about their latest passion: China.

The husband-and-wife team recently completed a book on the social and economic implications of China’s rise.

The fruit of work done at the Naisbitt China institute in Tianjin, China Megatrends was published in German last month and will be coming out in English later this year.

As you can see from this video, John and Doris fall into the half-glass-full camp of China watchers, emphasizing that those looking at China’s development must recognize how much change has taken place in just 30 years. Western democracy has developed for more than 200 years with lots of bumps on the way - the same is now happening in China.

China is in the middle of an emancipation process, they said, but the goal is not to become exactly like the west. The new (digital) generation of Chinese wants to join the world, but on their own terms. In fact, China has become a model for other developing nations.

But what about the problems of corruption and pollution that is always mentioned in connection with China? No one is more aware of these problems than the Chinese themselves, John and Doris said. It is the main topic in the national newspapers and even in the speeches by president Hu Jintao.

Technorati Tags: John Naisbitt

Over here at Ogilvy, we are looking to hire more Social Media specialists in Hong Kong, both interns and more senior positions. For the Ogilvy job, send your CV and cover letter thomas.crampton at ogilvy dot com.

Organization:
Asian Programs Foundation
Location:
United States (New York, NY)
Website:
www.asianprograms.org
Compensation:
Help to get college credit where applicable.

Contact Information:
miles hankin
Email:
miles.hankin at asianprograms.org

Description:

Social Media Internship:

Do you tweet and use Facebook every day, all day? Is building social community so ingrained you just can’t stop?

We seek a highly a motivated college student with (some)experience and fanatical passion for connecting tolerant Muslim and non-Muslim communities through social media. Interest in Facebook, Twitter and digital community building is huge plus.

Duties and Responsibilities

Be the eyes and ears of our brand as if your own reputation depended on it. This position puts you in the driver seat of the social media communication for the Asian Programs Foundation.

• Create regular content for Twitter and Facebook that is on-brand.
• Grow followers and supporters on both networks through conversation, creativity and outreach
• Create and update monthly reports
• Analyze campaigns and translate anecdotal or qualitative data into recommendations and plans for revising the social media campaigns.

TO APPLY Send your resume, a sample Tweet that would make sense for us and a question you would ask our Facebook fanpage to: Miles.Hankin@asianprograms.org

Qualification:
Qualifications
• Willing to learn more about the social media world!
• Excels at research, possesses excellent writing skills and the ability to foster online conversations
• Proficient with Microsoft Office products.
• Familiar with blogging, Twitter and use of Facebook
• Demonstrated creativity and documented immersion in social media
• Able to follow a marketing strategy and then drive that strategy proven by testing and metrics
• Possesses functional knowledge or some experience with HTML

One of my favorite people in the zone of Social Media-meets-idealism, Nancy Lublin of Do Something introduces 3 trends to watch in 2010 for the use of Social Media for activism:

1- Crowdsourced philanthropy enables “the crowd” to decide to whom organizations and companies grant money. As the advisor of both Chase Community Giving and Pepsi Refresh campaigns, Lublin knows the power of this new model. As for Pepsi, they have decided to ditch the expensive SuperBowl ads and instead introduce an online project, where people can submit ideas and vote for others.

2- SMS fundraising: Texting to give has proven powerful during the Haiti crisis, where people have been able to donate money via text messaging. This model might have upset a few parents along the way as the generous children rarely pay the mobile phone bill themselves, Lublin says.

3- Slacktivism is the idea of clicking to give online. The concept has suffered from negative connotations, but Lublin says that the quick and easy way to make a difference appeals to the younger generations.