Yesterday’s AmCham event ‘Under the Digital Influence’ gave an excellent overview of the internet scene in China. There were two panels, the first entitled “Decoding China's Internet Scene” and the second “The Business of Blogging.” Panelists consisted of a virtual who’s who of the China internet world (I’m inclined to say ‘no pun intended’ but I haven’t decided whether it was yet). The discussion was pretty engaging, and it was one of those rare panel events where no one looked sleepy in the 3+ hours.

The first group gave a good amount of insight into a few topics, most interestingly the issue of firewalls/blocking of sites in China. The panelists (Sam Flemming [correction thanks to Dan Harris: Micah Foreman replaced Sam Flemming], Andrew Lih, David Wolf and moderator Matt Roberts whose bios can be found here) talked about the apparent government process of deciding which sites to block. I say ‘apparent’ because officials do not comment on what sites are blocked or why. In contrast, other countries often provide lists of banned sites and reasons (pornography, political sensitivity etc).

Another interesting exchange was about the development of web 2.0 (social communities like Facebook etc) in China. The panelists generally agreed that there has not been enough local innovation here despite the wealth of technology talent. Many times Chinese simply adapt foreign favorites, even for sites with basic function like search engine Baidu (which is practically a replication of Google). Andrew Lih even claimed that at one point users in China trying to get to Google were literally redirected to Baidu, something which I had never heard, but somehow find easy to believe.

The second group (Dan Harris, Chris Devonshire-Ellis, Will Moss, and moderator Jeremy Goldkorn) debated the usefulness of blogging in business. It was an interesting mix because Dan and Chris both use their blogs to increase the profile of their law and accounting/law businesses respectively through industry commentary. In contrast, Will specifically differentiates his blog from his company, although he also talks about his area of expertise, public relations.

These two separate camps gave unique perspectives on the usefulness—and potential risks—involved in running such sites. For Chris and Dan the benefits seem clear, as they are able to increase their profiles, demonstrate their industry knowledge, and stay on top of trends. Chris pointed out that in the end blogs are only worthwhile in the firm-oriented model if it ultimately can bring in more business, although he conceded that it is difficult to quantify. Meanwhile, Dan relayed a story about unspecified company responding to a post in which he criticized their China strategy by calling and hiring him to change their course.

The benefits for bloggers like Will are much more ambiguous. While one could argue that this type of blog is based on ego—something which I am lucky enough to lack completely—Will made the point that the blogging community serves as a social networking tool, something with which I wholeheartedly agree. It is amazing the number of people whom I have met as a result of Daily Tea Leaves. Of course, for us, the real purpose is to bring attention and traffic to our website, ChinaExpat.com, and our monthly magazine.

And what was AmCham’s motivation? They are launching a new website and blog. Figures.