Kate Williams ponders the world of social media, and today asks..
China: do we have a Plan B?
Global ripples of shock this week, as the People's Republic of China accidentally posted the details of its plans to use the internet for - you'll never guess! - propaganda purposes. Repressive regime puts technology to work in attempt to limit dissent? No shrimp, Shar Pei.
Wang Chen - deputy director of the Propaganda Department, has apparently concluded that the internet is a useful tool "for unifying thinking, consolidating strength, assisting in our diplomatic battles and safeguarding our national interests."
Let's pause a while, and grudgingly admire both China's signature oratorical stylings, and its bracing lack of guile in naming the department responsible for propaganda ,"The Propaganda Department" - a frankness which, one speculates, could conceivably alert some citizens to the reality of their project.
Then let's finish the pause, and attempt to place this latest snippet of info in the context of what else has been going on, China-wise - a whole which, seen in toto, appears to show that China is sharpening its focus on the world wide web.
In the latest instalment of Google's Chinese Adventures, the Ministry Of Information has renewed Google's license to operate in the country - but only after the search behemoth promised to cease automatically redirecting Chinese users to its uncensored Hong Kong site, a tactic it adopted following its decision to stop filtering its results in January of this year.
The Google.cn site is now back online - but, in what the Chinese are spinning as a rather humiliating climbdown, returns only music, products and translation search results. That's right - no web-pages at all.
Since web-pages are really the only category which the authorities could have a serious interest in censoring, this does, in truth, seem to be something of a Pyrrhic victory for Google. The uneasy compromise at first appears to be ameliorated by the inclusion of an option to run the search through the still-uncensored Hong Kong site, but even this patched workaround is compromised. Yes, it allows the Chinese user to choose whether to run an uncensored search - but it also contains the implication that the responsibility for complying with censorship regulations rests with the individual user, while Google steps back and whistles nonchalantly.
It's hard to imagine how Google can effectively spin this as a victory to its users and investors. China 1, Google (maybe) 0.5.
And it's not only Google who must now be anxiously checking their stats. As the mobile sector in China continues to grow and smartphones take an increasingly hefty share of the market, mapping services look set to muscle up to search, in terms of their relative potential.
Unsurprisingly - and despite the fact that Google's mobile mapping service currently boasts some 2 million users - its name was conspicuously absent when Beijing announced its updated list of approved mapping providers. More worryingly, not a single foreign firm has so far been judged to be of sufficiently 'excellent quality' to pass muster. No Nokia, no Microsoft, both of whom, according to the Guardian, were thought to be in the regime's good books. China is clearly having a bit of a think about this whole internet thing.
Equally ominously, China's Academy of Social Sciences recently turned its basilisk gaze on social networking sites, alleging that they were US-backed hotbeds of "political subversion" during last year's Iranian protests, and during the violent unrest which led to 200 deaths in Xinjian. To be fair, you don't have to look to hard to find a trigger for that last one: US defence secretary Robert Gates' recently commented that Twitter and other new communications developments amounted to a "huge strategic asset".
So it's fair to see that the Chinese appear to have social networks firmly in their sites.
This week, China's growing army of microbloggers were shaken when two of the country's Twitter lookey-likeys were unexpectedly taken down 'for maintenance' - an excuse commonly given when sites have fallen foul of the authorities. At the same time, several well-established microblogging services began displaying a mysterious 'beta' icon. Last year, before it had a chance to go mainstream, the authorities blocked Twitter itself - but not before it had spawned several home-grown competitors which - though they self-censor in accordance with Chinese rules - have rapidly gained popularity. Now rumours are flying that the services have been told to purge themselves of 'sensitive' content, and users are rushing to back up their feeds and contacts.
The moral? Hard, yet, to tell. While the renewal of Google's Internet Content Provider license draws a line under that particular debacle, it's quite clear that this show ain't over, not by a long chalk. Not yet time to run around screaming, but if you are CEO of one of the many Western tech companies whose expectations of profitability-to-come are intimately interwoven with China's future - there's never been a better moment to rifle through that drawer marked 'Alternative Options'.
Old Spice: The Smell of Social Success
Squeal! Could there be anything more delicious, more utterly knowing, more entirely hip to the hop than this spring's Old Spice ad, in which the astoundingly handsome Isaiah Mustafa hypnotically intones that he is the man our man could smell like, if only he'd avail himself of some of that good Old Spice stuff?
Why yes, Mesdames-'ssieurs - yes, there could!
This week, Wieden + Kennedy, the chaps behind the phenomongously viral campaign, displayed their utter mastery of both mood and moment with a flurry of personalized videos that the Spicemeister tweeted out to individual members of the blogocracy, as well as to various internet randoms who'd name-checked him. Not only is he kicking these videos out at a rate of knots, but they are clever, sexy and wildly funny - check out the one he made for goss-hound Perez Hilton here.
Mashable reports that the 180-odd videos have attracted - wait for it - 5.9 million views. Spice man has moved with enviable self-assurance and sinuous grace into the social media space, where he's rearranged the furniture, kicked off his shoes, mixed himself a Cuba Libre and generally made it his own. This is advertising which winks at you with just the right amount of a come-on to make you genuinely and uncomplicatedly happy. Agencies: look at this ad, now back at me. This is the success your success could smell like, if only you didn't smell like a lady.
Shock News just in: Spice Man has thrown in the towel, thus adding a delicious understanding of the Zen-like beauty of the short-lived to his long list of accomplishments. I'm too choked up to say more than that - sorry.
A bientôt, mes amis!
For more social media snippets, follow @emodkate - or for general twittery, @KateVWilliams.