University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Motivations and habits of China's mommy bloggers

(USC Thesis Other)

Motivations and habits of China's mommy bloggers

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content

MOTIVATIONS AND HABITS OF CHINA’S MOMMY BLOGGERS

by

Junzhou Chen

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS)

May 2011

Copyright 2011 Junzhou Chen
ii

Table of Contents
List of Tables iii

List of Figures iv

Abstract v

Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Blogs, Bloggers and Mommy Bloggers 1
The Chinese Blogosphere 4
Mommy Bloggers Matter 8

Chapter 2: Communication Plan 11
Goal 11
Statement of Challenges/Opportunities 14

Chapter 3: Research and Findings 19
Methodology 19

Chapter 4: Case Study – Second-eyed Beauty’s Private Kitchen 32
Background 32
Why Study Second-eyed Beauty’s Private Kitchen? 34
SWOT 35
Communication Goals 41
Objectives 42
Strategies and tactics 44

Chapter 5: Conclusion 56

Bibliography 58
iii

List of Tables
Table 1: Interviewee Profile - Hua Chen 26
Table 2: Interviewee Profile - Jingqi Liu 27
Table 3: Interviewee Profile - Xiaohong Lao 27
Table 4: Interviewee Profile - Qing Gu 27
Table 5: Interview Summary 28
Table 6: Interview Summary, Continued 29
Table 7: Interview Summary, Continued 30
iv

List of Figures
Figure 1: Common Categories of Blogs in China 12
Figure 2: Users of Renren and Kaixin 13
Figure 3: Top 10 Blogs on Sina of All Times 17
Figure 4: Infographic: China’s Social Media Evolution 23
Figure 5: China’s Social Network Personalities - Kaixiner 24
Figure 6: China’s Social Network Personalities - Doubaner 25
Figure 7: Categories of Wang's Blog 32
Figure 8: Wang's Online Outlets 33
Figure 9: The Long Tail Theory 36
Figure 10: Top 16 Gourmet Blogs on SIna of All Time 43
Figure 11: Top 16 Gourmet Blogs on Sina of the Week 44
Figure 12: Synthesis of Wang's Online Outlets 46
Figure 13: Snapshot of Wang's Microblog 57
v

Abstract
Mommy blogging in China is receiving more attention with the bloggers actively
involving in many kinds of on- and off-line activities. Xiaoxing Wang, a famous mommy
blogger who keeps three blogs, one microblog, one online store, one podcaster and
writer of seven best-sell lifestyle books, is used as the case to study a typical Chinese
mommy blogger’s blogging habits and her backstage motivations.

Key words Mommy Blogger  China  Internet
1

Chapter 1: Introduction
Blogs, Bloggers and Mommy Bloggers
Contracted from the word “weblog,” which is generally agreed to have been
invented by Jorn Barger for his Robot Wisdom web site in December 1997, “blog”
describes a type of web site that is usually maintained by an individual or organization
with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events and/or other content like
graphics and video (Baker 2008). Entries in a blog are commonly displayed in reverse-
chronological order. Like many other great inventions that have placed significant
impact on society, the term “blog” has led to derivations by lexical category, such as
“blog” (verb, to write a blog) and “blogger” (noun, a person who writes blogs).
Since its advent in 1997, and with the development of easy-to-use blog software,
the number of blogs had risen to at least 133 million worldwide according to Technorati
by the end of 2008 (Winn 2009). However, even Technorati researchers were
overwhelmed by the millions of blogs in the blogosphere and decided to narrow down
the number of blogs it tracked (Stern 2010).
As the birthplace and incubator of blogs, the United States has the largest
population of bloggers. According to State of the Blogosphere 2010, the latest research
report from Technorati, 38% of all bloggers come from the US, 33% from North America
(excluding the US), 19% from Europe and 8% from Asia-Pacific area (Sobel 2010).
However, because the survey was administered only in English it is difficult to estimate
the blogger populations in non-English speaking countries. Another result provided by
2

Technorati in its 2007 report may shed some light on this subject. In terms of blog posts
by language, Japanese took the top spot with 37% of the posts followed by English at
36% and Chinese at 8% for the third spot (David 2007).
Among all the respondents, users in the age of 25-44 make up the largest cohort
with 57% people falling in this age group. The division between male and female
bloggers changed from a relatively even proportion of 54% and 46% in 2006 (Lenhart
and Fox 2006) to 63% and 37%. Compared to the general population, bloggers are more
affluent and educated with 79% of them having college degrees and 43% holding
graduate degrees. One-third of all the respondents claim a household income of
$75,000 and up. As blogging has become a part of the mainstream, the average blogger
has produced three or more blogs for two or more years. Statistics show that 81% of all
respondents have been blogging for more than two years and a professional blogger
spends more than ten hours per week running three or four blogs. Among them 11%
claim that blogging has become their primary source of income (Sobel 2010).
Nevertheless, with the increasing popularity of social media platforms like Twitter
and new achievements in mobile technology, “blogging” has changed in form, content
and the way people use it. The microblog – as suggested by its word-formation –differs
from a traditional blog with a smaller actual/aggregate file size of content. The advent of
microblogs largely changes people’s blogging habits and those of readers’ as well.
Seventy-eight % of all participants in Technorati’s survey are using Twitter to promote
their blogs, bring interesting links to light, keep up with news and events and
3

understand what people are buzzing about. Some even responded that Twitter is a tool
they use to market business for themselves (Sobel 2010).
Therefore, it is necessary to provide some criteria in selecting study subjects in this
thesis. On the one hand, the definition of blog has changed. It is sometimes very hard to
distinguish a blog from a blog site. On the other hand, the definition of blogger has also
changed as more and more individuals begin to keep a microblog. Following the
classifications used by Technorati, there are four major types of traditional bloggers:
Hobbyists – People who blog for fun and don’t receive income from blogging.
Hobbyists make up the largest cohort of bloggers.
Part-Timers – People who spend significant time on their blogs to
supplement their income. Blogging has become a part-time job for them.
Corporates – People who blog full-time for a company or organization. They
are the smallest cohort of all blogger types and are most likely to have had
experience in traditional media.
Self-Employeds – People who devote a large amount of time creating blog
content full-time or occasionally for their own business. Self-Employeds tend
to blog about business and retain wide visibility in their industry.
With consideration of the above classifications and new trends in microblogging, in
this thesis the term “mommy bloggers” refers to the collection of moms or moms-to-be
who meet the following criteria:
4

1. Blog frequently (twice per week or more) or on a regular basis
1
.
2. Blog for fun or their own business. They are Hobbyists, Part-Timers or Self-
Employeds but not Corporates.
3. Write content with clear and coherent themes.
4. Run at least one traditional blog. For the purpose of this thesis, microbloggers
will not be examined. Has an average readership of 50,000 per entry.
Usually a mommy blogger starts her blog by writing about her children and family
life. Topics commonly cover pregnancy, infertility, postpartum depression, premature
birth, food preparation for infants and young children and so on. Some may talk about
lifestyle, budgeting, pop culture, current events and spousal issues as well. Mommy
bloggers usually use informal and narrative language to write “stories.” Their blogs are,
indeed, extensions of their journals and diaries. Readers are entertained by the humor
and feel closeness and loyalty to the blogger like long-time friends.
The Chinese Blogosphere
The notion of the blog was first introduced to China by early-adopting tech-savvy
communities in 2002. The first Chinese blog site was called CNblog.org, founded by Isaac
Mao, a web entrepreneur, and a Chinese teacher who he found on Blogger.com.
CNblog.org soon developed into the hub of a community of Chinese blog and social
software devotees. They later developed the first Chinese blogging tools and promoted

1
According to the Survey Report on Blogs in China 2007 from China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC),
only 37% of all ordinary Chinese bloggers were qualified as “active bloggers” who update their blogs at least once per
month. It also shows that bloggers who make updates more than once a week make up over 50% of all bloggers.
Considering the development in China’s blogosphere since 2007 and the special characters of mommy bloggers, a
minimum updating frequency of two times a week is a rational measurement criterion.
5

such apps to friends and families. At the same time, the first blog-hosting service in
China – Blogchina (now Bokee) -- was established by Xingdong Fang, a former journalist
and web entrepreneur (MacKinnon 2007).
It took blogging some time and effort to penetrate the China market. Chinese
people are known for being conservative. Revealing emotions and exposing one’s
personal life in front of the public was considered very inappropriate and against social
norms. Ironically, it was one woman taking a very different path that popularized
blogging in China. The woman blogger a.k.a. Mu Zi Mei, rose to national notoriety with
her daily-updated blog about her sex life in 2003, and attracted many people in China to
blogs.
Another cause that catalyzed the evolution of blogging in China was the “death” of
several famous forums and bulletin boards (BBS) in 2004. BBS is a free-for-all platform
where people are allowed to speak freely online and hide themselves with fake user-
names to ensure their anonymity. Therefore, many Chinese journalists would post
reports that were too politically sensitive on BBS People with different politic beliefs
used BBS to express their thoughts and arguments, but BBS became the target of
government officials.
In the fall of 2004, a then-famous BBS “SMTH”, hosted at Tsinghua University, was
the first to be called off. Users who were not currently students/faculty on the
university campus were blocked from using SMTH. Meanwhile, government authorities
began to require BBS users to register their real names and personal information if they
6

wanted to use the BBS service. Similar crackdowns were replicated on other major BBS
sites across China and forced many users to leave and look for a new place to hold their
online communications. Blogs then became the choice of these people.
As a result, in late 2004 blog hosting service providers such as Bokee and Blogbus
reported a sharp increase in new user registration. The Chinese blogosphere exploded in
size in 2005 with a population of 4.3 million bloggers (CNNIC 2007).
According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) as of June
2010, the Chinese networks that are currently accessing the global Internet are hosts to
2.79 million web sites and 420 million users (CNNIC 2010). Since then China has
overtaken the US as the country with the largest number Internet users in the world.
Among all Chinese Internet users, 55% are male and 45% are female. But when it
comes to the blogosphere, women dominate this field by making up 57% of the cohort
(CNNIC 2007). By contrast, in the US over two thirds of all bloggers are male. In order to
understand such situation, a closer look at Chinese bloggers’ content and their blogging
motivations is necessary..
In a survey conducted by CNNIC, more than half of all respondents say their blogs
are a reflection of their daily personal life. Personal musings are the most common topic
selected by 47% of survey participants. Following this category, family updates, interests
and hobbies, and relationships are the other three most popular topics among more
than 20% of Chinese bloggers. Interestingly, such topics are also the most read ones as
stated by Chinese blog readers in the same survey report. (CNNIC 2007)
7

Another fact worth noting is that students make up the biggest cohort of all
bloggers. Four out of ten Chinese bloggers are students. More than 51% of respondents
have a minimum education level of college or some college. (CNNIC 2007)
We can conclude, then, that female students with a college education or above are
most likely to be active bloggers and blog readers. They write and stories about people’s
personal lives, family issues, relationships and interests and hobbies. Such topics are
generally neutral or positive ones that do no harm to other people. Common blog
readers find such content very easy to read and accept and turn such information into
daily conversation.
This phenomenon may be attributed to the following factors: 1) The functions
provided by blogs largely meet young Chinese females’ needs to record daily life,
express personality and socialize with others as well as their spiritual pursuits. 2) As a
communication tool/platform, blogs satisfy Chinese females’ requirements for
convenient communications and user-friendly gadgets 3) Compared to information from
other online content providers, blogs are friendlier to female users. Male Internet users
are usually more interested in hard news, sports, current events, politics and adult
information. 4) Blog Service Providers (BSP) based on IM platforms such as Tencet.com
(QQ) and MSN Spaces have a very large user base. Chinese users are three times more
active on MSN Spaces than users from any other country, with the US users in second
place (Hurst 2006). The blog-space service is a huge attraction to young female users to
turn blogs into a showroom to present their daily lives and personal insight to friends
8

and strangers. Authorities such as teachers, parents, supervisors and even government
are being over ridden by innovation, citizen creativity and experimentation with self-
expression and identity. This trend is creating huge strides in an authoritarian country
which is widely described to be the “most sophisticated Internet censorship regime in
the world (Lagerkvist 2010).” The state-owned news media like CCTV (China Central
Television) have been losing viewers to new media for lacking of quick response to
breaking news and reporting biased stories.
Mommy Bloggers Matter
We know that women have great buying power. In the UK, women make 80% of
all purchasing decisions, including 65% of all cars and 90% of all holiday and home items
according to a research result from an UK marketing agency Iris (Costa 2010). In the US,
35% of wives in double-income households make more than their husbands. In a
YouTube video created by She-conomy.com, a major marketing research and study
website targeting women, it was noted that over the next 10 years, women will control
two-thirds of consumer wealth in the US. Eighty-five percent of all brand purchases are
made by women. However, 91% of women feel that advertisers do not understand their
needs (She-conomy.com 2010). Although there is no hard number on China due to
historically lack of studies on this field, there is still an obvious trend in Chinese women’s
growing purchasing power.
9

A mommy blog is the perfect answer for communication/marketing/PR people. It
is a network full of tech-savvy professionals who have a direct approach to the
demographic of women who spend more than $2 trillion a year.
This is not a US-only phenomenon. In Europe, spectator consumers who read
and listen to ratings/reviews on social media make up 40% of all Internet users, whereas
only 10% trust brand web sites, according to Forrester’s Social Technographics
segmentation (Jennings, et al. 2008).
Moms could be considered as the ultimate Internet networkers. They actively
look for other moms’ advice. Mommy blogs cover a wide range of themes, from
parenting, family issues, health and relationships to topics that are not usually
associated with women, like technology, the environment, automobiles and business.
Secondly, they are very much involved in making and keeping connections,
which makes them much more likely to be friends with like-minded people than any
other bloggers. Mommy bloggers usually have very strong commitment to their
community to look for recognition and self-identification. Interacting with readers and
peers means a lot to mommy bloggers.
Mommy bloggers are often more likely to follow brands through social media
than bloggers in general. They talk about the brands they love or dislike the products
they just purchased and the vacation destination they just visited. More than half of
them have been approached by brands asking to be written about in their blogs. The
tonality in a mommy blog is often sincere, conversational and confessional. Most take
10

great care not to sound like journalists or critics. Therefore, mommy blog readers find
the articles friendly to read and follow. Also since it is like reading a diary or a journal of
a friend whose life is not a mystery to them, readers subconsciously project a sense of
trust to the content and writer.

11

Chapter 2: Communication Plan
Goal
Mom blogging is fast becoming a trend that no communication/marketing/PR
people can ignore. Brands and manufacturers have found such communication channels
very cheap, efficient and effective. However in China, the country with the biggest
population of Internet users, there is even not a term for such “mommy bloggers.”
Blogging in China happens mostly on three types of platforms: blog sites, blog channels
of a major portal web site, or blogs of a person’s page on social network site.
Blog sites – The biggest two blog sites in China are Bokee ( 博客网), and Blogbus
( 博客大巴). In such blog sites, each blog is assigned to a certain group that
describes the common theme. Generally people who keep their blogs on such
sites appreciate the neat and coherent blogging environment. Unlike the blog
pages on portal web sites and social network sites which contain a great amount
of content that are irrelevant to blogging, a blog site is a platform purely for
writing. Influential bloggers on such sites are normally people who have
excellent writing skills and deep thoughts. Examples are: The Witch ( 女巫店) by
Nao Nao, FRJJ ( 芙蓉姐姐) by Sister Lotus and On the Road by Raymond. Blog
sites are widely used by grass root bloggers. Many blogger celebrities earn their
popularity from such sites.
12

Figure 1: Common Categories of Blogs in China

Blog channels of a major portal web site – These types of blogs are the most
viewed because many celebrities keep blogs on such sites. The top three ones in
China are blog channels from Sina ( 新浪), Sohu ( 搜狐) and 163 ( 网易). The best
part of such blogs is that they authenticate a user’s information.
Another growing path for users of such channels was to participate in “Blog
Contests.”
2
During the first a few years when the Chinese blogosphere began to
prosper, “Blog Contests” were one of the most widely used tactics to draw
people’s attention and increase visitors and users. Sina initiated its First Chinese
Blog Contest on September 23, 2005 and Sohu Global Chinese Blog Contest
began two days later. Each contest recruited more than 5,000 bloggers to
participate and successfully developed thousands of blog users/readers. This was

2
The blog contests were initiated by the major blog hosts. They invited users to keep their blogs using blogging
services provided by the hosts. Competition usually lasted three to four months. Diverse categories were set by the
organizer at the beginning of the contests, such as parenting, sports and entertainment. Users could choose a
category based on their preferences. The result of each contest usually consisted two parts: readers’ vote and
professional judges’ vote.
13

the year Chinese blogosphere started to grow and such contests should be
greatly credited for it.
Blogs on a social network site – Although worldwide famous social networks like
Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China, Chinese Internet users have access to
their Chinese counterparts: Renren (formerly known as Xiaonei), Kaixin and Sina
Microblog.
Most users of Renren are students or recently graduates aged from 16 to
25 while Kaixin has a broader user base. Many college students in their senior
grades and recently graduated students have active accounts on both sites.
However, more users on Renren.com write blogs and create original content,
whereas most Kaixin users share web-site pages from other sources.
Figure 2: Users of Renren and Kaixin

One reason of this is that because Renren is a network with real friends
(like Facebook) and people love to share their own personal stories with friends.
Also, college students have relatively more leisure hours to spend, so a network
(quanzi) of friends naturally becomes an ideal platform to keep diaries and
record one’s daily life. When someone blogs on a social network site, he/she
14

expects that his/her friends will share the entry with their friends as a way to
spread the story.
In addition to the three main types of blog sites, some tech-savvy well-known
writers/bloggers who have their own domains and servers, take a detour to avoid widely
occurring censorship from each hosting site as required by the authority. For this group
of people, blogs are the extended medium to reach their existing fans. They started off-
line and use blogging to maintain ties with like-minded people.
Statement of Challenges/Opportunities
Opportunities
The pros of a well-run Chinese mom blog are obvious. First of all, it has a huge
reader base that one can hardly find elsewhere. Female Internet users in China are more
active than males according to CNNIC’s research. Blogging and following others on a
blog network is a way to present one’s personality and talent. Moms who blog are
usually grouped into categories such as: gourmet, parenting, education, cooking and
relationships. The need for information source of this type is increasing. The post-80
3

(80 后) generation, most of whom are the only child in their parents’ family due to the
one-child policy, are turning into parents themselves. These young parents, compared
to their parents at this age, have much less experience and knowledge in taking care of
infants and doing housework. They are heavy users of Internet who would rather
Google search answers for healthcare solutions than consult a physician.

3
People born in the 1980s.
15

Secondly, readers are very loyal to mom blogs. Unlike other mainstream blogs
talking about politics, finance or society, the contents of a mom blog are very easy to
read and respond to. Readers feel strongly connected to the blog and the blogger
because they consider themselves contributors through their comments and responses.
Another key opportunity is the wide range of topics, from parenting to social life,
from romance to education, from cooking to housekeeping, etc. As a blogger’s children
grow, she is expected to meet all kinds of challenges and thus has myriad stories to tell.
Many of the stories contain dramatic conflicts per se, which means even without many
fancy writing skills, one can tell a pretty amusing story.
Product reviews are another fairly important component of a mom blog,
although they not often in the form of real “reviews.” From a marketing perspective,
product reviews from a real-life writer who is an expert in her field is much more
credible than plant-in commercials or advertisements. Chinese people today are very
skeptical of any kind of advertising. A product review on a mommy blog is not entirely
advertising but does the same (even better) trick. However, a blogger must be very
careful; For blogs catering to specific audiences, the line between objective evaluations
of commercial products and paid-for product placement posts has often been blurred.
This issue in the US has been addressed by the FCC mandating disclosure for all bloggers
receiving freebies/samples.
16

The economic downtown creates needs for information and tips on making
budget-wise purchase decisions. “Thrifty mommy bloggers” is what such a group of
bloggers is called.
Last but not the least, given the strict censorship and self-censorship structures
overlaid upon every publishing medium, mommy blogs are naturally safe from such
troubles. Topics in a mom blog are “harmonious” – healthy, touch no sensitive issues,
suitable for people of any age group to read. Furthermore, from an operational point of
view, a mom blog is very easy to run, especially for beginners. All major blog sites
provide free templates and modules for users to choose. Customizing is very simple, too.
Managing a mom blog is low-cost. It takes only one person to create content and
maintain daily operations. Because all content (text, photo and video) is used online
only, it does not require professional techniques. Pictures and video clips taken by smart
phones are also appropriate for such blogs. There are limited barriers to entry.
Challenges
One of the things that may influence the popularity of a certain blog is
differentiating oneself from other similar ones. Low entry barriers, on the one hand,
generates ample opportunities for beginners, which means there can be a glut of
content. For the most part, mom blogs offer similar content to anxious parents. Blog
readers don’t seek too many opinions on the same issue, so the majority of them
read/follow/consult only one to two blogs. Given such circumstances, being the first,
the most popular and the most reachable one is crucial to the success of a mom blog.
17

The writer’s personality, communication and writing skills and sense of current trends
are critical if she is to thrive as a blogger. Furthermore, writing and reading are very
personal experience. Writers, unlike product manufacturers, are not necessarily willing
to change their style or tonality just to cater to readers, and vice versa.
Although the value and benefits of a mom blog have been widely recognized,
there are still many old-school manufacturers/brands sticking to traditional media
where they can “see” their customers. Additionally, blogging or blog reading all need
access to a computer and Internet, which is still not widespread in China. Many people
living in rural China do not have access to such technology. Competition in the
blogosphere is also fierce. Checking the blog billboards, mom blogs rarely reach the top
five genres people think about. Readers are more likely to associate blogs with
celebrities, their friends, social-affairs critics and financial analysts. Interestingly, among
the top ten bloggers on Sina’s blog site, seven of them are stock analysts, one social-
affair critic and writer, one former sports commentator and writer, and one actress.
Similar ratings occur on Sohu’s blog site as well.
Figure 3: Top 10 Blogs on Sina of All Times

18

Contenders are not only other blog writers, but active users on social networks
such as Renren, Kaixin and Douban ( 豆瓣). Social connection is an irreversible trend
which is getting more and more people involved. Generally speaking, interactive
communications are comparatively more common and easier to occur on nonlinear
social network web sites. Bloggers are not actively engaged in communication with
readers, in most cases.
19

Chapter 3: Research and Findings
The purpose of research is to gather information needed to develop proper
communication/PR strategies and tactics for a Chinese mom blogger Xiaoxing Wang and
her several online communication platforms. The challenge in this campaign is to
understand the psychological needs and online behaviors of the followers to the blog.
The research provides clues to identify who are the key audiences that should be
targeted and what the best channel/ presenting platform are to find them. The use of
different wordings in key messages will also be tested.
Methodology
In this thesis, both secondary and primary research was conducted to acquire
data and answers.
Secondary Research:
The author reviewed many published academic journals, online articles,
magazine reports, books and whitepapers on mommy blogging and blogging in China
and in general. Comparisons on different mom bloggers’ topic coverage, updating
frequency, followers/ RSS statistics and comments and replies were conducted as well.
Analysis of readers’ gender, education background, occupation and age also was
conducted.
 Findings:
 Demographics (Who are they?)
20

After studying Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere2007 – 2010 and
CNNIC’s Report on the Internet Development in China 2009 – 2010 and Report on
Blogs in China 2007, the result of this question is:
They are female aged 20 to mid-40’s, with and education background of
some college, college and above.
The 26-32 age group makes up the largest cohort of blog readers. As for
occupation and income, they are full-time white-collar workers including
company employees, junior and senior high school teachers, journalists, entry-
level engineers and entry-level local/state government officers with a monthly
salary varying from 5,000RMB – 9,000RMB (approximately 760USD – 1,360 USD).
These people are active blog readers and bloggers. They believe in the
power of good writing. Topics that interest them are “petty bourgeoisie” lifestyle
(xiaozi shenghuo), travelling, social trends, fashion, relationships and office
politics.
4
This group of people has strong confidence in their thoughts and
themselves. They are eager to voice their opinions but less enthusiastic about
listening to others.
Women in their early 20’s are being neglected because they are not in
the normal reader groups of mom blogs. They are young and dynamic, but, most
importantly have no children and, in most cases, were the only child in their

4
“Petty bourgeoisie” lifestyle in China is often referred middle to upper class life standard. Usually it is associated
with popular western lifestyle.
21

home growing up. However, they are surprisingly loyal readers because most
content in a mommy blog inspires their fantasies about their future.
Readers in this age group are mostly college and some-college students
or recently graduated ones. They are often troubled by problems with boyfriends,
parents and roommates. Relationship is the key word in their world. These
women are very troubled by the double-standard requirements widely spread in
society. On the one hand, they are expected to be the new generation of
independent women who have a successful career and tough minded. On the
other hand, they are still fettered by the traditional restraints about women’s
role as housewives who take good care of their husband and children (xiang fu
jiao zi). Therefore, reading mom blogs could become a way for them to shun
everyday stress. Mommy bloggers to some extent serve as role models. They
may be perceived as: wise, kind, satisfied, energetic, social and happy with their
family and marriage.
Female readers from 33 to 45 are the least active cohort among the three
segments. Compared to the previous two groups, women in this group spend
more time reading and browsing. They are not actively engaged in blogging and
are fairly indifferent to it, because they are occupied with off-line life. Internet or
blogging is just some recreation they can live or live without. For the other thing,
they are relatively more confident in their life and themselves, thus feeling no
need to “prove” their achievements to others.
22

These women usually show few initiatives and devotions into any online
community structures. However their opinions and word, once they make, are
perceived of high quality thus making strong influence and receive extensive
recognition.
Readers classified in this category are typically career women in mid to
senior levels working at international/multi-national companies in first tier cities
along the coast such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Some may
be in other well-developed cities like Chengdu, Chongqing and Qingdao.
Changsha is also another city where these women might resident in because of
the highly cultivated entertainment industry in Hunan Province. Even though
blogs are online creations that are not confined by geo-location limits, such
information is valuable to see what topics are likely to attract them and what are
the taboos must be taken very carefully with.
 Internet using behaviors/habits
Although compared with its development in the West the Internet in
China is a few steps behind the trend, its functions in providing recreation and
information are good and comprehensive.
First of all, in order to identify target audiences’ Internet using behaviors,
a general knowledge of the major components of the Chinese digital world is
necessary.
23

Below is an infographic of 16 types of popular recreation social media
web sites and their Chinese counterparts created by Ogilvy’s China social media
team (Crampton 2011). It helps for Western researchers who are not familiar
with the Chinese Internet industry to understand its components and divisions.
Figure 4: Infographic: China’s Social Media Evolution

According to an SNS analysis by Ogilvy China’s Digital360 group, the
major five SNS in China now are: Kaixin, Facebook, Douban, Renren and Q-zone.
24

Although Facebook is blocked by GFW
5
, there are ways to circumvent (fanqiang)
such systems and get re-directed to the site.
Ogilvy also created cartoon characters to portray typical heavy users of
these five SNS web sites (Crampton, China’s Social Network Personalities 2010).
Among them, Kaixin users (Kaixiner) and Douban users (Doubaner) are the closet
to the target audience segmentation for this project.
Figure 5: China’s Social Network Personalities - Kaixiner

Typical Kaixin users are aged 24 to 36. This is a generation raised with the
Chinese TV boom. Their world views have been largely affected by the Western
ideologies. They watch American TV shows and Japanese TV dramas online a lot.
These people look forward to Western lifestyle but do not actually want to live
in the Western countries. They like gossip and sharing articles that are amusing,

5
The Great Firewall of China, a censorship and surveillance project operated by the Ministry of Public Security division
of the Chinese government.
25

touching and exciting with friends. Most of their friends on Kaixin are colleagues
from work; some are class-mates from high school and college.
For those in 24 to 27 age bracket, social network games are a big
attraction. From Farm Valley to Little Chef, from Fishing to Parking Lot, gaming
provides an alternative to connect with friends online.
For users in the 28 to 35 age group, Kaixin is more like a stage to show
their life to others. They upload new photos of themselves, their family, work
place and home from time to time.
Figure 6: China’s Social Network Personalities - Doubaner

Douban’s market position aims at young dynamic college students,
recent graduated students and entry-level company employees. The biggest
difference between this group of users and the same age Kaixiners is that the
former cares more about “high-end” matters like philosophy, politics, social
26

movements and so on. They are active speakers who “have an opinion on
everything.”
Doubaners are firm believers in the power of knowledge and education.
They are somewhat geeky but have strong curiosity. Doubaners like to discuss
serious topics about life and love. Music, films, and books are what they use to
define themsleves and label others. Like many Chinese people, food is a major
issue in their life. But in comparison with average Chinese, Doubaners take such
recreation activities a way to “go back to one’s heart” and “seek the true self
hidden under”. Much extra value is added to common things.
Primary Research
The author interviewed two long-time followers of a few influential Chinese
mom bloggers and two casual blog readers. The purpose was to identify 1. General
readers’ perceptions of mom blogs. 2. The qualities they seek in a good mom blogger. 3.
Specific impacts those moms’ blogs have in terms of changing the followers’ behavior
and attitudes.
 Interviewee Profiles:
Table 1: Interviewee Profile - Hua Chen
Hua Chen 36. Female. Single.HR Director of Dongjing Tea Co., Ltd.
Education B.E. in Computer Science, East China Normal University
Background Local Shanghainese. Worked in an international IT company for
three years after graduation. Immigrated to Canada ten years ago.
Moved back to Shanghai three years ago.
Interests Salsa dancing, backpacking, reading and other lifestyle related
subjects.

27

Table 2: Interviewee Profile - Jingqi Liu
Jingqi Liu 25. Female. Single. Graduate student from University of Uppsala,
Sweden. Vice President of Exchange, AIESEC Uppsala.
Education M.S. candidate in Media and Communication. B.A. in Journalism,
Tsinghua University.
Background Born and raised in Chengdu. Spent four years in Beijing for
undergraduate study. Went to Uppsala, Sweden for graduate study
after graduation in 2009.
Interests cooking, event planning, travelling, dancing

Table 3: Interviewee Profile - Xiaohong Lao
Xiaohong Lao 25. Female. Single. Project Manager, Shanghai Posts &
Telecommunications Designing Consulting Institute Co., Ltd.
Education B.M. in Engineering Management, Shanghai Normal University
Background Local Shanghainese. Born in a below-middle family. Grew up with
grandparents. Has strong willingness to start her own family.
Interests Pastry cooking, Yoga, video gaming

Table 4: Interviewee Profile - Qing Gu
Qing Gu 34. Female. Married. Manager
Education Bachelor in Arts
Background Local Beijinger. Been to overseas countries for travel and business.
Lives with her husband in a small apartment close to her parents’
home. Doesn’t cook often; usually goes to her parents’ place for
dinner.
Interests Reading, video gaming, Internet surfing, shopping

28

 Core questions and responses:
Table 5: Interview Summary
Loyal Followers Casual Readers
Under what circumstances do you read a mom blog?
Subscription through RSS. As long as they
have time to read for recreation.
When they decide to have a baby.
When they have nothing else to read.
When something occurs and they have
to look for such information. (i.e., Help a
close friend who needs such
information)
When being reminded of some
interesting topics such as movies
How did you learn about the blog?
Word-of-mouth reputation
Read about somewhere else and got
linked to the blog.
The first two to three results come out
via Google/Baidu search.
Check Sina/Sohu Blog’s ranking list of
this type.

29

Table 6: Interview Summary, Continued
What interests you in a mom blog? (What do you like about the mom blog you
read?)
Cooking tips/recipes.
Suggestions on where-to-go.
Budget-wise shopping tips.
“I like the way they write. Reading their
articles is like listening to an old friend. It’s
a pleasure even with the content teaching
you how to use Photoshop to edit a
picture.
Moms are natural communicators! They
just do it in a right way.
And because, I guess, they are moms,
they’re super patient and nice. I really like
leaving messages on their blogs, because
they do reply in most times.” – Qing Gu
“I don’t think I would be very interested
in a mom blog. … I can google the
information I need every time.”—
Xiaohong Lao.
“I’ll read the ones shared by my friends
on Kaixin or in email. And maybe follow
one or two of them, if I find her articles
worth reading. But normally I won’t
proactively to seek a mom’s blog and
read.” – Hua Chen
Who do you think mom bloggers are?
Anyone who is a mom. But mostly fulltime
housewives.
Some are new moms but with entry-level
position in company. Teachers (senior
school teachers and university
professors/lecturers) are another big
group.
Woman who is a full-time housewife or
works from home.
Definitely not a career woman.
Has a lot of leisure hours to do whatever
she wants.
What topics/content do you think a mom blog covers?
Anything that interests the blogger herself
and her readers.
Most are family related, but there are a
few interesting ones on literature,
education, and traveling, etc.
“My favorite [blog] is actually run by my
professor in undergrad. She is a very
smart person. … [The] best thing of her
blog is that she can always naturally
associate some common things we
encounter in life with theories or
philosophies we learn in class.” – Jingqi Liu
“Mom’s” problems, such as parenting,
early education, baby food, marriage
and so on.
“Baby” issues are not appealing to
those who are not moms. (But they
could appeal to women who are
considering having babies or trying to
conceive.)
But “The content should be practical. If
it tells how to use new technology in
baby caring, it will be cool. But it should
not try too hard to promote
products.”—Hua Chen

30

Table 7: Interview Summary, Continued
What do you think motivate people (moms) to blog?
To keep a record when baby grows up.
Looking for a platform for new moms to share tips and discuss problems.
Break the “Moms don’t know.” stereotype
“I think in the traditional Chinese culture,
women are often underestimated on their
capabilities and wisdom. Such
discriminative attitude is even stronger to
married women and moms.
It may be true in old days when women
were not allowed to be educated and
work. But today, many women actually
have better performance in academics
and at work than men do. Ironically, they
still have to breed up the offspring, to give
birth to a child, to take good care of a
family, which subsequently result in less
focus on their career and profession.
Because still, many of us believe husband
is the ‘bread earner’ in a family.
That’s why I think many moms start to
blog. Blogging is flexible. They can do so
after a day of work or housework. And
they can find other women in the same
situations and form a network of them, to
be recognized. Recognition means a lot to
moms. Plus, it also shows their knowledge
and intelligence.” – Qing Gu
To kill time
“Because I guess many of them are
fulltime housewives don’t have to work.
They have plenty of time for
themselves, so blogging is a good way to
kill time and they can even show these
things to their children when they grow
up. It will be a great gift.” – Xiaohong
Lao
Judging from the above grids, it is obvious that frequent mom-blog readers
and non/casual mom-blog readers have very different understanding and
expectations of mom blogs. A few conclusions are:
 Non/Casual readers’ understanding of a mom blog and mom blogger is
significantly confined by the term of “mom.” Frequent users, by contrast, have
balanced multi-dimension comprehension.
31

 Non/Casual readers tend to view mom blogs as tools to get the information
they need on parenting problems. Besides information sources, frequent users
are more likely to feel emotionally engaged with the blogger they follow.
Reading mom blogs is enjoyable more than informative.
 Non/Casual readers look for mom blogs via searching key words of their
interests through Google and Baidu. Frequent users obtain information of a
mom blog through articles and word-of-mouth recommendations from on- and
off-line friends.
 Non/Casual readers are more flexible with the quality of writing. They
consider such articles informal conversations that do not require many
techniques and usually feel indifferent about them. Frequent readers are critical
of the content and its quality. They are skeptical and open to discuss different
ideas.

32

Chapter 4: Case Study – Second-eyed Beauty ’s Private Kitchen
6

Background
Second-eyed Beauty’s Private Kitchen is a blog run by a Beijing-based former
journalist Xiaoxing Wang (a.k.a. Pang Xing’er). Wang’s blog is carried on Sina.com. She
started blogging before the boom in 2005. But that blog has been out of use for a long
time and is untraceable now. The blog Wang currently keeps has been on since October
2005 when she decided to participate in Sina’s First Chinese Blog Contest and won the
prize of Best Romance Blog. Currently, there are 1,673 entries, meaning during the past
5+ years she has a very high updating frequency of six entries per week. About 10% of
her blog entries are “liked” and recommended to the front page of blog channel by
readers.
Figure 7: Categories of Wang's Blog

The primary topic of Second-eyed Beauty’s Private Kitchen is gourmet cooking
and dining. In fact, she covers a wider range of stories. Wang has published seven books,

6
Second-eyed Beauty’s Private Kitchen: http://blog.sina.com.cn/wangxiaoxing
33

four on cooking, one on marriage and relationships, one on pregnancy and one on
postpartum issues and parenting. In addition to this main blog, Wang also writes
another blog called My Kela
7
which records stories about her son Karat; and a travel
blog called Star Voyage (Xiaoxing de Lvyou Zhaji)
8
. Additionally, she also operates a
microblog with 195,178 followers under the name of Pang Xing’er on Sina Microblog
9
.
Recently, Wang opened her own ecommerce business Star Home
10
on Taobao ( 淘宝)
selling kitchen utensils, imported foods, ready-to-cook soup/congee ingredients and
other household/cooking-related products.
Figure 8: Wang's Online Outlets

As suggested in the chart above, Wang’s career online is centered with her main
blog Second-eyed Beauty’s Private Kitchen, supplemented by other two blogs, an e-store,

7
My Kela: http://blog.sina.com.cn/mykela
8
Star Voyage: http://blog.sina.com.cn/starvoyage
9
Sina Microblog: http://t.sina.com.cn/wangxiaoxing
10
Star Home: http://starhome.taobao.com/
34

publishing, microblog and Sina podcast, covering almost all major popular online
communities in China.
Why Study Second-eyed Beauty ’s Private Kitchen?
First of all, it is a mature blog. Wang has been managing this blog since 2005
when the Chinese blogosphere started to soar. Blogging was (and is) a hobby of her. But
unlike the others who gradually gave up, Wang made her to success and created a real
circle (quanzi) that appeals to moms and even some younger people.
At first blogging was just one of my personal interests. I had a blog called
“Second-eyed Beauty’s Private Documentary” which I barely updated. I moved
my blog to Sina Blog merely because of the contest. I really wanted to grab
something out of it it but winning the first prize was totally out of [sic]my
expectation. I thought my best shot was to build up some popularity and
reputation among the mid20’s to mid30’s online. But things kind of went out of
control when I got the first prize. All of a sudden I became a real “star.”
Publishers started to contact me to turn my blogs into a book.

Secondly, it has a large readership. Recently Wang shut down the comment
function of her blog, so it is hard to tell how many readers were actively engaging with
her on the blog before. But judging from the statistics shown under each entry, Wang’s
readership varies from 45,000 to 110,000, depending on the content she writes. Most
entries have been read by 63,000 – 87,000 people. The amount of viewers to a new
entry easily reaches 25,000 in two days. Wang’s blog is now the first place on Sina Blog’s
billboard of 87.1 million readers under the category of Gourmet (which is her primary
focus).
35

Thirdly, it has already gone through several changes to comply with readers’
feedback. Having been following Wang’s blog for four years, this researcher has
witnessed some changes made by Wang to her blogs, including: content and topics,
alignment design, interaction with readers and other subtle factors.
SWOT
Strength
 Niche market
From the first day Wang’s theme and content are clear and consistent.
Although her focus shifted from one to another several times, the core is unaltered.
Wang’s blog appeals to Chinese women aged from mid 20’s to 40’s. This
demographic’s psychological needs have long been neglected by mainstream media
and marketers.
Wang’s achievement can be viewed as a sound implementation of the Long
Tail theory – selling less of more.
11
The proportion of such demographics in China’s
population is very small and even smaller excluding those who had no access to
computer and Internet. However, the total amount of such group is huge.

11
The Long Tail or long tail refers to the statistical property that a larger share of population rests within the tail of a
probability distribution than observed under a “normal” or Gaussian distribution.
36

Figure 9: The Long Tail Theory

To the right is the long tail, the non-mainstream media such as mommy bloggers; to the
left are the few that dominate, such as NBC, CNN, New York Times, etc. Notice that the
areas of both regions match.
 Excellent writing skills
Wang was a journalist at Beijing Evening News for seven years. This
experience ensures her excellent story-writing ability and guarantees sufficient
knowledge and skill to identify her audience’s interests.
 Recipe+Story Model
The most distinguishing feature of Wang’s blog is her unique writing style.
The recipes she uses are associated with a story. Each entry features a specific
ingredient she uses in the dish. Every featured ingredient, side dish, entree or
even seasonings, has its own “personality” and characteristic.
 More than recipes
Wang started to reply to readers’ letters on her blog, giving advice and
suggestions to their questions on relationships, career, family problems and
other women’s interests in general.
Her topics expanded to pregnancy, postpartum, and baby care. During
her pregnancy, Wang still kept writing to update readers about her and her
Non-mainstream audiences
Population
Distribution
37

baby’s condition, which attracted many moms-to-be to the blog and gained
much popularity among new moms. Later Wang launched another blog – My
Kela, focusing on baby care and baby food. This blog then turned out to be an
ideal channel for product reviews.
 The exotic lure of travel
Travelling is another major component in Wang’s blog. She quit her job after
she married so that she has plenty of time and money to travel around the world.
Most Chinese people do not have many opportunities to travel to other countries.
They subsequently are eager to see and learn about overseas-related matters.
Many of Wang’s travel journals are about gourmet food she finds on her trips.
With photos taken at restaurants, chateaus and bars in places like Australia, Canada
and Italy, her blogs appeal to readers who are longing for such an exotic lifestyle.
Weaknesses
 Reduced interaction with readers
 Disabled comments on blog
Wang used to allow readers to leave comments on each entry and they
sometimes joined in conversations. However, this feature was shut down in
August 2008 without notice. A few valid assumptions are: 1. She felt offended by
some unfriendly comments. 2. She did not have enough energy to take care of
them while looking after her son at the same time. 3. She handed much of the
operational work to her publicist.
38

After managing to reach Wang via microblog, her response to the
interview request was: “Blogging to me is a very personal thing. It’s one of my
many hobbies. So there really isn’t much to talk about.”
No matter what reason it was, the reality is: readers are still upset about
it and they complain.
A month ago, I found her disabled comment on her blog which makes me
upset. To me, being able to share ideas and discuss with friends is more
important than visits. Without their feedback, it feels like [Wang is] talking
to herself. … I’m not sure why she did so. Probably because she had to
spend more time with her baby, or maybe some comments truly offended
her. … But I still think she should re-enable such function allowing her
readers to continue communicating with each other. For a popular blog
like Wang’s, it to some extent is not just hers. (Post-80's 2008)

 Reachable only via email or through publicist
After turning off the comments section, the only way for readers to reach
Wang is through her publicist’s email address and phone number o that appear
on the front page of Second-eyed Beauty’s. The network and connection she
once built of readers broke up consequently.
 Broadcaster instead of communicator
By cutting off daily connections with her readers, Second-eyed Beauty’s
turned into a broadcasting tool for Wang to announce her news, her stories and
her thoughts. Everything is about HER. Wang’s role in this blogosphere changed
from a communicator who is reachable, willing to talk and share and encourages
others to discuss using her blog as the platform, to a broadcaster that seldom
listens.
39

Opportunities
 A well-selected host blog site
Second-eyed Beauty’s Private Kitchen is on Sina Blog, which is known for
hosting blogs for celebrities such as Jinglei Xu (actress and director), Han Han (critic
and writer), Jingming Guo (writer) and Jianxiang Wang (sports commentator and
critic). Although Sina Blog, Sohu Blog, BlogBus and BlogCN started about the same
time, Sina has always been the leader in this category. Wang can capitalize on this
association in the future. Many Chinese users’ first encounter with blogs, either
heard of it or actually used it, was with Sina Blog.
 Mobile and cell-phone-multimedia technology encourages variety
Microblogging is attracting more and more users in China. Sina Microblog
completes users’ blogging experience by allowing them to upload their videos and
photos with each entry.
Microblogging enables users to handle their online social lives more
effectively and efficiently. Wang already has a fan (follower) base of 197,704 people.
Generated in a proper way, this big group is going to amplify Wang’s influence
online.
Threats
 Stereotypical in-the-box thinking
Judging from its name, a mom blog is a blog run by a mom and most of the
time targeting moms only. A mom blog usually is allied with babies, diapers, breast-
40

feeding, and trivial but endless housework – nothing sexy and attractive. Such
stereotypes may intimidate or repel potential readers.
So far in China there has not been a universally accepted and recognized
definition and introduction to “mom bloggers”. Only a few pioneering marketers/PR
practitioners are leveraging such a concept.
 Information explosion
 Blogger competitors in general
Despite the huge readership promised by an enormous potential user
base of more than 230 million, blogs face fierce competition.
 Regardless of the huge current readership of mom blogs, they are still a minority
compared to blogs in other genres like stock analysis, social movements, creative
writing and celebrity gossip. In a word, users are overwhelmed by the choices
and sheer amount of information that is flooding their lives. Social network
Blogs are updated randomly. Bloggers must largely rely on readers’
initiative to gain visits. There are three common types of return readers.
1. Readers who come back occasionally. They regularly search the blog’s
headline or blogger’s name.
2. Readers who add the blog to “Favorites” in their browsers.
3. Readers who use RSS tools like Google Reader or browser add-ins to
receive updates. These are regarded as loyal readers. They want to be
notified when the blog is updated. However, RSS only delivers the articles
41

to subscribers’ inbox but does not generate visits or interactions with the
blogger and other readers.
On the contrary, social networks allow users to be notified with their
connections. A new post, photo, status and video will be instantly updated to on
What’s New page. Such settings in some sense push receivers to click on the link
and be directed to the page to read and comment, to become a part of it.
Communication Goals
 Raise public awareness of mom blogs and their multi-dimensional functions and
values in addition to “moms only” stereotype.
As mentioned in the previous sectors, lacking knowledge in mom blogging
and stereotyped perceptions that associate it with uninteresting topics are the two
biggest barriers steering people away from getting to know it better. Boosting public
awareness is the first basic groundwork must be fulfilled.
 Improve media coverage of mom blogging trend both online and on traditional
media (print, TV and radio).
Comparing to its counterparts in the US, mommy blogging in China receives
very little attention on mainstream media. Media coverage online is naturally
connected and can be in various free format from blogging to video, from news
report to interview and so on. Coverage on traditional media whereas is formal and
sophisticatedly-confined. Generally speaking, traditional mainstream media still
dominate most Chinese people’s information acquisition channel.
42

Audiences are more likely to pay attention to a new concept when it is
reported and discussed on newspaper, TV talk shows or radio programs. Such
outlets are considered credible and fit into the mainstream cultural structure,
therefore making it easier to get audiences’ notice.
 Increase general awareness of Second-eyed Beauty’s Private Kitchen.
Currently, Wang’s popularity remains online, even with her seven books publish.
Most of them are sold online only. The goal here is to move Pang Xing’er this cyber-
world character to Xiaoxing Wang in 3D real-life.
Objectives
 Increase visits to Second-eyed Beauty’s Private Kitchen by 8% after a half-year
campaign.
The total visit number to Second-eyed Beauty’s Private Kitchen now is
87,129,996 with 20,694 subscribers while the top one blog has a readership of 1.3
million, 1.5 times as many as Wang’s, and more than 45,000 subscribers. Given the
fact that Wang’s blog has been on for about five years and a half, an eight percent
increase in visits is a valid goal.
 Raise subscriptions to Second-eyed Beauty’s Private Kitchen by 6% after a half-year
campaign.
Subscriptions suggest how many return readers a blog has. They usually are
loyal readers to the blog and blogger and are more easily to be leveraged and
motivated. However, drawing more subscriptions is harder and requires more effort
43

than raising visits. Therefore here the objective is set to increase by 6%, slightly
lower than the goal of visits increase but is still sound and feasible.
 Ascend to the top 16 blogs weekly ranking list at least eight times during campaign
period.
Blog ranking is the most obvious measurement to evaluate a blog’s long-term
and short-term performance. Each blog site provides ranking list of its hosting blogs
to show the ups and downs in popularity.

Figure 10: Top 16 Gourmet Blogs on SIna of All Time

44

Figure 11: Top 16 Gourmet Blogs on Sina of the Week

 Increase the amount of entries shared/recommended by readers by 35%.
The amount of articles being shared and recommended is another benchmark to
assess the popularity of a blog. In fact, when put together with visits, this number tells
more about readers’ perceptions and preferences.
Strategies and tactics
 Multiple dimensions
 Key Audiences: potential readers who expect to read more about issues than
home-related matters
 Key Messages:
45

 Modern mom bloggers are more knowledgeable than you think.
This strategy addresses the stereotype problem. It will prove that mom
bloggers are not just housewives who blog. It also demonstrates that they are
professionals with different expertise such as communication, finance and politics as
well as enthusiasts in environmental protection, sports, education and social causes..
 Let’s Talk about Something Other Than Food
Wang had seven years experience in journalism before marriage. She is a
very good writer and has strong personal style. For this tactic, Wang should draw
on her journalism expertise and write an entry per week on a topic other than
cooking and motherhood. For one thing, this is an experimental move to test on
other potential themes that drive traffic. Also, by showing her knowledge and
intelligence in diverse fields, hopefully it will help reach readers of other
concerns thus expanding her readership structure.
The post would be published each Monday morning. A different subject
will be proposed and voted by readers and further discussed every week.
 Horizontal integration
 Key Audiences: 20-35 female readers who are into online shopping and
microblogging
 Key Messages:
46

 For e-store Star Home: Every woman deserves to learn how to be a good
cook. Check out Star Home and see what Pang Xing’er’s secret silver
bullets are. You can be as good as she!
 For Sina Podcast: A new way to participate and be engaged.
 For Star Voyage: Take a break from housework and childcare and enjoy
the world.
 For My Kela: Being a mom is not easy. But you can find fun in it.
Wang has several other media outlets of different function in addition to her
main blog. However the problem is those channels are separated and do not
consistent or connect with each other. In order to create a coherent image to deliver
clear, uniformed information, integration of the scattered outlets is a must.

Figure 12: Synthesis of Wang's Online Outlets

47

Right now Wang’s various communications outlets are separated on a
horizontal scale. Connections among the seven sectors are very weak. The point of
this strategy is to synthesize these isolated parts into one mutual-supporting co-
related circle that every component completes each other as shown in the graph
above.
 Cross-reference on each published post
Adding cross-reference to posts and inserting hyperlinks addresses all
benefits of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) performance. The result of Google
search 胖星儿 (Pang Xing’er) is 2.8 million entries. Second-eyed Beauty’s Private
Kitchen is top on the results list, Star Home the fourth and Pang Xing’er
microblog the fifth.
Such outcomes indicate that Star Voyage, My Kela and her Sina Podcast
are not performing as well as the other channels. For that reason, this tactic will
concentrate on raising awareness of these three under-performing outlets.
By using different key messages for each sector, the main purpose is to
bring public awareness and separate them to avoid confusion. Because Second-
eyed Beauty’s Private Kitchen and Wang’s microblog are the two with the highest
popularity, they will serve as the main promotion channel.
 Leverage loyal subscribers
 Key Audiences: return readers, females aged from 29 to 35
 Key Messages:
48

 You talk, we listen. Everyone is a natural story-teller with diverse
backgrounds, experiences and interests. This time, let Pang Xing’er and
her friends listen to your story.
 Being a mom is not dull at all. You will find life is full of surprises and
happiness. Enjoy reading, writing and listening; be a happy mom.
 A little help and some tips help to work better and more efficiently.
Check Pang Xing’er’s secrets and tell us what yours are. Let other moms
decide whose the best are.
 Share your private kitchen stories and win an exclusive invitation to Second-eyed
Beauty’s private kitchen
This event is only open to mom subscribers only (subscription after the
event starts is valid as well). Mom subscribers are encouraged to sign up to
participate first by leaving a message in the comments section of the event
announcement. They are asked to blog their stories about cooking, parenting,
marriage and other female interests in general on their pages and post the URL
to Wang’s main blog page. Every participant is expected to view and comment
on at least 15 other participants’ entries.
The event lasts two weeks and the top ten bloggers who receive the most
“shares” are winners. Winners will be invited to Wang’s home for a dinner which
will be recorded and posted online. For those who cannot travel to, goods (under
500RMB, equals 70USD) sold at Wang’s e-store Star Home will be their prize.
49

One concern of this event could be offensive or inappropriate content
posted scrupulously. In case of such situation happens, readers are encouraged
to report to Wang if they find any improper content on the event’s page. Wang
will take the responsibility to delete entries or even ban users of those IP
addresses using her judgment.
 Build up and maintain connections with like-minded bloggers and users
 Key Audiences: loyal return readers; blog host site
 Key Messages:
 Everyone’s thoughts are inspiring and valued in Second-eyed Beauty’s
Private Kitchen.
 Discussions and conversations are welcomed. This is the platform where
you seek answers and help each other.
 Anonymity is each netizen’s rights of privacy, but it does not mean
tolerance of offensive language or postings. Everyone should learn and
follow online courtesy rules.
The relationship of a blog with its readers is similar to that of a brand with its
consumers. Building up healthy relationships with readers equals developing good
customer service. Human factor is the most subtle part in any kind of operations.
In Wang’s case, her voluntary cut-off of the once existed communication
channel was not a wise decision. Loyal readers are capable of generating
unimaginable impact and thus leading to organic growth.
50

 Say “No!” to harassment – lobby blog host sites to develop comment censor
tools and re-enable the comments function on her blog
Comments are the most direct feedback from readers. Comments reflect
readers’ attitudes, focus and preferences. One of the possible reasons why Wang
disabled this function is the offensive messages. Leaving insulting messages for
strangers is a common phenomenon on the Internet. With such large readership
and visits to her blog, it was probably hard for Wang to manage and take control.
Therefore it is viable to urge site hosts to allow bloggers to censor these
comments before they are published, like Word Press does.
Allying with other well-known bloggers is another option if the gateway
site is too big to cooperate. It also helps to group influential bloggers and form a
bloggers’ network.
By doing so, Wang is going to receive more news coverage through her
cooperation with Sina on the site’s PR side demonstrates her determination for
solving the problem.
 Organize workshops to educate people about the right online communication
etiquette.
Education is a topic often discussed in mom blogs. But in most cases, it
refers to academic learning experiences from elementary level to graduate.
Actually it is a much broader concept including civilization, media literacy and
humanity. The proposed workshops will focus on a larger scope of topics. The
51

workshops will be presented as online forums. There will be six sessions in all
featuring different dimensions of online courtesy. Each session will be held on
the first Sunday morning of every month for an hour on Second-eyed Beauty’s.
One or two guest speakers will be invited to lead discussions derived from a
certain issue every time. Readers are invited to participate freely.
 Social Media
 Key Audiences: 25-35 year-old females with a monthly income above
7,000RMB (1,000USD) who are active users of social networks.
 Key Messages:
 Pang Xing’er is on Kaixin/Douban now. Follow her and friend her.
 This is the network for people who enjoy life and sharing ideas.
 Set up Kaixin fan page, Douban group
Kaixin and Douban hold most of the target audiences of a mom blog. As
stated in Ogilvy China’s study, the majority of Kaixin users are working women
aged around 30 with a decent income. They are “petty bourgeoisie” who are
well educated, have economic power and pursue a life of quality, sentiment and
style. On the other hand, users of Douban are the younger generation who are
passionate about various non-mainstream issues. They consider themselves
thinkers who embrace life and have strong opinion to share with the universe.
These two groups of people are both believers in romanticism who
treasure love and passion in the details of life, which fits well into the expected
52

images of Second-eyed Beauty’s readers. Because there are many loyal return
readers to Wang’s blog, she does not have to run such fan pages herself. One
way is to start the account and assign one to two fans to manage daily
operations.
 Tech-savvy Moms
 Key Audiences: 20 to 28 tech-conscious female
 Key Messages:
 Moms can be modern and techy too. Cool technologies and applications
are not for men only.
 Join Pang Xing’er on your smart phone and get to know about her and
her life any time.
In the past, moms were not often associated with cutting-edge technologies.
In many cases, they were considered the last adopters of modern technology.
However, such clichés are no longer true. Many moms are huge devotees of
technology and are often ahead of many other groups.
That is because, first of all, nowadays more women are better educated and
more exposed to advanced technologies. Accessibility to high tech innovations is
equal to men and women now. Obsession of new technologies on the one hand is a
natural outcome of broader knowledge in this area. It shows how cool a mom could
be. On the other hand it helps to establish a sense of self-recognition and self-
satisfaction. Modern moms realize that their control of beauty and style becomes
53

weaker and weaker when their ages grow whereas wisdom and skill are more
appreciated.
Therefore, technology is a fairly appealing topic to modern moms. They are
eager to learn and use new technologies that make them look smart and cool.
 Real-time “Cook with Me” program on special holiday occasions
Chinese people treat dinner very seriously, especially when it
commemorates a big or special holiday occasion, such as Spring Festival and
Mid-autumn Festival. Moms usually will take a whole day preparing dinner. But
many young moms and wives do not cook as well as their mothers or mothers-
in-law.
The old way to solve this problem was by following recipe books. The
problem with this approach is, unlike in western food recipes, the quantity of the
seasonings and the duration and degree of cooking are never clearly quantified
in Chinese recipes. Therefore, one can easily fail even by following each step in
the recipe.
The Real-time Cook with Me is the answer to that problem. Take Spring
Festival Eve dinner for example. Wang will post her dinner menu a week ahead
to allow readers to buy and collect all the ingredients needed. On that day, her
preparation and processing procedures will be broadcast on live through Sina
Podcast channel.
54

For questions, Wang will answer them during breaks. But audiences can
ask whenever they are confused. Because the questions are posted as comments,
audience members are more than welcome to answer others’ questions as well.
The benefits of these live programs are: 1. They are restricted to special
occasions, which means they only happen only three or four times a year. This
helps manage Wang’s busy schedule and keeps production costs low. 2. They are
unique in terms of content, distribution channel and format. The advantage of
the podcast channel is that it can be displayed on mobile devices. . Traditionally
such shows are played on a TV screen, but in China, few families have a normally
TV set in the kitchen. Broadcasting via podcast channel allows viewers to use
mobile phone, iPad or iPod Touch to watch these shows. 3. Audiences will gain a
sense of participation through real time live broadcasting. In comparison to
recorded video clips, such live shows will make them feel they are actually
cooking “with” Wang and other housewives together.
 Mobile Blogging – Microblog
According to CNNIC’s Report on the Internet Development in China 2010
(CNNIC 2010), 61.5% Chinese mobile phone owners use their phones to access
the Internet. This large user base is expected to grow in the coming years.
Microblogging is the most widely used blogging method. It is convenient,
entertaining, informative and easy to read. In the Chinese microblogoshpere, an
entry is limited to 140 Chinese characters. Each entry actually contains larger
55

amounts of information compared to those in English. Moreover, Sina Microblog
also supports picture and video uploads, which means instead of being re-
directed to a third-party website that stores the pictures and video, users can
simply click on the video/picture icon and view the content embedded in the
entry.
Currently Wang uses her microblog merely to make announcements of a
recently posted entry and Retweet others. During this campaign, she will use her
microblog to record the parts of her daily life that may interest readers.
For example, Wang conducts many product reviews. Under such
circumstances, she will use her microblog to keep followers notified before and
after usage. Microblog serves as the leak of an upcoming new post to entice
readers.
Additionally, Wang will use microblog to be further engaged with her
readers as stated in the Horizontal Integration part.

56

Chapter 5: Conclusion
Working on mommy blogging in China is very different from in the US. First, one
has to understand that a blog, especially a mommy blog, is often considered as a very
personal platform to record one’s life and thoughts. For bloggers, visiting volume and
readers’ comments could be more of recognition of her work than selling points to
advertisers. For readers, reading a blog is a kind of recreation. Therefore both sides
would like to keep this reader-writer relationship in a very clean simple commercial-free
mode, which means mommy bloggers in China would rather not take the risk of losing
readers to make profit using their blogs in the way US mommy bloggers do.
Secondly, important players in this field are major portal websites dominating
the Chinese Internet market. Although specialized websites like Youku (for video
sharing), Taobao (for online trade) and other SNS sites each is very powerful in its own
category, they are still not compatible in scale to big portal websites such as Sina, Sohu,
Tencent and 163 which have larger user base through their 360  series of services
including blog, microblog, online trade and video sharing. SNS sites like Renren and
Kaixin had their time in the past five years. However, the advent and frenzy of
microblogging may cause revolution in China’s Internet market. Huateng Ma, CEO of
Tencent, said “SNS is going to be the future of microblogging in China” in his speech at
the China IT Leadership Summit (Wang 2011).
Microblogging in China is very different from what it is like in the US. Pictures
and videos play significant roles in the Chinese microblogoshpere. Below is a snapshot
57

of three entries on Xiaoxing Wang’s recent microblog page (Wang 2011). Pictures can be
enlarged by just click on them. But viewers stilly stay on this web page, which saves
great effort going back and forth from pictures to microblog page. Shrunk URLs could
direct readers to the blog page where they can read the full story.
Figure 13: Snapshot of Wang's Microblog

With the 3G technology becoming available (and 4G in the near future) to more
and more Chinese people, a mobile platform like microblog realizing their needs for
one-stop check-in for as many functions as possible could eventually override other
specialized website options and thus changing mommy bloggers’ online involvement.
58

Bibliography
Baker, John. "Origins of "Blog" and "Blogger"." American Dialect Society Mailing List .
April 20, 2008. http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0804C&L=ADS-
L&P=R16795&I=-3 (accessed January 07, 2011).

Blood, Rebecca. "Weblogs: A History and Perspective." Rebecca's Pocket. September 07,
2000. http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html (accessed January 07,
2011).

CNNIC. Statistical Report on the Internet Development in China. Statistical Report,
Beijing: CNNIC, 2010.

CNNIC. Survey Report on Blogs in China. Survey Report, Beijing: CNNIC, 2007.
Costa, MaryLou. "Social Parenting: Put Your Brand in the Hands of Mother." Marketing
Week, February 2010: 14.

Crampton, Thomas. China’s Social Network Personalities. Novemeber 30, 2010.
http://www.thomascrampton.com/china/chinas-social-network-personalities/
(accessed March 27, 2011).

—. Infographic: China’s Social Media Evolution. March 2, 2011.
http://www.thomascrampton.com/china/china-social-media-evolution/ (accessed
March 27, 2011).

David, Sifry. The State of the Live Web. April 05, 2007.
http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000493.html (accessed January 08, 2011).

Hurst, Matthew. "24 Hours in the Blogosphere." Spring Symposium on Computational
Approaches to Analysing Weblogs. American Association for Artificial Intelligence, 2006.

Jennings, Rebecca, Christine Spivey Overby, Josh Bernoff, and Alice Bresciani. European
Social Technographics Revealed: How Europeans Are Adopting Social Technologies.
Cambridge, February 26, 2008.

Lagerkvist, Johan. "Blogging in China: Party-state, Youth, and Social Change May Provide
Contesting Norms." Media, March 2010: 22.

Lenhart, Amanda, and Susannah Fox. "Blogger: A Portrait of the Internet's New
Storytellers." Pew Internet & American Life project. July 19, 2006.
59

http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2006/PIP%20Bloggers%20Report
%20July%2019%202006.pdf.pdf (accessed January 08, 2011).

MacKinnon, Rebecca. "Flatter World and Thicker Walls? Blogs, Censorship and Civic
Discourse in China." Public Choice, August 9, 2007: 31-46.

New Media Age. "More Women Are Going to Social Sites for Help." New Media Age,
September 2008: 10.

Post-80's. Eight Easy to Learn Home-cooking Vegatable Dishes (Bazhong Jiachang
Haochi Sucai). November 27, 2008. http://mshlg.5d6d.com/thread-274-1-1.html
(accessed January 25, 2011).

She-conomy. Performed by She-conomy.com. 2010.

Sobel, Jon. State of the Blogosphere 2010. November 03, 2010.
http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2010-introduction/
(accessed January 08, 2011).

Stern, Gary M. Keeping Track of the Ever-Proliferating Nubmer of Blogs. February 15,
2010. http://www.infotoday.com/linkup/lud021510-stern.shtml (accessed January 09,
2011).

Wang, Yun. "SNS Is the Future of Microblogging". Jinan: Shandong Business Herald, 2011.

Winn, Phillip. Technorati State of the Blogosphere 2008. August 21, 2009.
http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-introduction/
(accessed January 07, 2011).

Wang, Xiaoxing. Pang Xing'er. March 28, 2011. http://t.sina.com.cn/wangxiaoxing
(accesssed March 28, 2011).

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Mommy blogging in China is receiving more attention with the bloggers actively involving in many kinds of on- and off-line activities. Xiaoxing Wang, a famous mommy blogger who keeps three blogs, one microblog, one online store, one podcaster and writer of seven best-sell lifestyle books, is used as the case to study a typical Chinese mommy blogger’s blogging habits and her backstage motivations.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Engaging in the conversation; best practices in strategic social media

PDF

Digital discourse in the fashion industry

PDF

Cultural differences in communication patterns of international B2C technology companies on Weibo and Twitter: an examination of effectiveness from a motivation perspective

PDF

Surviving the "Made in China" stigma: challenges for Chinese multinational corporations

PDF

The comic book superhero: his amazing journey to connect and communicate with society

PDF

Creativity at work

PDF

Trump and the crisis of faith: how a presidential candidate built a crisis to win a country

PDF

Facebook and the ideal social marketplace: a study of the marketing benefits of social media practices

PDF

Musicians utilizing social media to increase brand awareness, further promote their brand and establish brand equity

PDF

Your public is online: public relations in an online world

PDF

Are U.S. colleges being “oversold” to today’s students? A look at the realities of public relations in undergraduate higher education

PDF

Public relations in the music business: how publicists continue to improve a changing industry

PDF

Personal branding and lifestyle bloggers: can blogs become brands?

PDF

Crisis communication & natural disasters: communication plan for Rome, Italy in the case of an earthquake

PDF

The share factor: implications of global digital strategy for public relations

PDF

Creating effective communication between travel industry service providers and disabled travelers

PDF

The Digital Revolution and its impact on the beauty industry

PDF

Utilizing brand personality while engaging Millennials on Twitter

PDF

A study of the cultural environment of social media

PDF

How a strategic public relations campaign can enhance the reputation of China's financial public relations industry

Asset Metadata

Creator Chen, Junzhou (author)

Core Title Motivations and habits of China's mommy bloggers

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 04/19/2011

Defense Date 03/29/2011

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag China,Internet,mommy blogger,OAI-PMH Harvest

Place Name China (countries)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Floto, Jennifer D. (committee chair), LeVeque, Matthew (committee member), Lih, Andrew (committee member)

Creator Email chavalito.jo@gmail.com,junzhouc@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m3755

Unique identifier UC1289234

Identifier etd-Chen-4467 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-461804 (legacy record id),usctheses-m3755 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Chen-4467-1.pdf

Dmrecord 461804

Document Type Thesis

Rights Chen, Junzhou

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu