Welcome Michael Darragh, Ogilvy PR - Asia, to Marcomblog

Thanks, Robert, for the introduction and also the space for me to share my insights into digital influence in Asia, and specifically China.

Any statistic about China is always grand and digital communications is no exception. The most Internet users, the most mobile phone subscribers, the most blogs, the most BBS forums, the most hours spent online, the most average number of net friends, the world’s most influential blogger, the longest single forum thread (14,000 replies) and the figures just keep on climbing. And let’s not forget the plethora of net stars such as the infamous Backdorm Boys.

China is a great place to do business and a fantastic location to discover digital trends that don’t always match the rest of the world.

I look forward to contributing as much as my hectic schedule permits, and I especially anticipate having a lot of fun!

Hi Michael welcome to Marcomblog! I’m Dallas, one of Robert’s students, and I’ll probably be shooting you a lot of comments as will a bunch of other students. We’re all in Robert’s Style and Design class and our life revolves around blogging, blog comments and now our final project. Anyways, look forward to blogging with you!

Welcome to the Marcomblog family Michael. I am also a student of Robert’s. We are excited to have a fresh, new face around here, especially one that brings in the experience that you do. I’m sure you will hear from me again, as well as the other students. Good luck!

Hi Michael. Welcome to our beloved Marcomblog. This blog has helped my fellow classmates and I learn about social media and its role in the public relations and marketing world. The site has been an asset to our learning experience as public relations students.

We are here at least a few times a week and are grateful to have a new contributor. Especially because your knowledge and expertise will allow us to gain insight about social media in China, which seems like a happening place.

The statistics you mentioned about China in you comment are quite interesting. I never realized how big digital communication is in China, and it seems that they are on top of digital trends.

Thank you again and I look forward to your posts on Marcomblog.

Hey Michael!

Your interest and participation in video sharing will be welcomed here. We, too, are talking about the effects of sites like YouTube and Clipstream. Our final projects in PR Writing are built around a video of our choice from these sites.

Your perspective will definitely be a great addition to the voices of our other great contributors. I’ll be interested to see your comparisons of markets in Australia, Europe, and, now, China. Ogilvy Worldwide definitely got worldwide when they hired you.

Welcome to Marcom, Michael!

Hey Michael! My name is Elizabeth Wood Rodgers and as everyone has said, we are in Robert’s Style and Design class at Auburn. We are excited you have joined MarcomBlog and look forward to reading your posts.

I am excited to see what you have to say. I am impressed that you have lived in Sydney, Barcelona, and now China! I did not know blogging and social media was so popular in China and I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

Thanks for joining us and Welcome!!

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! I’ll address your interests in future blog entries.

Thanks!

Hey Michael!
Welcome to Marcomblog blog. I am one of Robert’s many students who have been blogging all semester. I look forward to seeing what you have to say. Welcome and thanks for joining!
Danielle

Hi Michael.

Thank you for joining us in Marcom. I’m very excited to see what you have in store for us in the upcoming months. We are also very grateful to have someone from yet another continent joining in our conversations each week.

The stats you mentioned about China’s digital and social media reputation are quite impressive, and we are extremely lucky to have someone of your expertise in our giving input into our field of study.

We are looking forward to your comments Michael.

Hi Michael,

Thank you for joining and welcome! We are excited to add a new voice and perspective to our ongoing, intercontinental conversation about PR. I have looked at your blog, Navigator, and enjoyed reading about PR and social media trends in your part of the world. We look forward to your upcoming posts about your experience in the Pacific Rim, here on Marcom.

Welcome to Marcom Michael. I look foward to reading some of you blogs in the future. It is always nice to have views from outside the United States especially in the field of P.R. Once again welcome and look foward to viewing your comments.

Hey Michael! I am one of Robert’s students in his PR style and design class. So glad to have you join Marcom Blog! It is exciting to have someone new on the blog who is from another country. I am very interested to know if social media has gotten as popular over in China as it has in the U.S. I am also interested to read some of your comments and hear about the type of work you are doing as a digital influence strategist. I look forward to reading over your blog!

Social media is very popular in China, although its characteristics may differ from your part of the world. Chinese love to communicate and network and they are insatiable learners. Many people, therefore, recognise social media as an ideal platform for exchanging ideas.

BBS forums significantly outrank blogs in terms of popularity. Trust in bloggers is very low compared to traditional media (unlike India where the reverse is true among digital people). There are no less than 20 YouTube imitators (see Tudou.com or Mofile.com). World of Warcraft is an extremely popular outlet as any visit to a cyber cafe will tell you.

Social networks are emerging and everyone from MySpace to openBC to Linkedin, as well as local operators, are vying for a slice of that pie. Baidu, the country’s leading website and search engine, is about to launch a social bookmarking service which I am really excited about.

Welcome Michael! I am excited that you have joined Marcom to add posts and information to the site. It will definitely be interesting to have public relations views and information from the Asian culture. Asian culture, especially China, has always been of interest to me and it will be nice to have the opportunity to gain insight from you. Social media is becoming large and a popular means of communication in many countries. It is known that the Chinese love to communicate, but I never knew how popular social media was for them. Browsing through Network, I read your post “chinese ready to embrace social networks” and loved it! It was interesting learning the ways that the Chinese use social media- I had no idea before. Also, I went to mofile.com and browsed around- it is amazing and startling how popular social media is for them. Many parts of the site were confusing for me (don’t exactly know Chinese..haha) but it reminded me a lot of youtube.com.
I look forward to reading your posts and learning more of social media in Asia! Thanks again Michael!

Hey Michael,
Welcome to Marcomblog! I am sorry it has taken me so long to welcome you. Thanks for being a willing participant in our classroom blog. It is wonderful for us students to have working PR professionals want to communicate with us and tell us what is going on around the world in PR. I don’t know a whole lot about PR and marketing in China, but can’t wait to read some of your posts! Thanks again for joining us!

Hi Michael,
Welcome to Marcomblog. I’m really excited about the new input you will be able to contribute to our class. We appreciate all of the contributors so much. It is rare to be able to recieve such valuable input while still in school. Blogging gives all of us students an amazing gateway into the everyday happenings in the world of PR. Thank you so much for you time and consideration in helping us out before we jump into the working world.

Hi Michael,
Thank you for becoming a contributor to Marcomblog. We are always excited to hear from people who are experienced in social media, and especially learn about how it works around the world. As students, every bit of information we receive from people who are experienced in the field helps us to prepare for successful careers. I look forward to reading many of your posts, and thanks again for your contribution!
Sarah

Welcome Michael!

It’s great to have a representative from Asia blogging on Marcom now. You have lived in many interesting places around the world, and surely have a unique perspective on the public relations industry. I look forward to reading your posts.

Thanks, Robert, for continuing to find fresh new pr talent that spans the globe. It’s great to interact with so many professional voices all over the world.

Michael,
I’m in Robert’s Style and Design class this semester (Spring 2007). I know you’ve been on MarcomBlog for a while now, but I wanted to thank you for joining and giving us your opionion. I noticed many of your other comments were from the class last semester, so I wanted to be the first from this semester to introduce myself and tell you how much we appreciate all you have to say. I’m looking forward to seeing more of your posts and getting your insight!

This comment is for Robert, as well as Michael-
My first question is what is a BBS? It was mentioned that they outrank blogs in popularity. I see that the comment was made in November, so I suppose that by now BBS forums are “so last month.”

Now. I see that Michael has extensive experience in media technology. His resume is…wow…and no doubt he stands tall among PR professionals. Has working with actual “public” become passe in public relations in this digital age? It’s one thing to know the figures for how many people bought a certain book on Amazon.com, but can that be replaced with actually talking to the reader?