Can China's internet media compete globally? - The WTO column

The discussion was triggered off by Scobleizer, one of the best-read IT webloggers in the US, who was involved in The Vloggies, an award ceremony for online video projects. He got some contributions from www.wangyou.com, liked it, and wondered when this company would go after YouTube and when the other Chinese internet ventures would go global.

At the same time he had seen somebody from Baidu.com on CNBC, I estimate it must have been Robin Li, announcing that the Chinese search engine would give Google a run for its money, not only inside China, but also outside.

Now, CEO's of listed companies have to make these noises now and then to keep their investors happy, even when there is no link with reality. And of course it got some people here in China, scratching their heads since very few of the Chinese companies going global have been a success, adding TCL recently who thought losing one million US dollar in six months time in Europe was just enough for them to contribute to the European economy.

At the ongoing poll at Chinabiz, where our columnist Bill Fischer is trying to "anticipate China's future" in five scenario's, opinions are rather diverse. Only the number of people thinking China will be a leader in innovation is almost nil. Most are wavering between China as a world power or its demise. When you look at the differences between US and Chinese players on the internet, you can see what the strong point of the Chinese competition is, even if you cannot make sense out of the Chinese.

See www.wangyou.com and www.youtube.com. Compare www.tudou.com with www.odeo.com. (although even compared to tudou, wangyou is really a star!). Now, even look at online recruiters like www.51job.com and www.monster.com. Just look at the differences between the Chinese IM service QQ and the famous ICQ. Did you know that QQ is already active on the South-African market?

I also did not pick the "innovation" scenario, because I found others more compelling. But does that means that China can only copy-and-paste? I do not think so, I'm sure it is not true, and when you compare all these services, you see where the real innovation is coming from. They are masters in applying existing technologies in a very creative and playful way. They are closer to the multi-task, busy daily experience of the internet users than many of the 'western' sites are. They might in the end make more sense business wise.

I'm joining Scobleizer here: it is not going to happen overnight, but it is not only in China where the US internet giants will have to watch the competition. We are ahead of interesting times.

Fons Tuinstra