bloggers on China’s love of BBS: how come?
If you read Chinese and have an hour to spend, you can check out the bustling conversations happening on Wang Ran and Keso’s blogs, in answer to the question of why BBS are so popular in China and not elsewhere (at least, not in the U.S.).
Here are a few of the ideas being tossed around. Chinese people like BBS because:
there aren’t enough other places to speak your mind
people have too much time on their hands [note: Isaac Mao’s “boredom economy”, but it wouldn’t explain why BBS and not blogs]
they’re anonymous
people are acting out alternate selves online
they like the bustling activity of BBS
they’re easy to use
they provide a sense of community [note: but so do blogs]
I think there may be another important factor: the entry barrier to the BBS is about as low as it gets, while the potential benefits are huge. BBS, unlike blogs, allow individuals to post creative packages of text and photos to a huge audience–without having to maintain an individual blog. They don’t have to spend the time and daily effort of creating an individual “brand,” but can take advantage of the BBS brand and reputation. And the BBS can tolerate any number of topics, unlike many blogs which tend to focus on certain zones such as politics, gossip, or IT.
I have often wondered the opposite, which is why there aren’t Chinese-style BBS in the U.S.? Perhaps our media readerships are already too fragmented?
This discussion is important enough, Lyn, and I think you give a good overview. One additional reason why blogs in China might not do as well as BBS’s (and as blogs in the US) might well that that the portals have erased a part of the obvious market: consolidating and commenting on what the traditional media have to say. Because they cannot collect information independently, internet portals had to rely on repackaging existing news, a function weblogs have in other places.
Fons — yes, the portals need to considered as part of the picture as well, don’t they? It occurs to me that BBS posts also repackage existing news. Kind of the way a blog might elsewhere, but without the burden of building and maintaining readership. Though I don’t know, perhaps certain BBS posters do build a unique reputation.
Is it possible it is just becuase these bbs’s predated blogging?
Some clarification points that come from having grown up living part of my teenage-hood on U.S. BBSs:
– U.S. BBSs are community hotspots for subcultures (e.g. anime wallpaper, videogame translations)
– BBS communities are different than blog communities; they are way more participatory. With blogs, you don’t really interact directly or direct your posts at certain audiences/people as much
– BBSs actually take more time to keep up with than blogs (re: Isaac Mao’s boredom economy)
– Another area that community stuff flows over into in the US is IRC; perhaps BBSs in China play both the American roles of BBSs in AND the IRC channels (thereby making it huge)?