Social Mixer V52: Sina Weibo, The Empress of Chinese Social Media

Calling all China Watchers!

No doubt, you enjoyed the spectacular fireworks in Victoria Harbour to celebrate 62 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China（中華人民共和國成立六十二周年煙花匯演).



Now come celebrate the 2nd birthday of Sina Weibo (新浪微博), China's rapidly ascending empress of the social media space, with over 200 million serfs/users (二亿用户).

Our guest speaker on Wednesday 12th October will be Meg Lee, General Manager of Sina Hong Kong (screenshot of home page below) and Executive Committee member of the Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing (hkaim.org). (You can find Meg at weibo.com/mugmeg).

Our 52nd social mixer will take place at Bisous on Wednesday 12th October, from 6:30pm to 9:30pm, with the talk/interview starting at 7:15pm. [Bisous is located at 9th Floor, LKF Tower, 33 Wyndham Street, Lan Kwai Fong, Central, Hong Kong. Easiest way to get there is via the lifts next to the Hard Rock Cafe at the top of Lan Kwai Fong].

Let us know you're coming by signing up on Facebook, LinkedIn or this blog.

As per usual, there's a HK$100 entrance fee, including one complimentary drink, a free talk, high-quality networking and the chance to win lucky draw prizes. 



Our lovely assistant, Vivian, will issue receipts if you need one. (For students, you can get in for HK$50 without free booze). Thereafter, all standard drinks will be charged at special happy hour prices.

This month we will donate 10% of entrance fees to poor families in Hong Kong via the Food Bank of St James Settlement. 



Looking forward to seeing old faces and meeting budding weibo stars,

Napoleon Biggs (weibo.com/napoleonbiggs)
Founder and Host - Web Wednesday Asia

Social Mixer V51: Mobile banking - why is it so damn hard?

This month we challenge Aman Narain, Group Head of Remote Banking for Standard Chartered, to show us how his new service "Breeze" will revolutionise the clumsy experience that is mobile banking today. Find out more about Narain on LindkedIn and follow him on Twitter (@amanwhotweets).

Our 51st social mixer will take place at back at Volar on Wednesday 21st September, from 6:30pm to 9:30pm, with the talk/interview starting at 7:15pm.

Let us know you're coming by signing up on Facebook, LinkedIn or this blog.

As per usual, there's a HK$100 entrance fee, including one complimentary drink, a free talk, high-quality networking and the chance to win lucky draw prizes including iPad 2s.

For those of you who arrive on time, Standard Chartered is sponsoring HK$10,000 of cocktails, aptly named "Breeze"!

Our lovely assistant, Vivian, will issue receipts if you need one. (For students, you can get in for HK$50 without free booze). Thereafter, all standard drinks will be charged at special happy hour prices.

This month we continue to donate 10% of entrance fees to the Japanese Red Cross. (Read our earlier post about donation options).

Social Mixer V50: YouTube - The evolution will be localised

Calling all video fanatics!

Web Wednesday hits 50 this month! So we're going to celebrate in style...with a special show at Bisous, our sparkling new venue at 9/F, LKF Tower, 33 Wyndham Street, Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong (call: +852 8127 7521 or visit www.bisous.com.hk).

Join their Facebook Group and follow them on Twitter (@BisousHK). [Easiest way to get there is via the lifts next to the Hard Rock Cafe at the top of Lan Kwai Fong].

Our guest speaker will be Anthony Zameczkowski, the new Head of YouTube Partnerships for Asia. We'll be talking about YouTube's migration from UGC to professional content and the value of localisation. Sign up on Facebook or via this blog.

As per usual, there's a HK$100 entrance fee, including one complimentary drink and the chance to win lucky draw prizes. Our lovely assistant, Vivian, will issue receipts if you need one. (For students, you can get in for HK$50 without free booze). Thereafter, all standard drinks will be charged at special happy hour prices.

More details to come... but do spread the word and bring your fellow digerati for a fun night of high-quality networking, insights into the world of online video and a burlesque show with a digital twist!

Social Mixer V49.0: Battle of the Apps!

Calling all app entrepreneurs!

We're planning an open mike for you to introduce your best app to the Hong Kong Digerati on 20th July at Volar Club, Lam Kwai Fong, Hong Kong. Sign up on Facebook or LinkedIn.

You have 5 minutes to show off your app (videos preferred). At the end of the evening, we'll take votes from the audience. The most popular app will win great prizes and a full interview slot at an upcoming Web Wednesday with all the associated promotional benefits.

Do help me spread the word so that we can attract a wide range of contestants. All apps welcome, be they on iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows, Chrome or Symbian (TV, tablet or smartphone).

As per usual, there's a HK$100 entrance fee, including one complimentary drink, a free talk, high-quality networking and the chance to win lucky draw prizes.

Our lovely assistant, Vivian, will issue receipts if you need one. (For students, you can get in for HK$50 without free booze). Thereafter, all standard drinks will be charged at special happy hour prices.

This month we continue to donate 10% of entrance fees to the Japanese Red Cross.

CNNGo travels to Web Wednesday

Come join the 160+ web crowd at tonight's 48th social mixer in Volar, kicking off at 6:30pm.

Andrew Demaria will share his experience, building out a travel start-up, CNNGo.com, under the watchful wing of a big media company, Turner International.

Jigocity ("Daily deals for the way you live") is generously sponsoring 150 free drinks so come early and sign up for our Facebook Page (facebook.com/webwednesday)!

Prizes galore, including exclusive CNNGo hoodies, a CNN spotting scope (to keep you out of the line of fire), restaurant coupons, cinema tickets and Pure dumb bells!

And to celebrate World Oceans Day (@worldoceansday), we have two books to give away: "Man and Shark" and "The Deep". Here's a video from the Anti-SharkFin lobby, created locally with cute bilingual kid journalists.


Anti SharkFIn FInal from mag on Vimeo.

Social Mixer V48.0: CNNGo - A Travel Start-up!

Calling all Asian Digerati!

As the summer holidays are around the corner, it's time to talk travel. So this month we are interviewing CNNGo, a travel start-up born here in Hong Kong.

Our guest speaker will be Andrew Demaria, Editor-in-Chief of CNNGo,Turner International’s Asia-based online travel and lifestyle platform, which launched in late 2009. Based in Hong Kong, he manages a team of 18 staff and oversees more than 500 freelance contributors across nine countries, with sites in four languages (Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong), Simplified Chinese (Shanghai), Japanese (Tokyo) and English (across Asia). Follow CNNGo on Twitter (@cnngo), become a fan on Facebook or join the Group on LinkedIn. They don't have a presence on the Chinese social media yet.

Our 48th social mixer (only two more 'till we reach 50!) will take place at Volar Club on Wednesday 8th June from 6:30pm to 9:30pm with the talk/interview starting at 7:15pm. Venue is Volar, 38-44 D'Aguilar Street, Lan Kwai Fong, Central, Hong Kong.

Let us know you're coming by signing up on Facebook or this blog.

As per usual, there's a HK$100 entrance fee, including one complimentary drink, a free talk, high-quality networking and the chance to win lucky draw prizes, including some highly desirable CNNGo swag!

Our lovely assistant, Vivian, will issue receipts if you need one. (For students, you can get in for HK$50 without free booze). Thereafter, all standard drinks will be charged at special happy hour prices.

This month we continue to donate 10% of entrance fees to the Japanese Red Cross. (Read our earlier post about donation options).

Looking forward to meeting many new faces and welcoming old friends and inspired travel bloggers!

Thank you, Gerd Leonhard

A massive "Thank you!" to Gerd Leonhard for proving that he truly is a "media futurist" and for sharing his predictions on the future of selling entertainment at last night's social mixer.

For once, I didn't have to quieten down the audience as Gerd's talk kept everyone in mesmerised silence!

Not only is he a futurist but also a savvy marketeer; just look at this screen capture of Twitter to see him in action promoting last night's talk.

And here are his slides, hosted on Slideshare (slideshare.net/gleonhard) or download them from Owly. Until today, I had no idea that Hootsuite hosted documents in the cloud! (Thanks again, Gerd).

Selling Entertainment Online: The Future (WebWednesday Hong Kong)

View more presentations from Gerd Leonhard