Lost in Shanghai (Musings on the Social and Physical Lives of the Chinese)

location based services


A few days ago, I got hopefully lost on the way to an appointment in Shanghai. It seemed I was on the right road, but could not find the address. I asked for instructions from people on the street. Every single person I asked was either confused and didn’t know, some give me downright misinformation. By the time the matter was resolved (I was on the wrong one of two identically named streets), I was hopelessly late.
How could these people, who have lived in Shanghai their whole lives, have no clue as to how to navigate even their most immediate environment? They must live lives that are physically limited, despite the vastness of the city.
That statement reminded me of something I had observed in Chinese social networks: People live lives that are socially limited, despite the massive population.
Might there be a relationship between social networks and their physical lives?
It is obvious if you think about it. The larger and more varied your social network, the more demands that network puts on your physical life. Or put more simply, the more people you know, the more you have to go out to meet them. This means traveling to peoples homes, eating at restaurants, shopping together, etc. Even individual activities are influenced by your network, for example going on your own to a yoga studio recommended by a friend, or buying a gift for a friend.
Until recently in China, the venues for meeting new people have been limited. People go to work and then go home. You meet new friends through family and colleagues. Given this, one can understand the small physical worlds most Chinese inhabit, despite living in a massive city like Shanghai.
However, there are already things happening in Chinese society that are changing this.
There is a growth of informal organizations, in city life. Informal organizations are popular with young people, who meet up to practice salsa, have book clubs, play sports, and share other types of hobbies. Middle aged people also are starting to organize into outlets for spending money or coaching each other on raising children. Though this growth is running up against political friction, it provides more opportunities to meet new people.
Another consideration is the growing numbers of skilled professionals in knowledge and service industries. For these types of people, it is easy and valuable to develop your network through your work. They go beyond just meeting people at the office, rather they meet people from their industry. For example, designers, consultants, and engineers get much more out of a professional conference, than a secretary, flight attendant, or paper pusher at some ministry would.
The question for media professionals and entrepreneurs looking at the Chinese market is how is new media affecting the social and physical lives of the Chinese, as well as the link between those lives? Are people meeting online and then meeting up in real life? Are people who play online games meeting up to discuss strategy or meeting at the same web bars to play together? Or do people keep their physical and virtual identities separate? Will location based services coming out with 3G going to be changing the ways people live their physical lives? How will Chinese react to marketers steaming commercials to their mobiles based on the locations they frequent? Will Chinese buying decisions be based on friends ratings that pop up on their screens when they scan a piece of merchindice? Will spontaneous meetups occur based on GPS services that tell where freinds are?
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006 at 6:44 am and is filed under social networking, chinese culture and society, marketing, social trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.