趣味閱讀

The development of the Internet over the past 20 years has not only changed the way most people live their life， but has also provided plenty of new platforms for business. The advertising industry’s adoption of the micro blog， or Weibo， as a promotional tool is an example.

Ye Feng， 34， a marketing professor in Beijing， frequently takes calls from public relations (PR) companies offering to pay him 5，000 yuan for every post on his micro blog that promotes their products.

He writes an average of eight posts daily， mainly about business matters and information about his courses. More importantly， he has more than 300，000 followers who read his posts on the micro-blogging website weibo.com. If Ye agreed to include product placements in 50 percent of his posts， he could make 20，000 yuan a day， just by typing fewer than 500 words， all of which are provided by PR companies.

However， he has consistently declined all offers. “I don’t want to make my micro blog too commercial，” he said. “I might lose fans if I am discovered promoting products in my postings.”

In addition to his work teaching Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) courses at many of China’s top universities， Ye is also the founder of Sunup Consulting Co Ltd.， a Beijing-based strategic consulting company.

He previously helped Shanghai Volkswagen Automobile Company Ltd. to open its official account on Weibo and delivered a series of online marketing activities through his connections with micro-blogging industry insiders. “The battleground of marketing is the Internet and the micro blog is the center of it，” he said.

Micro blog is no longer just a tool to make contact with friends and celebrities online， read their news and leave comments on their pages. It is also establishing a new business model.

According to Ye， a number of people in the industry have sponsored teams to operate micro blogs purely for commercial marketing purposes. He claims that these sites can earn as much as 100，000 yuan a day from this activity.

These accounts center around jokes， fashion and other light-hearted topics. Millions of people have signed up as followers.

Insiders have said half-jokingly that the influence of a micro blog can be compared with a national newspaper if it has more than 1 million fans. If it has 10 million fans， its impact is similar to that of a TV station. “Many accounts have achieved those sort of numbers already，” Ye said.

The Weibo account with the largest fans belongs to a Chinese actress called Yao Chen. She mostly posts about her daily life and work， and， as of June 17， her account had attracted 8，962，014 fans.

According to industry insiders， Yao has been offered at least 100，000 yuan for each post featuring product placements， but her agent has refused all offers. Yao’s agent confirmed to China Daily that her client has received a huge number of offers， but that all have been declined. “I have never discussed payment for Yao’s postings with any of the companies， but I think the value of each post on her micro blog would be more than 100，000 yuan，” she said.

Like Yao， most movie stars or singers have resisted the pressure to make their micro blogs too commercial， so the PR companies have to think of other ways of getting their message across.

How to make money from micro blog will remain a hot topic for some time， but the Internet is a place of unpredictable changes.

“The business model for micro blog will become fully established over the next three to five years， but it is hard to predict its business potential after that，” Ye said. “Changes come everywhere and at all times. Something new will replace it sometime， for sure.”

在過去20年間，互聯網的發展不僅改變了大多數人的生活方式，還為各行各業提供了十分充足的新平臺。廣告業使用微博作為促銷工具，這正是一個例子。

來自北京的，34歲的市場營銷學教授葉峰不斷接到公關公司的電話，對方希望他能在個人微博上推銷他們的產品，并提出愿意為每一條微博支付5000元人民幣的酬勞。

葉峰平均每天發8條微博，主要都是有關商務及自己所教課程的信息。更重要的一點是，葉峰在微博上的粉絲超過三十萬。如果葉峰同意在其發布的半數微博中植入廣告，那么他每天將會有兩萬元入賬。而他需要做的僅僅是打不到500個字，而這些內容則全部由公關公司提供。

然而，葉峰一如既往地婉拒了這些提議。葉峰表示：“我不想讓自己的微博過于商業化，如果粉絲們發現我在微博中推銷產品，可能就不會再關注我了。”

除了擔任國內很多一流大學EMBA課程的教師外，葉峰還是北京一家名為“日出咨詢有限公司”的戰略咨詢公司的創始人。

之前，葉峰曾幫助上海一汽大眾有限公司在微博上開通其官方微博，并依靠與微博業內人士的關系，協助一汽大眾展開了一系列網絡營銷活動。葉峰稱：“互聯網是營銷的戰場，而微博則是戰場的中心。”

微博已不再只是供人們在線聯系朋友和名人、瀏覽他們的新聞并在其主頁上留言的工具了。微博正在建立一種新的商業模式。

葉峰表示，業內很多人純粹出于商業營銷的目的，出資建立專門的團隊來運作微博。葉峰稱，通過這樣的運作，這些網站的日盈利達十萬元之多。

這些微博發布的信息主要圍繞笑話、時尚等輕松的話題。數百萬的用戶會關注此類微博，成為其粉絲。

內部人士半開玩笑地說，如果一個微博賬號擁有一百多萬的粉絲，其影響力就相當于一個全國性報紙；若擁有一千萬粉絲，其影響力就相當于一個電視臺。葉峰說：“很多微博賬戶的粉絲數量已達到這樣的數字。”

微博上擁有最多粉絲的賬戶屬于中國女星姚晨。她發布的微博大多是關于自己的日常生活和工作，截至6月17日，她已經擁有了8，962，014位粉絲。

據業內人士透露，已經有人想在姚晨的微博中植入廣告，并提出每條微博至少支付給姚晨十萬元，但都被其經紀人拒絕了。姚晨的經紀人在接受《中國日報》采訪時證實，姚晨的確收到了很多此類的邀請，但都謝絕了。她表示：“我從未和任何一家公司談論過姚晨發布微博的酬勞問題，但我認為，姚晨每條微博的價值應該超過十萬元。”

多數影星和歌星也都跟姚晨一樣，反對自己的微博被過度商業化，因此公關公司不得不另辟蹊徑進行推銷。

在一段時間內，微博經濟這個話題依舊會保持它的熱度。不過，互聯網一直都是個變幻莫測的地方。

葉峰說：“在未來三至五年內，微博商業模式將逐漸健全起來，但很難預測此后其潛藏的商機。變化每時每刻，無處不在。敢肯定的是，總有一天這種商業模式將被新事物取代。”