1. Topic Two: Alternative Ways to Measure Internet
Community Dynamics
“The Internet is THE Community”: IWOM white paper
Series on Internet Word of Mouth (IWOM) Development in
China
2008 Q3
© 2008 CIC

2. Alternative Ways to Measure
Internet Community Dynamics Editorial Summary
The Chinese Internet Community is a new
media, which is redefining the relationships
between brands and consumers. However,
not all communities are the same nor do
Community
Passion communities for each brand category have
the same impact and meaning.
In this white paper “Alternative Ways to
Measuring the
Measure Internet Community Dynamics”,
Internet Community
which is Topic 2 of our “The Internet is THE
Community” series of reports, CIC proposes
Community Community a sample set of community measurement
Creativity
•
Interactivity
indexes to help brands and community
owners better understand the impact and
importance of community and Internet Word
of Mouth (IWOM).
© 2008 CIC 2

3. ABOUT CIC PROPRIETARY IWOM ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY
For this paper, CIC utilized its patent pending Chinese text mining technology to analyze its store of
hundreds of millions of BBS messages related to brands, products and services.
Identify relevant source of online conversation
Data Collection Use customized tools and industry term library to collect data
Filter out irrelevant and duplicate data and assess data quality
Expert construct product and driver categorization
Data Mining Mine Data by powerful natural language mining tools
Perform QA to assure the quality of data mining results
Analyze buzz volume and content using customized tools
Data Analysis Distil insights behind IWOM dynamics by experienced analysts
Deliver buzz findings in flexible format
© 2008 CIC 3

4. COMMUNITY MEASUREMENT: If community is a “new media”,
then what benchmarks can be used to measure it?
Community Community Community
Passion Creativity •
Interactivity
PR-Posting Rate TCF-Topic Creation Factor CPR-Conversation
PR is one of the online TCF is one of the online
Participation Rate
Community passion indexes, Community creativity indexes, CPR is one of the online
measured by the average measured by the ratio of new Community interaction indexes,
posting number per posters. topics. measured by the average post
number per conversation.
… … …
These are just some of the key indexes which can be used to measure the
dynamics of online community.
© 2008 CIC 4

5. PASSION & INTERACTIVITY INCREASING: PR and CPR
rates increase in Q1-Q3, 2008
- IWOM conversation length increased to 14 posts/month; average
number of posts/ posters jumped to around 20 IWOM posts per month
*Posting Rate and Conversation Participation Rate Trend, 2007Q1 – 2008Q3
Posting Rate CPR
(monthly average) (monthly average)
25 16
Posting Rate CPR
20
12
15
8
10
A remarkable surge
in Posting Rate and
CPR in 2008 4
5
0 0
2007Q1 2007Q2 2007Q3 2007Q4 2008Q1 2008Q2 2008Q3
*Note: PR (Posting Rate) is one of the online Community passion indexes, measured by the average posting number per poster
CPR (Conversation Participation Rate) is one of the online Community interaction indexes, measured by the average post number per conversation.
© 2008 CIC Data source: CIC Cross Industry Study, 2007Q1-2008Q3 5

6. AUTOMOBILE LEADS THE PASSION INDEX
- Auto posters PR lead other categories with 30 posts/poster every
month
Monthly average *Posting Rate for top 6 categories, 2007Q1 - 2008Q3
Automobile 30
Sports 14.8
Baby care 12.1
Computer 9.6
Cosmetics 8.1
Mobile phone 6.8
*PR (Posting Rate) is one of the online community passion indexes, measured by the average posting number per poster
© 2008 CIC Data source: CIC Cross Industry Study, 2007Q1-2008Q3 6

7. WHAT’S DRIVING THE PASSION IN AUTO BUZZ?
- Text mining analysis suggests that in 2008 Q3, 23.3% of automobile
buzz is about product IWOM, and 11.2% is about the attributes
Buzz Incidence of top 10 auto Percentage of auto product and Top discussed auto attributes, 2008 Q3
manufacturers, 2008 Q3 attribute related buzz, 2008 Q3
Power system
Buzz
Manufacturer
Incidence 23.3% Price
上海大众 SVW 10.4% 16%
22% Appearance
一汽-大众 FAW-VW 10.3%
External
长安福特马自达 5%
accessories
8.2%
CA Ford Mazda Car category
6%
神龙汽车 Shenlong 7.7% 11.2%
7% 16% Inner
上海通用 SGM 7.5% accessories
Transmission
广州本田GZ Honda 6.9% 7% system
7% 15%
东风日产DF Nissan 4.9% Distributors
一汽丰田 FAW-Toyota 4.7% Other
华晨汽车 Huachen 3.4%
奇瑞 Chery 3.1% Product related buzz Attribute related buzz
Data Base: Total product related posts=4,604,870 Data Base: Total automobile posts= 19,771,209 Data Base: Total attribute related posts= 2,210,775
Note: Each manufacturer buzz Incidence is the
percentage of manufacturer posts (incl. brand, series
and model) among total product and brand posts.
© 2008 CIC Data source: CIC Cross Industry Study, 2008Q3 7

8. TOP AUTO ATTRIBUTES DISCUSSED: Samples of
consumer opinions
• 油耗好像挺厉害的，不知道真实的怎么样，看到网上有好多要开到 • 我20几岁的人，觉得YG8比较适合我，KMR比较适合40
15、16个油。起步到20以前挺肉的。20以后速度就上的快了。 链接 岁这样的人，其实不和YG8对比看，KK的外观还是很大
气的！ 链接
It seems that this car doesn't get good gas mileage. I heard it uses
15-16liters/100km, and the acceleration is slow before reaching a I am in my twenties and I think YG8 is suitable for me
speed of 20km/h. link but KMR is more appropriate for people over 40. link
Power Appearance
Buzz system Buzz
Volume Volume
External
Price Buzz
Buzz accessories
Volume Volume
• 10万元以内，还是买大众的POLO吧！法国人自己都认为，大众 • 看中小7有一半的原因是因为独立大灯了。 链接
的车都是好车！POLO在法国比307贵多了！1.3万欧！ 链接
Half of my motivation to buy “Little 7” is because of its
Polo is a good choice if you want to buy a car for under 100 big independent headlights. link
thousand Yuan. Even French think Volkswagen is great! Polo is
much more expensive than the 307 in France which costs 13
thousand euros. link
© 2008 CIC Data source: CIC Cross Industry Study, 2008Q3 8

9. SPORTS COMMUNITIES ARE ESPECIALLY INTERACTIVE
- CPR is highest, with 15.7 posts per conversation on average
Monthly average *CPR for top 6 categories, 2007Q1 - 2008Q3
Sports 15.7
Automobile 15
Baby care 12.7
Cosmetics 12.4
Mobile phone 8.9
Computer 8.3
*Note: CPR (Conversation Participation Rate) is one of the online Community interaction indexes, measured by the average post
number per conversation.
© 2008 CIC Data source: CIC Cross Industry Study, 2007Q1-2008Q3 9

10. SPORTS COMMUNITIES PASSION INCREASED DURING
OLYMPICS
- Online sports communities, PR doubled in past year
*Posting Rate Trend for Sports, 2007Q1 – 2008Q3
Posting Rate
(monthly average)
Beijing Olympics served
as a catalyst by greatly
igniting netizens’ passion
to communicate online
*PR (Posting Rate) is one of the online Community passion indexes, measured by the average posting number per poster
© 2008 CIC Data source: CIC Cross Industry Study, 2007Q1-2008Q3 10

11. WHICH TOPICS STIMULATED NETIZENS’ PASSION FOR
OLYMPICS? - BBS OLYMPICS Keyword Association Mapping*
Samsung's mobile phone and
Lenovo's flash disk for the
Olympics created buzz.
Official Sponsor
Olympics Component
McDonald’s online
Olympics campaign
generated buzz.
*Note: “BBS Olympics Keyword Association Mapping” uses the distance to visualize the relationship between the Olympics
and official sponsors / key Olympics components, the nearer distance represents the closer association. Please find more
details here (EN) and here (CN).
© 2008 CIC Data source: CIC Cross Industry Study, 2007Q4 11

12. BABY CARE COMMUNITIES PASSION AND CREATIVITY
CONSISTENTLY HIGH
- PR and TCF rates among the highest of all categories
Monthly average *Posting Rate for top 6 categories Monthly average *TCF for top 6 categories
2007Q1 - 2008Q3 2007Q1 - 2008Q3
Automobile 30.0 Sports 0.81
Sports 14.8 Automobile 0.8
Baby care 12.1 Baby care 0.77
Computer 9.6 Computer 0.77
Cosmetics 8.1 Mobile phone 0.7
Mobile phone 6.8 Cosmetics 0.61
*Note: PR (Posting Rate) is one of the online Community passion indexes, measured by the average posting number per poster
TCF (Topic Creation Factor) is one of the online Community creativity indexes, measured by the ratio of new topics.
© 2008 CIC Data source: CIC Cross Industry Study, 2007Q1-2008Q3 12

13. WHAT’S DRIVING TOPIC CREATION AMONG PARENTS?
- Sharing, influential events, online campaigns and promotional
activities are the popular topics discussed by parents
Hot topics in Baby Care IWOM
TCF Trend for Baby Care Sharing
2007Q1 – 2008Q3 主题：预产期08年9月的姐妹进来分享幸福！
TCF (PV: 232,698 reply: 6,015)
(monthly average) Topic: if you are going to be a mum in Sept, join the
discussion and share your happiness. link
0.85 主题： 全职妈妈的一天及宝宝食谱（不断更新中）！
(PV: 87,855 reply: 874)
0.80
Topic: A day of a full-time mother and the recipe for baby
(updating continually)! link
Influential events
0.75
主题: 悲剧啊，液态奶也有问题了 (PV: 90,844 reply: 1,336)
Topic: Unfortunately, liquid milk also has problems. link
0.70
主题: 您如何对待国产奶粉？请选择 (PV: 33,849 reply: 1,277)
Topic: What’s your attitude toward local powdered milk?
Please vote. link
0.65
2007Q1 2007Q2 2007Q3 2007Q4 2008Q1 2008Q2 2008Q3
Campaign & Promotion
主题：秀宝贝:赢大奖得银币，开始投票! (PV: 15,572 reply: 537)
*TCF (Topic Creation Factor) is one of the online Community creativity Topic: Show your baby and win the prize. link
indexes, measured by the ratio of new topics. 主题：整箱的蒙牛牛奶，快来抢啊！(PV: 72,657 reply: 5,117)
Topic: Answer and grab the floor to get a box of milk. link
© 2008 CIC Data source: CIC Cross Industry Study, 2007Q1-2008Q3 13

14. ABOUT CIC
CIC is the leading Internet Word of Mouth (IWOM) research and consulting firm in China. Since
2004, CIC has pioneered the concept of Internet Word of Mouth (IWOM) that is redefining the
relationship between brands and consumers. CIC coined the term Internet Word of Mouth and is
the thought leader in utilizing it for strategy planning and application in marketing
communications. CIC is committed to both providing objective third party strategic advice to
clients and promoting the healthy development of the Internet Community in China. CIC’s
research and discussion of IWOM’s impact and best practices can be found on company blogs,
IWOM white papers and IWOM watch reports and through its IWOM roundtable events such as
IWOM summit and IWOM classroom.
CIC offers customized research and consulting service to its stable of retainer clients through its
expert IWOM analysts supported by proprietary Chinese language based text mining technology
(patent pending), data processing technology and data visualization technology. CIC’s retainer
relationships stretch over multiple years with multinational clients from Fortune 500 companies.
CIC’s continual development and evolution is driven by a unique, powerful and open mindset and
learning culture which at its foundation continually seeks to understand how the Internet, and
Internet Word of mouth, is redefining the relationships between brands and consumers.
For more information, please visit www.cicdata.com (CIC website), www.seeisee.com (CIC
Company blog in Chinese) and www.seeisee.com/sam (CEO's company blog in English).
© 2008 CIC 14

15. DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
• All collected messages were categorized and mined according to a library of terms
(including Internet slang) representing companies, brands, products, and attributes
customized for the unique linguistic environment of mainland China.
• The unit of buzz volume is based on single post (a message posted in online forum)
• All obviously “Irrelevant Messages” such as 灌水 (guan shui) were filtered out. Also,
messages containing the characters that refer to something other than the intended
object were filtered out. For example, “大众” the Chinese name of Volkswagen, when
referring to “people,” and not the brand, was not counted.
• All the sample quotes in this white paper are selected from top BBS in China
© 2008 CIC 15

16. OUR BLOGS:
www.seeisee.com (Chinese)
www.seeisee.com/sam (English)
OUR WEBSITE:
www.cicdata.com
CONTACT US:
Thank You
info@cicdata.com
This report is copyrighted material owned by CIC. Any improper use
of this document or its content will be considered a violation of CIC IP
copyright and CIC has the right to take legal action.
本研究报告归CIC公司版权所有。任何对本研究报告或报告中任何内容
的不当使用都将被视为对CIC知识产权的侵犯，CIC有权诉诸于法律。