30+ Events Held Across The City to Examine Emerging Trends in Social Media
Hong Kong – Social Media Week Hong Kong (SMWHK) starts today, marking the city’s first citywide event dedicated to discussing emerging trends in social media and how they impact society and business.
Social Media Week is a global event taking place in 9 cities across the world at the same time. SMWHK marks the event’s Asia debut and will address the topical theme ‘For Love or Money?’ with specific days covering content across four areas; (1) Understanding Social Media in China, (2) Social Media 101, (3) Experts’ Round and (4) Community Focus. A Bloggers Series will be hosted on each day of Social Media Week with focuses on Hong Kong Bloggers, Mainland China Bloggers, Food, Fashion and Travel, respectively.
Some events will be held purely online, such as an Amazing Race-style Fashion Photo Hunt hosted by Hong Kong Fashion Geek which will take place over the course of SMWHK, with a grand prize worth HK$15,000.
A team of 18 Advisory Board members, including Raffi Kamalian, COO of alivenotdead.com; Francis Fong, of Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing; and Joanne Ooi, CEO of leading social media practitioner Clean Air Network (CAN) have helped to curate the overall event content through the support of a diverse set of events partners across the city.
Among key speakers featured during SMWHK are Frank Rose, Contributing Editor to WIRED Magazine and author of The Art of Immersion; Blake Chandlee, Vice President of Emerging Markets for Facebook; Kaiser Kuo, Director of International Communications at Baidu; Jeffrey Zheng, General Manager East China Region of RenRen; and artist Simon Birch.
Three events will be live video steamed by Media Partner, SmoothWeb, allowing visitors at at home, or around the world to take part in Hong Kong’s events. Live video streamed events include the Opening Press Gathering, 8 February from 3:15-5pm; Bloggers Series, with a focus on: Fashion, 11 February from 11am-1pm; and HK PR Network: Social Media Trends and What They Mean for PR, 11 February from 7-9pm, all held at The Pawn.
SMWHK is led by City Partner impactasia and sponsored by Exclusive City Headline Sponsor, The Wall Street Journal Asia.
“This is a grassroots event aimed at any Manager in the private, public and non profit sectors aiming to navigate this brave new world of social media,” commented Sarah Woodhouse, Group Managing Director of impactasia. “Being one of nine cities participating in the global event gives Hong Kong the opportunity to showcase its unique position of being connected to both the Western and Chinese social media scenes.”
Opening Day, Tuesday, 8 February. Among the events kicking off on the first day of SMWHK is an Opening Cocktail at The Pawn’s Roof Garden (Official Restaurant Partner) from 5-7pm, followed by a comedy show with acts poking fun at the online world at TakeOut Comedy from 8-9:30pm. Proceeds will be in benefit of CAN, and the city’s comedian hopefuls will be invited to take part in the pre-event online #CANhklol Twitter contest to tweet the best one liner in 131 characters to see if they CAN make Hong Kong Laugh Out Loud.
Understanding Social Media in China, Wednesday, 9 February. Among events taking place on the second day of SMWHK from Hotel Partner Langham Place, Mongkok will be a panel on Navigating China’s Online Space featuring Vincent Chan of Jiepang; Jeffrey Zheng of Renren; Kaiser Kuo, Director of International Communications for Baidu, Meg Lee of Sina Hong Kong, and Gang Lu, author of Mobinode.com who will be moderating the discussion from 2-3:30pm. Media Partner Time Out Hong Kong will be hosting a “Date Our Readers” speed dating event from 8:30-10pm at Pure Bar Central, driving their online dating community into the offline space. Web Wednesday will host its monthly event with a special interview with Facebook at Volar from 6:30-9pm.
Social Media 101, Thursday, 10 February. Taking social media back to basics will be a variety of events focused on “how tos” in the online space. Among the events will be ‘Social networking finally gets down to business’ hosted by TIBCO from 11am-2pm at Le 188o Restaurant in Harbour Grand, North Point, where experts from TIBCO, OOCL and the Economist Corporate Network will weigh in on how social media can be leveraged successfully in the workplace. Hong Kong fashion writer and blogger Janice Wong will host a session at City University on Personal Branding through Social Media from 2-3:30pm, where she will discuss turning a passion into a successful business. Hong Kong Twitter leader and Advisory Board member Jay Oatway will host a cocktail session on “Anything and Everything Twitter” from 6:30-8pm at Langham Place Mongkok.
Experts’ Round, Friday, 11 February. Among sessions delving deeper into social media related topics will be two events hosted by Official Education Partner, SCAD, at their Sham Shui Po campus: ‘Artists’ Intellectual Property in the Online Space,’ from 12:30-2pm, and ‘Gaming and Living in an Alternate Reality,’ from 3-4:30pm. Online parenting community Little Steps Hong Kong will host a roundtable from 12-2pm at Pure Bar Central discussing Hong Kong’s “mommy blogging” scene, and how brands marketing towards children and families are behaving in the online space. At The Mira Hong Kong, Hong Kong Fashion Geek will host the ‘Geek Chic’ fashion cocktail party for fashion bloggers and the brands and readers who love them.
Community Focus, Saturday, 12 February. A session from 2-4pm will be held at Pure Bar Central entitled ‘V TV: Empowering Women through Social Media,’ presented by V DAY 2011. Dedicated towards non-profits looking to harness social media to raise awareness for a cause, ‘Social Media for Love: How Non-Profits Leverage Social Media’ at Pure Bar Central from 5-6pm will feature speakers from Twestival Shanghai, Positive Posters, HK Shark Foundation, Project Kaisei and more. alivenotdead.com is also partnering up with TVB.com to host the SMWHK Official After Party at Sticky Fingers Bar & Restaurant in East TST with a live music event, ‘Music Battles’ from 9pm onwards.
City Partner impactasia and its Advisory Board members hail from a range of industries and networks to help support event curation. The 18 Advisory Board members include:
Asia Digital Marketing Association, Eyes, ears and voice of digital marketing in Asia; Napoleon Biggs, Web Wednesday Founder & Host, Fleishman Hillard SVP & Head of Digital Integration; Bonnie Chan-Woo, Icicle Group and Handheld Culture, largest publisher of digital content in Hong Kong; Jennifer Cheng, Vice President, BEECRAZY, Group buying and e-commerce expert; Vince Chung, Amazing Race Asia 3 winner, entertainment industry insider and viral video specialist; Francis Fong, Chairman of Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing; Bess Hepworth, Head Honcho of Bonza Pie Coaching & Performance Consultancy; Hong Kong Fashion Geek, Leading regional fashion blog; Raffi Kamalian, Chief Operating Officer of alivenotdead.com; Casey Lau, Co-Founder of Popcorn Media Network, Hong Kong’s first blog network; Olivier Legrand, General Manager, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, Asia Pacific; Rudi Leung, Renowned digital strategist, blogger, and online strategy developer; Little Steps Hong Kong, Amie Hibbard and Shea Stanley, Founders of online parenting network; Jay Oatway, Journalist, consultant and leading Hong Kong Twitterer; Joanne Ooi, CEO of Clean Air Network; William To, Project Director, Hong Kong Design Centre; Karin Wan, Associate Business Director of Guru Online and co-founder of Maximizer; Janice Wong, Leading fashion writer and blogger, reporting from the fashion world’s most coveted events.
Media partners include The Wall Street Journal Asia (Official Business Newspaper), Time Out Hong Kong, Sina Weibo, Marketing Magazine, and SmoothWeb.
Langham Place Mongkok is Official Hotel Partner. The Pawn is Social Media Week Hong Kong’s Official Restaurant Partner, and SCAD is the Official Education Partner. TIBCO is an Event Sponsor, Facebook is an Official Event Partner, and Official Social Media Partner is Harbour City.
Social Media Week Hong Kong Event Partners confirmed to date include: alivenotdead.com; BEECRAZY; Beehive Strategy; Bonza Pie; City University; Clean Air Network; Dim Sum and Then Some; Fringe Club; Groupon; Guru Online; Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing; Hong Kong Fashion Geek; Hong Kong PR Network; Hongmenart; Hong Kong Web Analytics; iSOC; Little Steps Hong Kong; Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong; The Mira Hong Kong; Osage; Popcorn Media Network; PURE Bar + Restaurant; StartupsHK; TakeOut Comedy; VDAY 2011; and Web Wednesday.
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