Global Marketing News – 25th January 2016
Weibo to abolish 140 character limit
The leading Chinese social network Weibo has announced that it will be abolishing its 140 character limit.
Weibo is one of the most popular social networks in China with over 200 million users, and is a micro-blogging platform similar to Twitter.
Until recently it had a 140 character limit, but from 28th January so-called “senior members” will be able to write longer messages, with this being rolled out to all members by the end of February.
The longer messages will only partially display in followers’ news feeds, with users having to click on the post to view the entire message on a separate page.
The news comes as Twitter faces mounting pressure to abolish its own 140 character limit. Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey announced earlier this month that it may get rid of the character limit after noting that many users were posting images of longer pieces of text.
Buzzfeed has launched in Japan
Buzzfeed has launched in Japan, making the country the eleventh international market that Buzzfeed has entered.
In a mutually beneficial agreement, Buzzfeed will provide content to Yahoo Japan, and Yahoo Japan will drive traffic to Buzzfeed’s site.
Buzzfeed is a news and entertainment site that specialises in publishing fun and sharable articles, often in the form of lists.
It hopes that its partnership with Yahoo Japan will give it an edge over its competitors. Yahoo Japan is one of the most popular online portals in the country, with 88% of Japanese internet users using the site.
It faces stiff competition in the Japanese market, where local sites Virates and Curazy are already well-established.
45% of Buzzfeed readers are from outside the US, with the launch in Japan set to push this up even higher.
Indonesia gives Netflix 1 month to comply with laws or get out
The Indonesian government has given Netflix 1 month to comply with its laws and pay its taxes, or the company may face being banned in the country.
Netflix needs to apply for a special kind of license known as a BUT in order to operate in the country, which means it will have to have a physical office in Indonesia and employ Indonesians.
It will also need to pay taxes to the Indonesian government for every transaction it makes in the country.
Netflix has not yet commented on whether it will apply for a BUT license and comply with the regulations or whether it will simply exit the country.
It entered Indonesia at the beginning of 2016 as part of its massive international expansion plan, which saw it enter a staggering 130 new countries.
Cryptocurrencies on the rise in the world of ecommerce
Cryptocurrencies are on the rise in the world of ecommerce.
2015 was a big year for Bitcoin, one of the most popular virtual currencies in the world, as many mainstream companies embraced the technology.
Rakuten, Dell and Virgin Galactic were among the big names who announced they would start accepting the virtual currency last year.
And it’s not just Bitcoin that is flourishing. The Chinese government announced last week that it planned to develop its own cryptocurrency, although some commentators have commented that a digital currency run by the Chinese government will be anything but cryptic.
Social media most popular amongst young women in Italy
And finally, research by Emarketer has revealed that social media is most popular amongst young women in Italy.
Overall in the country, professional social networks were used by 13% of men and 11% of women, with non-professional social networks being used by 58% of women and 55% of men.
Highest uptake of non-professional social networks was amongst women aged 18 to 19, with 90% of women in this age range being active on social media.
Professional social networks were most popular amongst users aged 25 to 34.
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Gemma Houghton
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