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Dialing up some success on smartphones and microblogs
By Xu Wenwen |
March 12, 2012, Monday
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PEOPLE keep figuring out new ways to earn money by using smartphones and weibo. Hangzhou cab driver Jiang Ye says his monthly revenue has increased from about 5,000 yuan (US$791) to 10,000 yuan plus ever since he began seeking customers via weixin and weibo.
Weixin is a voice, text and group messaging tool for smartphones. Weibo, or microblog, is the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
The 10-year veteran cabbie opened a weixin group and a weibo account in November. His Hangzhou Taxi Booking Weixin Group boasts around 300 members, including 10 other drivers. His weibo account Hangzhou Taxi Booking has nearly 1,000 followers.
People who need a taxi can send a message to the group along with his or her location. The nearest cabbie who is available will then pick up the customer, says Jiang.
Late at night when cabbies have fewer customers, they can use weixin to reach people who are less than 1 kilometer away and ask if they need a drive.
Jiang says there is a minimum fare of 50 yuan to call a taxi via his weibo or weixin.
"I started it to find more customers during idle hours, and I am satisfied with the result since it helps both customers and drivers," the 39-year-old says. "Some other cabbies are copying the idea. I am glad to see it because the service quality will only improve if there is competition."
Jiang isn't the only one who has found a way to earn money with a smartphone and microblog.
Zhao Cheng, 19, from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, is the youngest of the top 100 Sina microbloggers evaluated by Sina.com last year.
His microblog Qiushi Dabaike (which can be literally translated as gossipology), has so far posted more than 2,400 posts.
"The content needs to be real, interesting, as fresh as possible, and cannot be pornographic or vulgar," he says, adding he searches the news on his iPhone a lot to make sure his posts are fresh.
Today he boasts more than 1 million followers, which earns him about 20,000 yuan a month. He earns the money by forwarding commercial microblogs for fashion and cosmetics stores. He says he refuses to forward hard adverts.
Zhao started his weibo two years ago while he was still in high school and the number of his followers reached some 5,000 in four months due to the funny content.
Zhao says he then asked other microbloggers to forward his posts to attract more followers. Within a year, he had 350,000 followers.
He then cooperated with several other microblog writers who have a similar number of followers, boosting his following to 1 million.
According to a report released by Taobao.com, the country's leading online trade website, it sold 210 million mobile phones last year, among which more than 68 percent were smartphones.
Smartphones have created a slew of new careers, including 3G technicians, mobile phone software developers and mobile phone news editors.
Weixin is a voice, text and group messaging tool for smartphones. Weibo, or microblog, is the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
The 10-year veteran cabbie opened a weixin group and a weibo account in November. His Hangzhou Taxi Booking Weixin Group boasts around 300 members, including 10 other drivers. His weibo account Hangzhou Taxi Booking has nearly 1,000 followers.
People who need a taxi can send a message to the group along with his or her location. The nearest cabbie who is available will then pick up the customer, says Jiang.
Late at night when cabbies have fewer customers, they can use weixin to reach people who are less than 1 kilometer away and ask if they need a drive.
Jiang says there is a minimum fare of 50 yuan to call a taxi via his weibo or weixin.
"I started it to find more customers during idle hours, and I am satisfied with the result since it helps both customers and drivers," the 39-year-old says. "Some other cabbies are copying the idea. I am glad to see it because the service quality will only improve if there is competition."
Jiang isn't the only one who has found a way to earn money with a smartphone and microblog.
Zhao Cheng, 19, from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, is the youngest of the top 100 Sina microbloggers evaluated by Sina.com last year.
His microblog Qiushi Dabaike (which can be literally translated as gossipology), has so far posted more than 2,400 posts.
"The content needs to be real, interesting, as fresh as possible, and cannot be pornographic or vulgar," he says, adding he searches the news on his iPhone a lot to make sure his posts are fresh.
Today he boasts more than 1 million followers, which earns him about 20,000 yuan a month. He earns the money by forwarding commercial microblogs for fashion and cosmetics stores. He says he refuses to forward hard adverts.
Zhao started his weibo two years ago while he was still in high school and the number of his followers reached some 5,000 in four months due to the funny content.
Zhao says he then asked other microbloggers to forward his posts to attract more followers. Within a year, he had 350,000 followers.
He then cooperated with several other microblog writers who have a similar number of followers, boosting his following to 1 million.
According to a report released by Taobao.com, the country's leading online trade website, it sold 210 million mobile phones last year, among which more than 68 percent were smartphones.
Smartphones have created a slew of new careers, including 3G technicians, mobile phone software developers and mobile phone news editors.
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