In China, Where Twitter Is Banned, Twitter Executive Espouses Value of Social Media

Twitter was able to spread its gospel during an industry mover address as part of the CES Asia conference program. In his introduction to Twitter's Shailesh Rao, vice president-Asia Pacific, Latin America and emerging markets, Shapiro said, “Twitter has been at the forefront of the social media revolution,” citing the company's role in communication, business and information gathering. Shapiro called Asia the “heart" of the digital revolution “with more than half of all Internet mobile and social media users in the entire world.”

Speaking in Mandarin before switching to English, Rao spoke of the “big shift that’s occurring” as a result of China’s rising role within Asia to a “global leadership position.” He cited China’s leadership position as a producer of gold that’s almost double that of the next supplier and its position as second-largest buyer of art outside of the U.S. -- a “reflection of the vibrant art market here” combining contemporary and historical works of art. China is the world’s largest consumer of red wine, he said, saying consumption of luxury goods and “things that reflect taste and the stretching of ambitions” to new types of lifestyles “are at scale here in China as well.”

As the No. 2 economy, China has an economy triple that of Japan, Rao said, and has become the world’s largest trading nation in exports and imports. China’s auto market grows yearly at a double digit rate, he said, repeating a theme at CES Asia about China’s rapidly growing middle class that is “striving to experience new things.” Sixty-eight percent of urban Chinese households are in the middle class, and the amount of travel by Chinese citizens outside of the mainland has grown by a factor of five in the past decade, he said.

That rising Chinese middle class, according to CEA figures, is expected to account for 66 percent of the world’s middle class by 2030, according to an earlier session on the outlook for the CE tech market in China and the U.S. given by CEA Senior Director of Research Shawn DuBravac.

Rao highlighted China’s largest population of Internet users in the world at over 600 million and its 40 percent share of Internet usage, driven by Chinese Internet companies such as Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent. China has “earned its right to extend its reach and start to play on the world stage,” he said.

Twitter, he said, can help global and China companies reach the world audience. “One of the important dimensions" in communicating with the world audience “is to be relevant” and that involves “being in the moment,” Rao said. “Your communication has to be live,” he said, citing recent “iconic” experiences in world conversation about entertainment, sports, culture, politics and social issues.

Rao flashed images of the well-traveled Ellen DeGeneres “selfie” from the Oscars in 2014, calling it an “authentic and human moment on the world stage” garnering more than 4 billion impressions that traveled across the Web, TV and print media. He cited other Twitter moments in World Cup soccer and how politicians in India, Indonesia, Korea and Singapore have jumped on Twitter to deliver their messages.

More than 300 million people actively communicate on Twitter, said Rao, and more than half a billion unique users visit the platform every month. “We touch over a billion unique mobile devices,” he said.

Rao steered the message to the tone of an effective tweet, which he said is conversational and “respects the response of the audience.” He contrasted that form of communication with traditional media that have “spoken from the mountaintop” without the expectation of a debate or discussion. “The world today expects to be heard” and “to be part of the conversation,” said Rao. He called the Twitter platform, with the opportunity for a response, “the ultimate sign of mutual respect for your audience.”

For communication over Twitter to be valuable, it has to be relevant, said Rao. “Today, you don’t distribute your message because you buy access to a distribution channel or you own the means of distribution.” Messages are “distributed for you by your audience,” he said. He cited retweets as a way for a great message to be further communicated through “the power of the word of mouth in a digital platform.”

Appealing to company CEOs, Rao cited the impact of Twitter news on financial markets, pointing to an Elon Musk tweet on a new Tesla product that, he said, moved Tesla’s share price by 4 percent within 10 minutes. The market capitalization of Tesla grew $900 million in 10 minutes based on that news, said Rao.

Twitter has seen a 46 percent increase in the use by Fortune 500 CEOs as they see the potential of reaching customers, investors and future prospects, Rao said. He gave examples of Asian CEOs who are using Twitter to reach stakeholders, including AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes whose “use of Twitter generated to the world his genuine care” for those who lost lives and their families in an AirAsia crash. Fernandes' commitment to the community expressed through Twitter “made him human and showed him in a very authentic light,” said Rao.

Rao said the tweet has become more than 140 characters of text, evolving to be a canvass using rich media and interactivity. He showed a six-second looped Vine clip of a puppy to illustrate the power of short-form video, which he called important to the future experiences on Twitter. More than 100 million users have watched Vines, he said. Companies are using Vines, too, he said, showing a Hewlett-Packard clip stitching together messages showing benefits of 2-in-1 PCs.

Twitter, he said, can be an effective tool in reaching world markets. “To be effective in going to the world stage,” he said, “you need to be live, public, conversational…and ultimately your content will distribute itself through the power of word of mouth,” over the Internet.