Jiepang’s first sponsored photo filter (pictured below) is made in conjunction with skincare company Neutrogena. Rather than just slapping on a logo, the clever “sunshine” filter will pull in information for the user’s vicinity to show up the location, current temperature, and the angle of the sun. All that ties into the skincare brand’s line of sunscreen products. In addition, users of that special filter will unlock a redeemable virtual badge for special discounts on Neutrogena products at one store chain (Watsons) and on the online shop Tmall.

After running this promo for three weeks, Jiepang tells us today that it has seen 70,000 pictures uploaded with that filter, and those have been shared over 250,000 times on various social networks like Sina Weibo.

Last summer we looked at how Tuding, an Instagram-like photo app and social network in China, was also rolling out branded photo filters for some of its partner brands like Adidas.

We also saw an amusing smart filter on the Chinese photo app Vida that tells you how bad the air quality is in the place where you took the photo. So if you’re shrouded in smog, you might want to try out Vida, but if you can actually see the sun (a rarity in Beijing), give the Foursquare-like Jiepang a try.

Click here for the very large full-size version of this infographic.

But will Jiepang look the same at the end of 2013? It’s not likely. As we mentioned, Jiepang has already begun a shift towards WeChat and that service’s massive-and-growing user base. But according to PandoDaily, over the coming year Jiepang will shift even further away from its roots, switching to a more Path-like service so as to ensure Jiepang still offers something unique and valuable to the social users who are now getting their location-sharing fix from WeChat.

But of course, such a switch will put Jiepang more squarely in the line of fire from other more “traditional” social services like Renren and Sina Weibo. Whether or not the company will be able to produce such a positive infographic after 2013 is over remains to be seen.

Last year this Digital IQ report ranked three global companies as having “genius”-level marketing chops: Audi, Burberry, and BMW. This time around, four luxury brands get this accolade, led by cosmetics firm Estée Lauder (see the top ten table below).

So how is this calculated? To make the grade, brands need to do a lot of optimization, social outreach, and clever online marketing. For this report, the grading structure is 30 percent each for doing social media and localizing your site, and 20 percent each for digital marketing and mobile compatibility:

With all that factored in, here’s the top ten. Note that Audi once again appears as a “genius” brand when it comes to its online work in China:

As for the winner, the L2 Think Tank team notes that Estée Lauder has a web “presence on six social platforms [which] yields a social universe of more than 1.6 million fans.” Not the biggest number among these global companies, but the report states that its strategy is very social and well integrated.

Being social in China

Aside from things like search engine optimization for Baidu, luxury brands in China need to get themselves on the right social platforms. The report finds that social media adoption is up on every site, with Twitter-esque Sina Weibo still number one. A big winner this year is the video site Youku (NYSE:YOKU) where 60 percent of the analyzed brands in this report now have a social media presence:

That sure has been a long time building up, as we reported on brands like Cartier and Burberry opening brand video channels on Youku way back in the summer of 2011. Once again we see luxury automakers doing especially well, this time exploding their number of channel video views on Youku in 2012:

Of course, there are new platforms emerging, and brands need to be aware of reaching out via the messaging app WeChat (as we’ve seen Starbucks do so well this year), or on the Pinterest-like Meilishuo. Plus, the Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) owned video site iQiyi is aiming to challenge Youku for classy brand video channels, so that outlet needs to be considered as well.

Keeping the conversation flowing on Sina Weibo

Car makers again make a strong showing on China’s most important social service – Sina Weibo. Cadillac is top in terms of fans/followers on Weibo in this luxury segment, and fashion labels Dior and Coach are playing catch-up this year:

For more information about these brands and their strategies, catch the full report here. Plus, L2 has made a nice video overview that runs to three minutes:

(Mobile readers: Digital IQ Index®: China 2012 from L2 Think Tank, on Vimeo).

Coffee chain Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) is keeping its relationship with Jiepang, China’s top Foursquare-esque check-in service, brewing for yet another year. This year’s Starbucks-Jiepang social marketing campaign for the holiday season is now in full flow, offering four virtual Christmas badges for coffee drinkers who also make social check-ins within Jiepang’s cross-platform mobile apps. There are also Christmas-themed e-cards and some unlockable buy-one-get-one free drinks rewards.

Once again, the coffee chain’s tie-up with Jiepang is geographically limited to eastern China – namely Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces – but that’s still enough to cover over 300 Starbucks stores.

To ensure all this is even more social – and to give it viral potential – the e-cards are designed to be gifted to your buddies on Sina Weibo, China’s biggest Twitter-like service, from right within the Jiepang app. Here’s the check-in and the e-card before you send it out:

As for Jiepang itself, the social startup says it now has four million users, mainly in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, which is pretty good growth from three million this spring. But check-in apps are not exactly mainstream stuff, so the company is always aiming to connect more and more with its demographic of smartphone-toting young urbanites with a huge desire to go out and try fancy new places. In terms of brand partners engaging in this kind of social marketing, Jiepang tells us it has buddied up with “over 300 local and international brands, including Starbucks, Starwood, Louis Vuitton, [and] H&M.” This is the third Christmas tie-up with the coffee chain.

Last year the duo focused more on NFC check-ins to get social promotions. I’m not sure how that went down, but there are likely not enough people with NFC-equipped phones to make that work again.

Jiepang currently has 100 employees scattered across its Beijing HQ and offices in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Taipei, and Hong Kong.

She's happy with Jiepang's refreshed API .

Chinese location-based social network Jiepang recently refreshed its API, and it’s neater and more accessible now. Developers can now access Jiepang’s point-of-interest (POI) data categorized by type of location, for example KTV, restaurant, bookstore etc. You can check out the infographic below to understand more.

This brings a convenient resource for many app developers. For example, a new food app can now pull relevant data just from Jiepang’s restaurant section. It isn’t just the POI, but developers can also pull and display reviews and tips posted by Jiepang users.

Jiepang claims to have over two million POIs and the number is increasing at a rate of 14,000 per week. The total user count is at 3.3 million, as a Jiepang employee recently confirmed to me.

As one of the largest location-based players in China, the API update is very much welcomed by many developers in China. Some of the startups who are using the Jiepang’s API include Weico (a Sina Weibo client), Jiaoyin (a Path clone), and Camera 360 (a photo app).

Jiepang now also allows users on third-party apps to check-in on which potentially allows Jiepang users to have a ubiquitous check-in experience.

Jiepang is the popular check-in service for Chinese mobile users (note that Foursquare is banned in China). So after two years of close cooperation with Starbucks, the Chinese LBS startup recorded over 400,000 users who have checked in to Starbucks across the Greater China region. These 400,000 users generated a total of over 800,000 check-ins, 190,000 photos attached, and 3,800 tips written on Jiepang. Starbucks is the most checked-in spot so far for its users as co-founder of Jiepang, David Liu, explains:

Starbucks has always been the most [frequent] check-in spot. You can find traces of Jiepang users’ check-ins in every Starbucks retail store through the tips and photos they have posted.

(More: Jiepang CEO Talks Check-Ins and Strategy)

Jiepang has had many partnership with various big players in China to bump up its user count and improve user experience. Its most recent partnership comes from Tencent’s chat app, WeChat. It also has collaborations with Nokia, Ikea, and e-commerce site YiHaoDian for joint promotion.

Next update to the Jiepang app will add support for sharing to the messaging app WeChat.

Jiepang, one of China’s biggest check-in social networks, has a new buddy in the form of Tencent (HKG:0700), the country’s social media giant. Now, Jiepang users can opt to do third-party login or signup using their Tencent QQ accounts – and that also means they can share their check-ins with friends on WeChat (or Weixin in Chinese), the group messaging app that has over 100 million users.

The Tencent integration is now live on the Jiepang.com homepage, but the WeChat sharing will have to wait until v3.4.2 of the Jiepang app for iPhone hits the iTunes App Store, which it hasn’t done yet. (It’s in the current version only for those in the simplified Chinese version of the iOS app). But it’s due later today or tomorrow. It means that a check-in on Weibo can be beamed to a certain friend in just a couple of clicks, perhaps to prompt that buddy to drop in, or as a gentle reminder that he or she is running late. The Android app version will get this support soon.

Other Tencent social media included in the sharing fun include QQZone (the expanded profile pages that are attached to the QQ IM service), Tencent’s Weibo microblog, and Pengyou.com, its Facebook-like community.

The updated Jiepang app for iOS also adds a “moment” feature for sharing what you’re feeling at a particular venue live-stream info about who’s checking in (already in the Android app), and a newly-added “what’s nearby” function that will presumably challenge both Google and Baidu as a source for finding cool stuff in your area.

Jiepang – a frequent collaborator with the likes of Nokia to promote NFC usage, and with Starbucks to get users to hook-up and interact – already supports third-party login with Sina Weibo or Renren.

Look out for the refreshed v.3.4.2 of the Jiepang app, which will hit iTunes soon.

[UPDATED on June 22nd: Change the description of one of the features].

Smartphone-toting singletons in China will get some help in finding a potential date for Valentine’s Day with a new social marketing campaign from Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) and the local social network Jiepang. Using both the Jiepang app and some in-store postcards – a good combo of hi- and low-tech – single folks in China could make a new connection as well as perhaps win some prizes.

Jiepang is a social check-in service that has previously teamed-up with the likes of Starbucks and also Nokia (HEL:NOK1V; NYSE:NOK) on fun campaigns, and both those companies are in evidence for this new Valentine’s Day promo.

What’s on offer? All check-ins within Jiepang in some parts of China will earn a blue or pink Valentine’s badge (pictured above), which, when followed up by purchasing a Starbuck’s reward card, will earn anyone two free cups of coffee. For some luckier users of the service, a grand total of 520 Nokia N9 phones could be won; or, for those who fill out the match-making in-store postcards, you might win a special Starbucks mug – and perhaps even a date.

If you’re looking for alternative distractions on the big day, February 14th, people in Japan could buy a ‘chocolate’ phone, and the people of the world can finally play Angry Birds on Facebook.

As befits a social marketing campaign, there’s a specially-made video promo, this one showing Jiepang helping a guy and a gal to connect in the real world:

The Jiepang NFC tag that's now in Starbucks stores in Shanghai, and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

Jiepang, the Chinese location-based service (LBS) social network, is once again pioneering the use of NFC chips to allow some smartphone users to check-in – this time to Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) for a special Christmas promotion.

But the marketing campaign is not limited to using NFC – which is only present in a few phones, such as some newer Nokias, and the Nexus S – so that anyone in the Shanghai, and neighboring Jiangsu, and Zhejiang regions gets to play along. Basically, once Starbucks has seen 20,000 Jiepang app check-ins – with Christmas-y virtual badges given to users – at its stores in those areas, it’ll unlock a reward of a free size upgrade on any coffee. It started yesterday, and runs to Christmas day.

For those few who have an NFC enabled phone, look out for the NFC tag that’s pictured up top – placing your phone next to that will automate the entire check-in process and cause bystanders in Starbucks to call out “Aloha, Captain Future!” and all women in the vicinity will want to birth your children.

The last time Jiepang teamed up with a company for such a geeky campaign, it was with Nokia (HEL:NOK1V; NYSE:NOK) in order to promote a trio of new Symbian phones. This time, it’s operating in different areas of the country, and giving Jiepang mobile app users a nice little reward for their check-ins.

In a press statement, Jiepang’s CEO, David Liu, said:

We are passionate about using the newest mobile technologies, such as NFC, to make an amazing experience of sharing real life.

We’re also big fans of NFC and LBS here at Penn-Olson, so I’ll go check it out with my Nexus S next time I drop in.

This article is part of our coverage of the 2011 China Mobile Developers Conference.

Here at the 2011 China Mobile Developers Conference panel on LBS (Location-Based Services) and Ecommerce, moderator Jin kicked off with a question: has the LBS + e-commerce combination arrived too early in China?

Wang Jiang, CEO for Hangban Guanjia took the mic and said he is confident that it isn’t too early. He smartly pointed an example: Hotel Finder, an app developed by Ikamobile which helps users find/book hotels based on location. Wang said that Hotel Finder has already started making money, and then handed the mic off to Liu Zhangbo, the founder of Ikamobile, who was also on the discussion panel.

Liu Zhangbo says that the use of LBS depends largely on the industry. Hotel booking makes sense because people like to know how far the hotel is from wherever they’re planning to go, be it a conference location or a tourist attraction.

Wu Yihong, CEO of Vpon Mobile Advertisement, says while working with big brands like Starbucks and McDonald’s for LBS coupons, he has noticed that there is a strong need to educate the public about LBS. Instead of spending time developing the promo codes and strategy, he realized that a huge chunk of time is spent on educating consumers.

“Education” seems to be a problem faced by Vpon only as Li Haorong, Jiepang’s strategic officer says that Jiepang achieved huge growth thanks to its good timing. “We are lucky because since last year we realized that most people are very comfortable with smartphones and are using services like Weibo and Foursquare. So Jiepang, a check-in network built for the Chinese community, quickly picked up [users],” he said

The moderator pressed further on e-commerce, asking: “So you guys aren’t working on e-commerce?”

Li said that there are a lot of things that LBS can do and they can’t possibly work on everything. But on e-commerce, Jiepang plans to partner with sites like Yihaodian.

[See also: Our interview with David Liu, founder of Jiepang.]

Zhou Hang, CEO of Yongche.com, is a no bullshit panelist and my favorite among the rest. He questioned the moderator — ‘Do you mean it’s too early to start or too early for rewards?’

The moderator smiled and the audience clapped because Zhou was right: the question was vaguely constructed.

Zhou moved on to cement his point, “If you believe in LBS is the future, you should work on it right now.” He points to Ikamobile as an example. He says that if Ikamobile hadn’t started dabbling into LBS in 2008, it would never have been able to make Hotel Finder a success. “If we’re talking about harvesting LBS rewards, then yes, we’re too early.”

(I found it interesting that Hotel Finder seems to be the only LBS success, both in terms of user growth and revenue, which they can mention.)

Zhou also added an insightful note. He feels that consumers are happy to buy via their PCs. “You really need a hardcore shopper to shop on mobile Internet,” he said. “And most giant e-commerce websites are easily ported over to mobile. Zhou says that the value of LBS isn’t e-commerce, but service.

Zhou also hates group buying because it doesn’t bring much benefit and sustainability to merchants. It focuses on low prices which is good for consumers but not exactly good for merchants. And because prices are driven so low, merchants can be forced to compromise on the product quality.

“Group-buy sites are the lower class of the IT industry,” he said.

Hahahaha! That’s a wrap folks!

China’s largest location-based service (LBS) provider, Digu.com, has laid off around 50 of its staff in a restructuring move that will keep the company lean and focused on product development and user acquisition. The unfortunate folks who have been made redundant are, for the most part, all marketing staff.

Chinese tech site DoNews claimed that the number of layoffs could equal up to 70 percent of Digu’s total workforce.

In a statement sent to us today, Digu.com’s co-founder and general manager John Huang said: “It’s a bit early to explore LBS business model while the top priority should be recruiting users.”

Digu currently has the most users of any location-based service provider in China, commanding a 26 percent market share of 10.5 million users in Q2 this year. Qieke and Jiepang occupy the second and third spots (14 percent and 12.7 percent respectively).

However, originally set up as a micro-blogging platform and having shifted its focus to LBS in July 2010, today’s restructuring could be due to Digu having lots of users, but very few who actually use location-based services. Plus, no one in the world has so far figured out how LBS will bring in the cash. Will it be data syndication with search engine (like Twitter) or will merchandisers be willing to pay-per-check-in?

John Huang continued:

Top end mobile phones, especially in Android system, will be popular and we expect there will blockbuster expansion of Android mobile at around 1,000 RMB in the next year.

Industry analysts see today’s layoffs as indicative of similar upcoming redundancies and restructurings. Yan Xiaojia from Analysys International told PO Tech Asia:

The layoffs at Digu are no exception. Numerous problems have led to a decline in investor confidence… and we are going to see more and more lay offs and more small and medium sized LBS companies folding in future.

However, numbers are showing that LBS in China is finally beginning to look up. Analysys International reported a 60.3 percent growth in the total number of location-based service user accounts in China between Q1 and Q2 this year – a sign that things might be getting better for LBS in China.

At the very least it must be comforting to those in the industry after growth slowed down to 25.96 percent between Q4 2010 and Q1 this year. So with Digu continually beating the rest of the field (it has actually increased its market share since last quarter). Why the massive lay off?

Looking at the bigger picture, China’s numbers are still small. 10.5 million users for the whole of China contrasts starkly with 10 million users for the US’ Foursquare alone. And Foursquare announced those figures back in June, so we can only speculate that it’s probably a couple of million more by now.

Nonetheless it is great to see Digu changing its direction like an agile start-up. Whether it is for better or worse, we still don’t know. But one thing is for sure, Jiepang is winning mindshare as the check-in service of choice, and Digu will have to pivot to something else sooner or later. (Seriously, just look at the number of big brands Jiepang has partnered with so far — LV, Nokia, Ikea and many more.) We also learned that Digu will still focus on LBS in the smartphone segment but the company is tight-lipped about the details.

Chinese location-based service Jiepang has teamed up with B2C e-commerce site YiHaoDian to promote the latter’s subway-based virtual supermarkets. The promo gives Jiepang users badges, and enables YiHaoDian discounts on their QR-powered purchases at 24 subway stops in three cities – Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou.

The stores are actually just specially-made YiHaoDian posters, usually wrapped around pillars or on illuminated ad boards – with lots of products, prices and QR codes printed on them. Keen online shoppers need only use the YiHaoDian iPhone or Android app to snap the QR code, and confirm the purchase in the app. The goods will be delivered to your door just one or two days later; but presuming you live in those three major cities, you’ll be getting the goods in under 24 hours.

A commuter snaps a YiHaoDian QR snapper in Shanghai. Click to enlarge.

The virtual supermarkets have already been running for a few weeks, and now Jiepang is joining the fun with this complementary campaign. From this week to October 10th, check-ins at any of the subway-based YiHaoDian stores which are also tweeted out on Sina Weibo will be rewarded with a badge (pictured in the top image) and a 5 RMB discount. Not a huge sum of money – but a free pack of biscuits is better than a kick in the nuts, that’s what I always say.

Like any venue on Jiepang, the stores now have their own web page. Here, for example, is the Shanghai Jing’an Temple subway-store page, with some users photos on it. In just a few days, it has already had 68 check-ins so far. Though, of course, that doesn’t equate to the same number of customers.

When we chatted with Jiepang’s CEO and founder, David Liu, earlier this summer, he emphasized the importance of useful yet fun promos – just like this new one.

If you’re in those three cities, you could grab the YiHaoDian app and give it a try. Remember to check-in with the Jiepang app for this promo as well.

Here are a three more pics from Jiepang users who’ve been trying this all out:

Lastly, some pricey imported toothpaste for sale on the YiHaoDian subway-based virtual supermarket.

A heat-map of Jiepang check-ins across Greater China. This and all infographic images in this post are provided by Jiepang,com.

The Infographic of the Day series visually expresses important stories from Asia and the world of technology.

One of Jiepang’s most popular location-based services (LBS), Jiepang, has made a neat infographic that breaks down some user trends. It gives a snapshot of how China’s smartphone-carryin’, LBS-lovin’ youngsters spend their time. It reveals a pretty keen engagement with brands by these users, and a good understanding of what’s hot right now.

Beijing Hot-Spots

Starting in Beijing, we see the hottest part of the city, in terms of check-ins, is the unassuming downtown area of Xizhimen. Not a place for tourists to bother with, it reveals that Jiepang’s users are utilizing the service to check-in to lots of regular restaurants, gyms, and offices – not just fancy malls or travel destinations.

Just last month, the company revealed that it was working with Nokia on a new series of NFC field trials in Beijing and five other Chinese cities. Those NFC check-in posters will come in handy in the city, where some areas see well over a thousand check-ins.

Brands and Movies

When Penn-Olson talked to Jiepang’s CEO this summer, he made it clear that engaging with brands was big news for the company, as well as with its users. Thus it’s no surprise that the service’s users have some distinct favourite brands: namely Starbucks, McDonalds, Burger King, Doraemon (yes, the Japanese cartoon), and Earth Hour. That last one’s a bit of an oddity, but it shows that sometimes Jiepang’s fans make use of the service as a microblog to broadcast stances, and values.

Next, Jiepang’s infographic reveals which film caused the biggest buzz in China so far this year amongst its mostly younger users. And the winner was… Pirates of the Caribbean 4, narrowly beating out Kung-fu Panda 2 in terms of movie check-ins.

Eating Out

Lastly, turning to food, Jiepang’s multitude of daily check-ins reveal what people like to eat at certain times of day. Fast food is favoured fare around breakfast time, and then loses popularity during the day; deserts, meanwhile, hit a peak at about 4pm as lots of people venture out for some Chinese-style afternoon tea. Unsurprisingly, street BBQ check-ins multiply in volume as the night deepens, and people seek out pretty much the only hot food there is available.

Mad for Malls

One last detail worth noting is that Chinese consumers are mad for malls – but mainly mid-range ones with plenty of food options. The two most popular venues in Beijing and Shanghai are both such venues (Joy City Xidan, and Jinqiao Plaza, respectively). Beijing’s Sanlitun district – home to one of China’s official Apple stores – is that city’s second most checked-in site; Shanghai’s IKEA is that city’s third-placed venue. To check out the entire infographic, click here.

A Nokia 701 shown making a check-in on Jiepang.com using one of its NFC posters.

Chinese location-based service Jiepang is once again teaming up with Nokia to bring NFC-enabled check-ins to venues across China.

When we spoke to Jiepang CEO and co-founder David Liu back in June, he told us that a second-round of in-the-field NFC trials was coming, and now we see what Jiepang and Nokia were cooking up.

Impressively, Nokia has even released three new NFC-capable handsets to coincide with this – the Nokia 600, 700, and 701 (pictured above) – which would all work perfectly with Jiepang’s newest NFC poster check-ins. The three Symbian-Belle powered smartphones are aimed at developing countries where customers are looking for an affordable but powerful device. The 701 model will sell for 290 Euros (2,700 RMB), which puts it at about the same price as new Android-powered phones from HTC, such as the Desire.

Jiepang’s NFC posters – just put your phone up against one for an automatic, smart check-in – will appear in six cities across Greater China: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hong Kong and Taipei. Actually, any NFC-equipped phone could make use of them, such as the Samsung Nexus S.

Jiepang has made a nice video with hipster-y music to show you how it all works (or if you’re in China head over to Youku to see a different vid):

[Source: Engadget Chinese]

DuiJiao launched this week with a stylish iPhone app already in tow, and an Android version promised to be in the works. Similarly with rival Jiepang.com – which we reviewed in detail last month – the new DuiJiao allows users to check-in to venues across China, and share their activity amongst anyone they choose to follow.

The new service joins a growing flock of Douban.com features which now range from movie and book reviews, user blogs and brand minisites to its original Last.fm-style music streaming.

DuiJiao has decided to open the gates a lot more by allowing Sina Weibo users to log-in and use all the features by connecting with their Weibo account, for a single sign-in solution. Douban users can, of course, use this new LBS with their existing account.

When at a location, DuiJiao’s app (there’s no standalone website for it yet) gives you the option to “roar” or “ask” (see the picture below), which is unusual compared to the usual “check-in here” that we’ve all grown accustomed to. The “roar” element actually equates with checking-in, while the more unique “ask” option is clearly designed to make the venues themselves into conversational focus-points – in a manner closer to a microblog – where you can ask questions as well as give share your expertise (offering useful tips being the more common procedure on LBS, such as Gowalla).

Another different approach within DuiJiao can be seen in the ability to “follow” venues, as well as individuals, which is, again, more akin to microblogging than LBS. Almost inevitably, parent company Douban will be wanting to get brands on board their new LBS, so that users can closely follow the action at a brand’s stores.

Right now in the first week of operation it’s alarmingly quiet in DuiJiao, and the version 0.1.0 app is very basic, yet stable. The company will be hoping that the ease of signing-in with your Sina Weibo account will speed things up, although the more-established Jiepang already offers this for both Sina and Tencent Weibo users.

On the plus side, DuiJiao has the most stylish Chinese-made app that I’ve ever seen and a lot of smartphone-toting Douban users that should be quite receptive to trying an affiliated new app.

From June 23 to July 30, Jiepang users who check-in at IKEA Shanghai and share their location status through Sina Weibo and/or other Chinese social networks will receive an exclusive IKEA badge. Users with the badge are entitled to an ice cream cone.

Four lucky Jiepang users with the badge also have a chance to win a storage case (see picture) every weekend. In addition, four badge owners who share and upload creative images of their favorite IKEA products on the location-based service platform could also win a designer fruit bowl each week.

In less than a week, there have been more than 3,000 shoppers who have check-in at IKEA using Jiepang. Over 700 users indicated that they wish to visit Ikea Shanghai soon. The result looks pretty positive for a start.

Jiepang’s partnership with IKEA highlights the rising popularity of the location-based service in China. Jiepang has so far attracted one million users and 100,000 check-ins per week. Besides Ikea, Jiepang has also partnered with mega brands including Louis Vuitton, Starbucks, and Wrangler. Which brand will be next?

Also catch…

• Jiepang CEO, David Liu, Talks Check-Ins and Strategy [INTERVIEW]
• Going Out, Checking-in, and Being Seen: a Look at Jiepang [REVIEW]

A previous study by Analysys reported 6.55 million location-based service accounts in China at the end of Q1, but that the growth rate has seen a significant drop. It’s interesting to contrast the numbers being posted in China with corresponding services in the US, namely Foursquare who just surpassed 10 million users this week. We’re curious to learn exactly how Foursquare is doing in Asia right now, but unfortunately their PR reps declined to share any specific numbers on growth in the region when we got in touch yesterday.

For now, you might check out Oliver Woods’ report from last month on how Foursquare is doing in South East Asia. From the looks of things, its catching on in Indonesia pretty well (right).

For those looking to learn more about this space in China, check out our previous features on Jiepang. Steven took the service for an illuminating test drive, and later had a chance to speak with Jiepang’s CEO David Liu about the company’s strategy and its future plans.

A few days ago, Jiepang’s CEO and founder, David Liu (pictured, above), took some time to talk with me over the phone from Beijing HQ, to talk about their users’ needs, brand tie-ups, testing out NFC, and working with China’s tech giant, Tencent.

“We’re all about offline”
David Liu, originally from Taiwan, moved to mainland China in 2009, and connected with some Beijing friends that he knew from Taipei or Silicon Valley, to work on a new project. When Jiepang took off just a few months after its launch, he and co-founder Yuan Cheng decided, in David’s words, “it was time to focus”, and so the location-based-service (LBS) and social-network got moving, and made a bunch of mobile apps for their service. A short time later, and the inevitable media moniker ‘China’s Foursquare’ meant that Jiepang was getting some global attention, too.

David set out, with Jiepang, to make “a utility for your offline life … to say ‘I’ve arrived!’ at a place”, and “to allow people to share that”. It was being done already, sort of, on Kaixin001.com or RenRen.com – but, David notes, “sharing [your location] wasn’t fun before. On Kaixin you had to type it all out. So we wanted to help people check in faster, with no typing.”

After first hitting on the LBS idea, David and his team did their homework – “I feel China’s young people are more open and transparent now. They’re growing up with social-networking. So they’re ready to share where they are. In the beginning, we held a focus group of 30 to 40 people, and 80% of them said, ‘Yes, we’re sharing our location already on Kaixin’.” So, the course was decided, and the project was set to be China’s first – and biggest – LBS. David points out, “We say ‘We’re all about offline’, because we’re not forcing people to do different things – we’re just helping you to show what you’re doing normally, and we want to make it more fun.”

Connecting Users with Brands. And celebrities…
Being based in Beijing, it’s not too much of a surprise that most of Jiepang’s users are in mainland China: 95 to 98% of them, in fact, with most of the rest in Hong Kong, Taiwan or Macau (ie: the Greater China area). So, how are users engaging with Jiepang itself? David Liu says, “Our user-base is very mobile. The iPhone and Android apps make up just over half of users’ usage. And then a hardcore segment of users will use the website too.”

That’s quite impressive to see so many people using the hottest smartphones. Little wonder that brands – from Wrangler to Louis Vuitton, IKEA to Starbucks – are keen to get into the lives of these users via their Jiepang check-ins, and perhaps even persuade people to come especially into their store thanks to a Jiepang promo. “We’ve partnered with over 300 brands,” says David, “and right now we’re proud to be working with Burberry and Louis Vuitton, and even have special pages up on Jiepang [see the LV page, bottom] for the special occasions, which are Burberry’s fashion show and LV’s exhibition in Beijing.

What do users, and brands, get from all this, I ask? “For brands,” says David, “it’s to extend their personalities; and for users it’s to get a virtual badge [see the LV, Wrangler, and Starbucks badges in the image, top], maybe it’s a limited-edition badge. It’s not really about material benefit – it’s exciting to collect and show.”

A new area for Jiepang is to connect users with celebrities, and by extension whatever brands they’re promoting. It’s something that Sina and Tencent Weibo, too, have done so well since inception (better than Twitter has, for sure) – getting people to engage with specific brands or celebrities that interest them. “At the moment,” says David, “we’re experimenting with celebrities – partnering with celebrity’s venues, such as their own stores, campaigns or events. For example, Jay Chou [Taiwanese pop star] has a fashion shop and an Italian restaurant in Taipei, and they’re really popular check-ins.”

As for getting China’s hottest stars to share their check-ins on Jiepang, David concedes that probably won’t happen – “Celebrities won’t share their locations, I guess”.

NFC & global plans
Like many of China’s top social sites, Jiepang works around the world – David himself checked into various places in Paris over the weekend for the China Connect conference, where Jiepang was talking to numerous French brands which are keen to use social media in China – but is generally confined to China. Any plans to change that?

“Our roadmap is for Greater China,” says David, “but we can’t rule expansion out.” So, where’s the roadmap heading? “We’ve spread across cities in China as they’re relevant to our users … and serve users city-by-city, and make links between cities. We’ve branched out into Hong Kong and Taiwan, which are important, because a lot of celebrities that are relevant to the mainland come from those places – that’s why we have offices there.”

NFC (aka: Near-Field Communications) is an exciting technology, which looks set to allow payments – or check-ins – with a simple swipe of your (NFC-enabled) phone. Jiepang is pushing hard in testing this, rolling out check-in tests before even Foursquare was trialling it at Google I/O last month, and is now heading towards a second-round of real-life NFC tests…

“Our first tests were warm-up exercises,” explains David, “where we worked with 5 bars or cafés. We want to make it natural, and easy. For our second trial, it’ll be a bit bigger, but we can’t share any info yet. It’s still at an early stage.”

I guess NFC hardware is in short supply right now. And China needs to see both the next iPhone, and future HTCs to be rocking NFC chips for this to take off.

Any other new features for the site? “It’s not the right time to add features,” David concedes, “and instead we’re opening up the API, and looking at areas where we can improve, and give more relevant info, like if a friend is in the same area as you at the same time, then that should be a notification.”

David and Goliath
Lastly, I was keen to know what might threaten Jiepang’s position – who are the Goliaths imperially stomping down the road? How about group shopping websites, I proffered to David, such as Dianping.com, could that site hurt Jiepang, or perhaps the whole group-shopping horde could crush the LBS check-ins?

“Group buying sites and LBS are very different to each other,” David says, “and they’re even complementary. They can both help merchants to build a community with users. Also, Jiepang isn’t focused on discounts at all.”

Tencent, then? I put forward to David the image of the Tencent ‘steamroller’ that copies and crushes… David demurs, “Tencent’s doing a great job with its Open API and platform – we’ll be talking about that in Paris at the weekend, in fact.”

He continues: “We’re partnering now with Tencent to link your Tencent/QQ account to Jiepang. The size of the company doesn’t hinder our working together. Of course, it’s very likely major companies will move into new areas, but it’s still great to work with them.”

Many thanks to David Liu for talking the time to chat. Readers can follow me – but not too literally, please – on Jiepang, as SirSteven, which is also my username for Twitter and Sina Weibo.

Apps and Social Connections

So, the review… Since Jiepang check-ins can only be made on the various mobile apps, the site has most bases covered, with apps for iPhone/iOS, Android, Blackberry, and JAVA/J2ME-based phones. There’s also a mobile version of the site, to keep WinMo and various other users catered for too. The iOS and Android apps keep up a good level of feature parity, and both are now available in English as well as simplified or Traditional Chinese.

In a recent development, users of Sina Weibo can sign-in to Jiepang with their Sina ID, so as to avoid a new sign-up process. Once inside Jiepang, users can sync their activities on the service to a number of other Chinese social-networks (Sina Weibo, RenRen, KaiXin, Douban, and FanFou). Sharing/syncing to Twitter, however, is not an option. In addition, you could search for friends who might already use Jiepang by scouring your contacts on all the above SNS, plus the option of Google or MSN contacts too.

The actual Jiepang.com website serves as a place for managing your contacts or editing info, but is not needed for general usage. As with most other LBS, it’s all about the apps.

Going Out, Checking In, and Being Seen

Now it’s time to go out. Jiepang – unlike Gowalla or Foursquare in China – has detailed and accurate listings in every city in China I’ve visited (though it’s much more comprehensive in more developed cities), so there’s no need for the time-consuming manual addition of a new venue, since the restaurant, bar or gym that you’re at is very likely already listed, right there in the Jiepang app’s ‘Places’ tab. Of course, new venues can be user-submitted, but it’s not often that it’s required.

When checking in at a venue, there’s the option to share this with your ‘sync’ social-networks, so that your check-in could hit your various social-network profiles with just one click (see photo, above).

Unlike with Gowalla and Foursquare, there’s no distance-check that might prevent fanciful – ie: false – check-ins, which might be something to do with civilian GPS being so inaccurate in China, or so as not to exclude users on older phones who have to rely on very vague wifi/cell signal triangulation.

Integrated into the iOS and Android apps – I didn’t test the Blackberry or JAVA OS versions – are maps for each venue, which are now served up by Baidu Maps (see photo, below).

Mayorships, badges and points are on offer, as users check-in to different venues, to encourage frequent usage of the app. More enticingly – because we humans love free stuff, right? – there are sporadic promos that give away actual products. Which brings me to…

Brand Partnerships, Coupons and Deals

Since the end of last year, Jiepang has been pushing into brand-based promotions, as a way to monetize the service, and bring in more of its relatively well-heeled young users. At the moment, there are high-profile campaigns running in cooperation with fashion giants Burberry and Louis Vuitton, offering unique, or limited edition (virtual) badges to Jiepang users who engage with the brand by checking-out the promo, or check-in to the brands actual stores. The dedicated LV brand page can be seen here, and shows how Jiepang is tapping into the desire of many young Chinese to be seen at an exclusive place, and to then broadcast that effectively to their social networks.

As for real-world discounts and freebies, Jiepang seems more active with Starbucks in giving away actual things, such as last year’s multiple check-ins for a free coffee, or this summer’s Frappucino badge (see photo, below) that could win you a free drink.

One more brand-oriented aspect – this one being more unique to Jiepang, compared to its western counterparts – is celebrity events or stores, which are also massively popular check-in venues, and which also bring an element of glamour-by-association to users who check-in there.

One more thing…

Please head back to Penn-Olson on Monday (UPDATE: Monday; here’s the interview) to see the full interview with the Jiepang CEO, David Liu, and hear more about the site’s genesis, users, and its future.

Jiepang, which recently partnered with Louis Vuitton for a location-based campaign in China, reported that it has over one million users in the same statement. The rest of the five million accounts are shared among the remaining location-based services in China.

The figure pales when compared to Foursquare’s six million users which was reported back in January. Foursquare probably has more users right now. In fact, Enfodesk’s chart shows a dip in user growth rate over the last three quarters, a worrying sign for location-based services in the country. Apart from just counting the number of accounts, it is important to note that one user could own multiple location-based service accounts. For example, I’m on Gowalla, Foursquare, Facebook check-in, and Jiepang. That’s considered four accounts. Plus, how many really-active users do we have out of those 6.55 million accounts? (I see active accounts as those that log in at least once every month, not once every quarter.)

EnfoDesk didn’t reveal the figure but the number of active users across all location-based services in China is definitely far lower than 6 million. Location-based services aren’t popular in China yet. But given time, it could pick up pace. Should marketers adopt location-based services as marketing channels? Judging from the number of users, the answer seems like a clear no.

But it really depends on how the platform is being used, rather than blindly choosing a platform based on number of users. For example, a simple campaign by AJ Bombers managed to attract over 160 Foursquare users to its restaurant back in early 2010. The trick is gamification, where users were motivated by Foursquare’s Swarm badge, which requires 50 people to check-in at the same time to unlock the badge. The same thing can be applied in China, which I believe several brands are doing location-based test runs on Jiepang.

More location-based resources:

• HOW TO: Create a Location-based Marketing Campaign
• 6 Foursquare Marketing Tips
• Foursquare in Southeast Asia: Statistic, Culture, and Marketing

The graphic map also shows that Foursquare is highly popular in the U.S, Europe, South East Asia and Japan. Interestingly, Japan holds two of the top 3 train station check-in locations. The rest of the locations are pretty much dominated by the U.S.

Like most tech companies in the U.S, China is dearly missing in the Foursquare’s portfolio of countries. It isn’t that bad for Foursquare. Despite being blocked in China, there are at least some indications of usage around the region. On the other hand, Jiepang, a Chinese Foursquare clone is definitely doing way better. The important question is: Should Foursquare acquire Jiepang to enter China? The same was asked on Quora and most answers are “no”.

Paul Denlinger, who has experience working with three start-ups and in the advertising industry in China said, “No. There is no guarantee that the Chinese government would not block Jiepang if Foursquare bought it. If that is the case, then what is the point of buying it? (Foursquare was blocked in China when many went to Tiananmen on June 4, and started checking in.)”

“Besides, most Jiepang users use Chinese, while most Foursquare users use English. There is little language overlap, so there is little language synergy. This makes it difficult to conduct ad campaigns.”

I voted for Denlinger’s answer because it was logically well explained. However, I feel that Foursquare has to make a quick decision before Jiepang grows too huge to be acquired. Acquiring Jiepang doesn’t necessary mean it has to be rebranded to Foursquare immediately. Foursquare should work with the rules and not against them.

The acquisition, if fruitful, will give Foursquare a glimpse of hope in China at least. Most importantly, it is the Jiepang team that matters the most. The team can help Foursquare penetrate and expand in China while Dennis Crowley and team focus on the U.S market. The rebranding can come in when the Chinese government has more confidence and lifts the ban on Foursquare.

Nonetheless, even if Foursquare were to offer, I doubt Jiepang will take the bait (unless a monstrous bid is given out of desperation). David Liu, founder of Jiepang, probably knows that his company still has a lot more to grow in valuation. Location-based service is only at the infant stage in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. So why sell now when more can be made in the near future?

]]> http://www.techinasia.com/foursquare-china/feed/ 3 http://placehold.it/350x150 http://www.techinasia.com/groupon-hk-china-foursquare-jiepang/ http://www.techinasia.com/groupon-hk-china-foursquare-jiepang/#comments Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:15:50 +0000 Willis Wee http://www.techinasia.com/?p=25595 Read more »]]> This is when group buying fusions with location-based service (LBS) in Asia: Groupon Hong Kong has made the initiative to partner with Chinese location-based service, Jiepang (loosely translated as street side).

For those who don’t know, Jiepang is a location-based service founded by David Liu. Liu tried Foursquare in the U.S and felt that this service would be welcomed in China.

He was right. Funded by angel investors, Jiepang was launched on 13 May last year and has become popular among Chinese smartphone users. Jiepang also works with several companies including Tuan800 and now Groupon Hong Kong.

The partnership will offer Groupon HK’s deals through Jiepang mobile app. The deals will be offered either through users’ location or as “venue of the day” offers. Groupon Hong Kong is currently firming the partnership details with Jiepang.

Currently, only deals in the U.S are offered through the iPhone app. This partnership will provide consumers with a new channel to participate in group buying in Hong Kong. The move is logical and strategic. About half of Hong Kong’s 7 million populations are smartphone users, according to TNS Global’s research last year.

Groupon Hong Kong was formed after Groupon’s acquisition of uBuyiBuy in December 2010. In a short span of 1 month, Groupon Hong Kong has already established partnerships with MSN HK, Sina HK, discuss.com.hk (a local discussion forum) and Uwants.com (a news site / see above) to reach out to more consumers. Danny Yeung, CEO of Groupon Hong Kong, said that his company has more than 350,000 daily subscribers and over 180,000 fans on Facebook.

Groupon Hong Kong is a localization success story. Groupon understands that it cannot gain global domination through its own effort. The clones are just too much to handle and defend against. Instead, Groupon acquired those that are dominant in their local markets. The acquired companies understand the local markets better and are able to expand within the countries more effectively and efficiently. Groupon’s result in Asia is impressive so far. But it remains to be seen if it can conquer China. With Tencent’s knowledge in the Chinese market, we shall see if Groupon is able to replicate the same success in world’s largest online market. The partnership will probably do fine, unless Alibaba has something special up its sleeves.