Now Showing: An Entrepreneur’s Journey Into The Real Time Web

Meet Tan Siok Siok – Singaporean filmmaker and entrepreneur who has a deep passion for great storytelling in the age of real time web. Siok’s journey with the rise of social media is one peppered with adventure, excitement and great inspiration. Having recently completed three well-received screenings of her latest film, Twittamentary (documentary on microblogging service Twitter), we chat with Siok about her recent accomplishments of being an acclaimed filmmaker and founder and CEO of online video network Kinetic ONE.

Siok Siok’s personal interest in the culture and history of China led her to Beijing. She lectured at the Beijing Film Academy and completed her first independent film about the 2008 Olympics – Boomtown Beijing. What she least expected was to get onto social media.

“I had just finished the film and was screening it in China” she recalls, “At the time, people on social media seem like aliens from another planet to me. It is a world I do not understand. Then I started to get a lot of help from people who were on Twitter and Facebook, some of whom were influential in the Chinese digital space. Starting with one or two social media influencers, I soon got to know entire ‘village’ of them”. It wasn’t long before Siok was introduced to her current business partner by a mutual friend on Facebook. ” I was plugged into this online community of entrepreneurs, bloggers and VCs. Things led naturally to a startup. There were not many filmmakers and TV producers in this circle and I stood out as a result.”

When opportunity comes knocking

Armed with her curiosity for how people interacted with content online, Siok saw an online market that had lots of commercial potential and decided to explore it. This gave birth to Kinetic ONE’s first video channel – NiuRenKu, which produces original short form content (through filming their own videos and distributing it through social media channels) for the smart, hip and web savvy China youth. NiuRenKu’s coverage, which features action sports, music and youth culture videos, pop and indie culture, allows sponsors to reach out to their audiences more cost-effectively through their branded content.

“When many of my friends heard that the content was going to be focused on action sports and youth culture, they were shocked. But I was more concerned about getting a model that works. It was an entry point to the market and a clear niche that was being under-served.”

For China’s gigantic Internet population which has over 50% of netizens being 25 years and below, this was an important market segment for brands to reach out to.

A video still from NiuRenKu.

Using her experience to her advantage

It’s hard to see what similarities there are to making a film and starting a company. But Siok explains, “Every movie is a start-up, you always go from zero to something. In broad terms, the skills you need are similar, from getting your team to the actual execution. What you really need is the ability to have stamina and execute. Some people have ideas for a movie but may not act on their ideas. It’s the same for starting up. The discipline and the ability to think clearly and make good decisions are required for both. ”

For Siok it was always about having the courage, conviction and passion. “ I love what an entrepreneur I know says, ” you can do anything, you just to have ‘titanium balls’.” That is absolutely true for all things creative and entrepreneurial.”