Why did Dell setup a Chinese blog?
Our goal is to connect with and facilitate communication with Chinese internet users all over the world. A fifth of the world’s population use Mandarin as a first language and according to Technorati’s statistics, Chinese is the third most popular language in the blogosphere. As a global company, we aspire to communicate with consumers in a language they are familiar with in a fast and bidirectional manner.


Do you view this blog as an important communication platform for your company?
This blog is an important information platform and customer feedback channel for us as it is fast, allows for two-way communication and is very effective. At the moment, we have blogs in several languages such as English, Mandarin, Spanish and Norwegian, which we will continue to expand upon.


Is blogging suitable for every organization?
That will depend on its corporate culture, customers and key corporate strategy.


What role do you think social media will play in the business world?
Unquestionably, social media will become increasingly pertinent to businesses. Presently, there are close to 2 billion internet users in the world and this figure will double in years to come. The way people consume information is undergoing profound change and the methods through which information is conveyed are changing as well. News that used to be transmitted via traditional media channels is now available on individual blogs. Through various social media channels, these individual opinions will be spread and amplified by other users. Companies cannot ignore these attitudes. What they need to do is to join the existing conversations instead of escaping or repressing them.


What tips do you have for businesses to effectively engage the social media scene?
Social media is less of a tool than it is an idea and a value. As such, a necessary criterion for the effective utilization of social media is that companies must be prepared to embrace the concept in its entirety.