Blogging for Bucks (or RMB)

Sina has recently announced that selected bloggers who use their site will soon get paid for their efforts. Three thousand of the sites top bloggers will receive 50% of the advertising revenue derived from their blog after costs have been deducted. Apparently a Chinese blogger can expect to earn around RMB 2 per thousand page views. Whether Sina will extend its scheme to video-blogging has yet to be seen.

Sina’s announcement may pressure other Chinese blog-hosting sites into similar moves in order to hang on to their most popular contributors. Sina already attracts the highest number of celebrity bloggers, such as actress and director Xu Jinglei. Xu kicked off her blog in October 2005, focusing mainly on her daily life. It only took a record-breaking 112 days to garner 10 million visits, and each of her entries now attracts up to 100,000 views and a thousand comments.

Sina’s rival Sohu has also been getting in on the celebrity blog act. With one eye on next year’s Games, the site has recruited volleyball player and coach Lang Ping and diver Gao Min as bloggers this year. Lang has recorded over 1.7 million page views on her site, churning out 40 blog diaries and over 5,000 comments since Sohu opened the blog on January 25, 2007. Gao Min’s site has received 1.1 million clicks since February 14 when she started blogging on Sohu - her site has attracted many sports lovers with its video images.

Chinese blogs differ hugely from Western blogs. They avoid sensitive topics such as politics and current affairs due to fears of censorship or outright blocking from China’s “net nanny”. Instead, most sites focus on celebrity bloggers such as Xu Jinglei. Deborah Fallows, senior research fellow for the Pew Internet Project, recently commented, “In China celebrities and blogs are associated far more than in most other countries. It’s part of building a brand and a mark of identity. It enhances the celebrity of a celebrity to have a blog.”

The majority of Chinese bloggers are under 30, tech-savvy and relatively well-off. Like their US counterparts they spend hours chatting, creating social-networking profiles, posting blogs and meeting new friends online. They are the reason why companies such as Google, Yahoo and MySpace are falling over themsleves to build China market share.

Image source: imdb and China Daily

Sina Blog Stats

1. 800,000 posts updated every day
2. 200 million page views per day
3. 20 Sina bloggers have accumulated traffic of over 20 million page views, 57 have accumulated more than 10 million page views

Further Info

Blogging for money is not a new concept, although the returns are usually so small it does not constitute a viable way to make a living (far less get rich). However, the following sites may prove interesting for those looking to profit from their postings:

Blogitive
Travel blogging

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