Fen-Hui Lin & Yu-Ting Hsiao

Wretch.cc – We Come, We See, We (Received Sept 23, 2011; First Revision Dec 15, 2011; Second Revision Dec 27, 2011; Accepted Jan 10, 2012)

How do Bloggers Earn? Case Description Blogging is one iconic item that came out of Web 2.0. Introduction Many people write and share search information on the blog platforms. Blogging has gradually expanded Wretch.cc is the most popular blog site in Taiwan. Internet into many categories -- fiction or non-fiction writing, users post articles, pictures or videos on the blog platform food, travel, new-mom’s talk, photography, etc. Mar- that has become a new form of media. Founded in 1999 by keters have also evolved various marketing schemes Chian who was then a college freshman, Wretch was for bloggers. The economic benefits derived encour- started for campus students to share articles and photos. age many to continue writing or creating new works. By 2004, Wretch had become the most popular site in Following are the four sources of earnings for blog- Taiwan with more than 200,000 members. In 2007, it gers: merged with Yahoo!Kimo but still retained the website name. Nowadays, Wretch has 8.5 million members and (1) Bloggers can choose to add banner ads on their has been the largest blog site in Taiwan for more than a blog, enabling him/her to earn a percentage of the decade. However, when the fast growing social-network click fee when the ad is clicked on. website entered Taiwan and quickly became (2) Earnings can come from the endorsements for any popular, Wretch’s popularity gradually declined from be- th kind of products, movies, stage performances, ing the second largest website down to only the 6 place travel packages, etc. However, advertisements in among the top Taiwan websites based on an analysis by 1 an article might annoy readers and generate nega- Alexa. tive effects against the blogger. There are two major lessons to be learned in this case. (3) Some bloggers may sell things on their blog sites. The first is to understand the media nature of and their impact towards society. The second is to discuss the (4) Bloggers can post product information and the platform challenge that confronted Wretch. Blogs and URL of the online retailer. Whenever readers click Facebook are two major where internet users on the URL and purchase the product, bloggers stay, play, communicate, share, etc. However, they are earn a percentage from the sales. different platforms in many ways. What is the near future like for blogs? Blog and Word-of-Mouth Marketing Blogs and Bloggers on Wretch Nielsen, the global marketing research company, reported on a 2009 investigation of 200,000 Internet The openness of blogs allows many users all over the users.4 The report revealed that 70% of the respon- world to write, share, and also change the world. Wretch dents trust bloggers’ writings and sharing. For mar- has been used by many famous bloggers. For example, keters, this is a testimony to the effectiveness of word one of the most famous and popular bloggers on Wretch is of mouth marketing (WOMM) that bloggers make. Wan-Wan,2 also known as the Taiwan blog-queen. She For example, the documentary film on the largest draws on her blogs using comic’s style to tell or Taiwan earthquake in a century entitled “921 earth- share emotions regarding the ups and downs in office life. quake” was about to be released but lacked an adver- Another example is Giddens Ko3 who became known for tisement budget. The film’s marketing manager fig- writing novels on the blog site. Nowadays, although his ured out that using bloggers to introduce the new film novels have become top-sellers in Chinese regions, he still might be a good opportunity for promotion. Fifty shares them on his blog site and maintains his fans’ read- bloggers were invited to watch the documentary film. ership. . They also had a BBQ party afterwards with the film director, producer and all the other film workers for a chance to get first hand information about making the 1Fen-Hui Lin is Associate Professor of Department of Infor- movie. Almost all the bloggers invited wrote about mation Management, National Sun Yat-Sen University. the movie in their blogs making a tremendous success 5 E-mail: [email protected] of the movie exhibition afterwards. This was the Yu-Ting Hsiao is Ph.D. Candidate of Department of Informa- tion Management, National Sun Yat-Sen University. 4 1 http://alexa.chinabreed.com/?domain=wretch.cc. http://www.brain.com.tw/News/RealNewsContent.aspx 2Wan-Wan’s blog: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/cwwany. ?ID=13830. 5 3Ko’s blog: http://www.wretch.cc/blog/Giddens. http://sulanteach.msps.tp.edu.tw/另類學習//movies/94

Management Review Vol. 31 (Apr 2012), 169-172 first commercial blog success demonstrating internet Teaching Notes word-of-mouth power. After this event, blogs became a significant advertising channel for marketers. However, The Teaching Objectives improper use of WOMM may cause a negative impact and cause the blogger to lose the readers’ trust and ruin his This study describes the Wretch phenomena includ- personal credibility. ing the bloggers, their earning sources, the impact of bloggers’ word-of-mouth, the human-flesh-searches Human Flesh Searches and the threats from Facebook. Based on the authors’ experiences, students under thirty years old all have Human Flesh Search (HFS) is an emerging phenomenon, experiences using blogs. Wretch has been like a especially in Chinese-Asian internet societies. Internet playground, especially for undergraduate students in users leave tracks each time they move online like when Taiwan while growing up. They are familiar with they open an account, share experiences, comment on reading and searching for information they need and some issues, post photos, etc. These actions on Facebook, can also write and share their works on blog sites. blogs, forums or chat-rooms can be tracked to disclose However, they hardly look at blogs or Wretch from a someone’s identity. For example, there was a teenage girl commercial perspective of virtual collective behavior who posted a self-made film that recorded how she de- or website competition. Thus, this case has three stroyed a public bridge decoration.6 Some internet users teaching objectives: were upset and searched who she was. Within a few hours, someone verified her Wretch blog and connected the pho- (1) to learn the media properties of blogs associated tos and information together. The girl’s identify was with internet marketing issues arising from blog- quickly circulated on the internet, including her name, gers’ commercial activities; school and class. The girl finally wilted under the pressure; she apologized to the public saying that she has learned (2) to discuss the social and personal impact caused her lesson. by the collective behavior on virtual communities as reflected on the commercial aspects of blogs. The Threat from Competitors (3) while confronting the Facebook challenge, what Wretch was faced with two types of website competitors. are the Wretch core competencies ? What strate- One came from other blog platforms, such as , gies should the Wretch managing group look for? Yam and UDN. According to an online pollster.com sur- This case study is suitable for courses in vey done in 2010 with 5,588 respondents, 80% of internet 7 e-commerce, internet marketing or social media re- users regularly use blogs. Wretch is the top blog for lated courses. 59.23% of these blog users. The second is Yahoo!Kimo with 19.24%.8 The other blog competitors are not critical Discussion Questions to Wretch. We designed four questions that will need 80 minutes The real threat to Wretch is Facebook that entered of class discussions. Table 1 shows the subjects and Taiwan in 2009. In two years, Facebook has become the time allotments. The following section shows the 9 second largest website in Taiwan. An online social me- teaching explanation and suggestions for the four dia survey made by insightxplorer.com compared Wretch questions. and Facebook. The results indicate that the members’ loy- alty levels are similar for the two websites. However, the Table 1 Class Discussion Sequence average Facebook user time is significantly longer than Discussion Time Subjects Wretch’s. Besides, the Taiwanese Facebook members Procedures (minutes) number more than ten million, bigger than Wretch’s. Wretch history of Stu- Facebook is now the social media leader in Taiwan. Warm-up 5 dents’ experiences Wretch used to be the largest social media in Taiwan The blog platform for almost a decade. However, with the ever-changing functions 15 internet context and the severe challenge from Facebook, Blog contents how can Wretch refine their market strategy to maintain its Blog WOMM competitive advantage in the internet community? Bloggers’ commercial 20 Discussions activities Human Flesh Searches Collective behavior in 20 無米樂//index.htm. virtual communities 6http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcGpuS-BILM. 7http://marketing.chinatimes.com/ItemDetailPage/MainCon- Wretch Challenges 15 /05MediaContent.aspx?MMMediaType=pollster_Report& Conclusions 5 MMContentNoID=62767. 8Wretch belongs to Yahoo!Kimo. Thus, the top two blogs in Taiwan are owned by Yahoo!Kimo. 9http://www.informationweek.com/news/galleries/smb/servic es/227800083.

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may keep the following suggestions in mind while Question 1: What functions do the blog platforms pro- performing commercial WOMM that may generate vide? What are the blog contents characteristics? (15 unexpected negative reader reactions. The blogger minutes) should (1) be consistent in his/her style or blog image over time; (2) make only reasonable endorsements (1) The Website Functions and avoid a commercial manipulation of the product; Internet users apply for a blog account and can then write (3) follow communal norms that fit the blog theme. articles, upload photo albums or self-made videos to share with others. Besides, the blog sites embed message boards Question 3: Human Flesh Searches (HFS) are a which allow readers and bloggers to interact with each collective behavior on the Internet. What positive other. Moreover, blog platforms have various categories or negative impact does it have on civil society? enabling users to easily go to the category that is interest- (20 minutes) ing to them. The instructor can ask students to share their experi- (2) Blog Contents Characteristics ences about HFS following these three steps: Researchers use theories of self-presentation (Goffman (1) Aside from the example mentioned above, ask 1959) to interpret the blogger motivations for writing students to provide other cases they may know blogs (Trammell and Keshelashvili 2005). The instructor of; can give two week class assignments for students to find information or write papers and make a brief or class (2) Summarize the steps that HFS internet users usu- presentation about theories of impression management, ally do. Discuss with students why HFS works self-presentation and self-disclosure. During class discus- with the internet tools such as search engines or sions, the instructor can invite students to share their writ- website personal records. ing experiences on blog sites on their own motivations or (3) What are the positive or negative impacts? about their presumed readers. Do they purposefully write to project a certain image? ‧Positive impact: HFS allows internet users to Impression management states that an individual will carry out justice for events that cannot be acted establish and maintain impressions that are congruent with upon by law or by people who cannot be judged the others’ perceptions (Goffman 1959). Self-disclosure is for unethical or unscrupulous behavior, for ex- both a conscious and subconscious act, which makes an ample, people who abuse street animals or es- individual reveal personal information, thoughts, or feel- cape from car accidents. Internet users adopt ings to others (Trammell and Keshelashvili 2005). When information technology or internet search tools bloggers write or share with a certain personal style, they to verify suspects’ identity and may further as- may directly or indirectly execute impression management. sist police investigations. Moreover, bloggers may share deeper thoughts with inter- ‧Negative impact: Improper HFS can cause cy- net readers that are not just self-presentation but ber-bullying, because anonymous online users self-disclosure. According to Derlega and Berg (1987), can harass people whom they suspect have dis- self-disclosure is essential in developing intimate rela- regarded ethical norms. Thus, some innocent tionships. However, this carries with it the high risk that it people can become victims of cyber-bullying. may cause teasing or rejection. Papacharissi (2002) says that bloggers perceive a lower disclosure risk when ex- Question 4: When compared with Facebook, what pressing deep thoughts to strangers than to acquaintances. can Wretch expect on the internet and social me- Thus, bloggers gradually develop a relationship with their dia in the near future? (15 minutes) readers or fans (Papacharissi 2002). The bloggers’ influ- ence leads to the word-of-mouth marketing for question 2. During the discussion, the instructor can encourage students to draw examples for the two social media, Question 2: Why do bloggers’ writing and sharing from the point of view of memberships, website generate word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) effects? flows, platform functions, user behavior, revenue What are the concerns when bloggers get more in- sources, entertaining nature, etc. The following are volved in commercial or internet advertising? (20 min- the summaries for each social media. utes) The Wretch advantages: Word-of-mouth (WOM) occurs among consumers when market (product) messages are exchanged through the (1) The blog contents are rich, with depth and consumer networks (Ryan and Gross 1943). WOM mar- breadth. keting is an intentional influencing behavior in con- sumer-to-consumer communications designed by market- (2) Wretch has a large knowledge database with ers who deliberately spread the messages (Kozinets et al. various categories of articles, photos and multi- 2010). On the other hand, a blogger may trigger a negative media. WOM marketing effect such as neglecting communal norm issues; for example, the Honey Lin case. Bloggers

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(3) The blog platform has given birth to many famous REFERENCES bloggers as writers, photographers or artists. Derlega, V. J. and J. H. Berg (1987), (4) With the Yahoo!Kimo merger, the largest website in Self-Disclosure: Theory, Research, and Ther- Taiwan, many online services have generated a great apy. New York: Springer. synergy effect. Goffman, E. (1959), The Presentation of Self in The Facebook advantages: Everyday Life. NY: Doubleday. Kozinets, R. V., K. De Valck, A. C. Wojnicki, and (1) A lot of user Apps are uploaded to Facebook that in- S. J. S. Wilner (2010), “Networked Narratives: clude games, learning and living that made people Understanding Word-of-Mouth Marketing in favor surfing on Facebook. Online Communities,” Journal of Marketing, 74(2), 71-89. (2) Facebook has over 800 million members creating a network effect among web communities. This effect Papacharissi, Z. (2002), “The Presentation of Self helped Facebook gain the competitive edge – winner in Virtual Life: Characteristics of Personal takes all. Home Ppages,” Journalism and Mass Com- munication Quarterly, 79(3), 643-660. End of Discussions (5 minutes) Ryan, B. and N. C. Gross (1943), “The Diffusion For students in management schools who are familiar with of Hybrid Seed Corn in Two Iowa Communi- blogs and Facebook and who can discuss the various as- ties,” Rural Sociology, 8(1), 15-24. pects of marketing or commercial acts well, at the end of Trammell, K. D., and A. Keshelashvili (2005), the discussions, the instructor can bring out the issue that blog sites are also public communities. Marketers should “Examining the New Influencers: A also be aware that too much commercial activities can Self-Presentation Study of A-list Blogs,” generate negative effects. Moreover, blog sites as public Journalism and Mass Communication Quar- communities also generate collective behavior such as terly, 82(4), 968. HFS. With a recognition of the positive and negative ef- fects, students should learn better personal data protection. Moreover, they can judge personal behavior or public comments for HFS events.

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