ChinaBriefs - the FAQ
Welcome to ChinaBriefs.
You probably have a couple of questions? Then we have some of the answers… 😉
Q: Another newsletter about China? Really?
A: Yes! Of course, there are already many excellent newsletters about China and we will regularly recommend those we like in the coming issues. But the existing newsletters very often focus either on politics or eCommerce and usually you have to be pretty much familiar with the major players in China to make use of the content. That is where ChinaBriefs will be different!
Our focus will be much broader: we will bring you everything you need to know about all the developments (cases, trends, players, brands, numbers) in China somehow related to tech, digital & innovation - a broad topic, which we call DigitalChina! But we also want to help you understand the country & the people, because we think the former is not of much help without the latter.
At the same time we aim to provide you with insights, which you should be able to use in your day to day life - even if you have nothing to do with China at all.
Q: Who should read ChinaBriefs?
Do you have the gut feeling that you should follow what is going on in DigitalChina right now, but so far you haven’t found an easy way to do so? Then ChinaBriefs is definitely for you!
But ChinaBriefs will also be interesting for you, if you work in any field related to digital, tech or innovation as we are trying to find things you can learn from China in these areas - no matter where on the globe you are and whether you care about China or not.
Last but not least, even if you are already an expert on China, you might also find interesting stuff in our updates and of course we would appreciate any feedback from you or experiences you want to share.
Q: What kind of content can we expect on ChinaBriefs?
A: First, what you shouldn’t expect: ChinaBriefs won’t be a channel for the most recent tech news! There are already great options for that with sites like Abacus, Pandaily or Technode.
ChinaBriefs in the beginning will be very much like a standard newsletter with a mix of curation & commentary: we will find the most interesting content (mostly fairly recent, but at times also a bit older, while still relevant) and link to it - usually with a short comment that summarizes it and helps you to make a decision whether you want to read the whole piece. From time to time we will write own articles or longer thought pieces - always in pursuit of our overall goal: helping you understand DigitalChina!
Q: Who is behind ChinaBriefs?
A: We are two founders:
Björn Ognibeni lives in Hamburg, Germany and spent 20+ years as a freelance trusted advisor helping blue-chip companies, brands and agencies understand global digital trends and their implications.
Mirko Wormuth lives in Beijing, China and went from corporate lawyer to omni-channel retail entrepreneur. He’s been in China for over 20 years and will share his on the ground, real-life digital experiences.
Mirko knows best about China, Björn about Digital strategy. Together we will try to make sense of it all: what is happening in DigitalChina right now and what does this mean for entrepreneurs & executives in the West.
Q: Will ChinaBriefs be free?
A: Yes and no. We now start with the ChinaBriefs Updates, send out 3 - 4 times a month and those will stay free.
But if everything works out as planned, we will add additional newsletter formats over time, which will be exclusively available to ChinaBriefs members. We will start to add membership options once we hit 1,000 subscribers.
Q: Is ChinaBriefs just a newsletter?
A: The newsletter is indeed the center piece. But we are also very active on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Over the coming weeks, we will launch our website featuring a weblog with some interesting content. And we are thinking about offering delegation trips to experience DigitalChina first hand. Anything missing?
Q: Everybody is doing a podcast these days! Aren’t you?
A: Actually, we might. For now, we will focus on putting out regular newsletters worth reading. Those will be written in English.
But we do have plans to start a ChinaBriefs podcast and that will be in German, focusing on the German market together with a local partner…
Q: What do the Chinese characters in your logo mean?
A: Take a guess! 😉
Anything else?
Is there a question we haven’t answered yet, but should have? Then let us know! Send us an email: feedback@chinabriefs.io. And check out our channels on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
We definitely want to develop this project very much together with you - our readers. So we are really looking forward to any kind of feedback!!!
One last thing!
Keeping up with newsletters can be a pretty daunting task - especially if those get mixed up with the daily email mayhem!!
But we stumbled across a very cool app that solves this problem: Stoop - it is like a podcast app, but for newsletters. You get a new email address exclusively for all your newsletters which will then be in one place - so neatly arranged that Marie Kondō would love it!
So do we! We use it every day and can highly recommend it - give it a try! But don’t forget to re-subscribe to ChinaBriefs once you have your brand new Stoopinbox.com email address!! 🙏😀👍