It was only a matter of time before the authorities decided to crack down on Facebook. Finally they have also become tired of the never ending event notifications, status updates discussing your “friend’s” decision to go to M1NT or Bar Rouge this weekend, and the random friend requests. In all seriousness the authorities control over the “web waves” is a cause for concern. But, let’s be honest, it is more of an annoyance than anything. Stack it on top of the typical day of blazing internet speeds, and it is sure to upset expat web users.

This is not meant to be a political post, as an outsider I do not want to delve into the internal political decisions of a soveriegn nation.

I use Facebook and Twitter everyday for both work and personal use. I try not to be “spammy” on either. Some friends take me aside and ask me not to post so much, but honestly I tell them I am posting interesting current events and business articles they should be looking at. Granted most of the people that are taking me aside, don’t really understand how to use Facebook and Twitter to effectively “share” information, but they are coming around.

Yes I do post NextStep event information, but they are good informational events, not another party on the Bund. The majority of my postings point people to great current events like this article, this article and this article (oh, wait I cannot pull the links from my Facebook profile to share with you right now…I need to start bookmarking them again on my Webdexer.com)

If you want to find out more about me, you can click here to view my NextStepDirectory.com profile.  From there you can check out my Linkedin and Twitter (once it is running again).

Wen Jia Bao and his closest advisers are in Davos, and by all accounts it sounds as if some in media are beginning to take a more relaxed stance on China. To be honest it speaks of the times we now live in. If one day you condone the actions of a nation state, and the following you pride them for their economic achievements so that you may benefit, it makes you as a profession or nation look quite pathetic. If you have a stance and belief, keep it, please don’t peddle a flip-flopping opinions that are delivered as fact. For too long the western media and government has and still remains to look negatively upon China, and rightfully so on many levels, but what they have so conveniently left out of the stories in recent years is how they have benefited from China’s monumental rise.

Look at the facts of information decemination. It is only in the past eighteen months that media has latched onto the debt obligations the US now holds with the Near East. When times got rough and it was no longer to our (US and European) advantage to continue selling our debt at the rapid rate we had no problem with at the onset of this decade, the media and US government started speaking up. We got ourselves into this situation, and it will take a community effort to etract ourselves from this mountain of debt and trade imbalance. The answer is not confrontation and protectionist policies. The answer lies in cooperation between China-US-UK-Euro to fix what has gone so wrong.

After speaking with some business owners based out of Hangzhou last evening at the NextStep Tuesday at M1NT it appears from a cursory discussion that not enough attention is being paid to smaller tier one and tier two cities. As I am off to GuangZhou today to learn more about the web community in GZ and HK, my eyes have been opened to the smaller communities who are looking for resources to make connections and grow businesses in China. This also plays right into the direction of NextStepDirectory.com ’s growth for China–move on to Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou and beyond.

Some raw numbers that I was given last night speak of a mere 9000 foreigners working in Hangzhou of which no strong community of business owners have focused around. Obviously this community needs to be built up. If you are interested in talking to me about doing more NextStep focused events in your Chinese city feel free to send me an email or comment here.  joseph (DOT) constanty (AT) nextstepdirectory (DOT) com

Again, I would like to thank Frank Phillipe of M1NT for giving us such a great venue last evening. The M1NT team is on to something quite interesting for the Chinese marketplace, and I am interested to see where the Shanghai and future Beijing endeavors take them.

This afternoon I had a great conversation with Lonnie Hodge of CultureFish, a firm based in Guandong focused on SEO, SEM and online management of your company’s brand. It sounds like a lot of boring stuff, but when you meet Lonnie he makes you see otherwise. Beyond the SEO stuff we were knocking around, Lonnie brought up an intersting point about tech in China. So I am asking you, where is the best place to be a running a tech company? Lonnie made some great points about southern China(including HK) as THE spot for tech in China, including access to IT decision makers, talent pool, foreign media to push your product to the world to name a few.

We all know of the incubation centers bursting at the seems in Beijing. Google and Microsoft keep their Beijing campus right next to the main gate to Qinghua University (for those of you out of the loop, Qinghua is the MITof China). Hangzhou and Suzhou are flooded with incubation centers, as well as every other city in China looking to attract tech dollars, or should I say the little red maos.

Being that I run two tech start-ups, and I do so in this little city we call Shanghai only because this is where we have always been, I would like to know from the China tech world where they think China’s tech home is. Today’s conversation makes me believe there may be some real opportunities lurking elsewhere that the land of Oz in Shanghai is blinding my eyes to.

I want to hear your thoughts and opinions on where the tech epicenter of China is.

I found an interesting PR tool for all you PR gurus and start-up founders in need of new ways of spreading the word about your product or service. Check out PitchEngine. It was created by a PR executive with the idea to assist web 2.0 PR social media releases. If you don’t have a clue as to what I am talking about, well then your may want to start reading here. SMRs are becoming the buzz words in PR these days. To be honest I do not fully grasp what is going on with SMRs, but in a nut shell your press releases and press page need to be more dynamic. This may include RSS feeds, video, audio, applications, and a whole laundry list of other convenient media tools. You can have a look at the NextStepDirectory.com Press page to get a look at the basics, we still have a long way to go with that page. We are still learning ourselves. Another good Press Page to look at is Uptake.com, it can give you an idea of where we are going with our own press page. Take notes. Elliott Ng and the gang know what they are doing,they have been at it for quite some time. So if you haven’t updated your Press Page, or never really thought twice about the page or your current press releases, you may want to think again.

If you want to find out more about the Green Business Forum you can click here to listen to my interview on the ChinaBusinessNetwork with Christine Lu. Mind you it was 1am Shanghai time when I was answering these questions.

The Green Business Forum is an important event for me, as it is my first attempt to get a large community behind a movement–a movement that matters. If you are reading this blog now, we are only three days away from the first Green Business Forum in Shanghai. I want to get people thinking, I want to get people active, and I want people to actually care about how they are conducting their businesses. What we are trying to achieve with the forum is simple, get you active and give you the tools to make a difference. Roots & Shoots, Greennovate, 350.org and JUCCCE are all excellent companies and organizations that will be able to help you as an individual, as a manager, as a business owner to really make a difference.

If you want more information about the Green Business Forum click here.

The Forum is on Saturday, July 12th from 2 til 6pm at the Grand Hyatt in Pudong

How bad does it have to get, before we decide as a collective whole that the way we live, build our businesses, and plan for the future is flawed? I am not saying we are at a doomsday moment, but why wait until we get there before making change? Changing now will be less painful and less costly.

It is time for all of us to get active and make a difference. The NextStep Green Business Forum is going to do just that. I was inspired by the efforts of several individuals living here in Shanghai and their desire to bring about environmental change. I coupled that with a recent viewing of the award winning documentary The 11th Hour, and I decided that I could make a personal effort to enact change. The Green Business Forum is my personal call to action to give business owners, managers, and everyone else the tools and know-how to make simple changes in our daily business practices that can ultimately have enormous effect on the greater community.

The Green Business Forum will be held on Saturday, July 12th from 2-6pm at the Grand Hyatt Hotel (JinMao Tower) in Pudong. Entry fee is 250 RMB, 25% of which will be donated to Roots & Shoots and Greennovate.

You can reserve a seat by emailing us at RSVP@nextstepshanghai.com

Find out more event information by clicking here  or you can check out the July 3rd issue of CityWeekend to read an interview of me and Peggy Liu of JUCCCE.

As many of you know the founders of NextStep are active on several projects. Most of the projects that we are working on or consulting with can be considered start-up or early stage investment opportunities. We are constantly in touch with the investment world, and are aware of the ever-changing demands and tendencies of the individuals running the show. Despite the appearance of a never-ending investment train into the China marketplace, one must look through the smoke and mirrors. Have a look at this post from post-my-site.com that lays out current cash call failure possibilities. The information is only magnified today due to the recent developments since its original posting in January of this year. The information within is not groundbreaking, but it clearly lays out what entrepreneurs and early-stage companies are currently up against, and must factor into their future plans.