One week from today I’ll be on my way to China for the Chinese Software Global Summit in Shanghai.
I like to think of myself as well educated, and yet have realised how little I know about so much of the world.
I’m going to a country with a population of over 1.3 billion, and despite the fact that we have worked with a number of Chinese software companies over the years, I know almost nothing about the country.
On Friday the 16th of April I’ll be presenting to an expected 300 people on “Google AdWords – making it work; lower costs, better results.“
I’ll be doing so in a country where Google isn’t the search engine of choice.
Think about it. A country of 1.3 billion, and the vast majority of their online users don’t even use Google.
Go to Baidu (the popular local choice), and you get an idea of how one sided our view of the world may be.
No UK/USA flag, and the only English on the page is a copyright notice and a link to About Baidu.
Adding /eng to the URL throws up a customised 404 page in Chinese.
Despite having indexed over 740 million web page, Baidu isn’t for us.
My trip to China should be fascinating. And I’m looking forward to learning more about a country with such an incredible history; past and recent.
And I’m hoping my eyes will be opened to how our norms aren’t necessarily standard at all.
