China's Crush on Obama
April 30, 2008
It's been over a year since he won over the heart of the Obama Girl, and now Obama has the affection of an even larger audience: China's Internet users.
This April, Obama was named Baidu.com's "Person of the Month," which means he was one of the most searched people by Baidu.com users. Baidu is China's leading search engine, with about 60% of search traffi, whereas Google, by comparison, only has 25% of China's traffic, so this recognition is quite significant, especially considering that China now has more Internet users than any other nation.
While Hillary Clinton still has more Internet traffic in China than Obama overall, China's interest in Obama has been sharply increasing over the past few months. Obama's status as "Person of the Month," is not so much an endorsement of the candidate or his policies as it is a reflection of the tremendous Chinese interest in the upcoming U.S. presidential elections.
Our next president doesn't just impact the lives of voters, but he or she will also play a key role in trade relations, international security, and a myriad of other issues. Baidu's recognition of Obama is not necessarily approval of his policies, but instead, it's indicates the growing awareness of Obama throughout China.
Rather than a hard news piece, the Baidu spread is more of a flattering portrayal with key tidbits like the smashing success of "Obama Girl" and Obama's tremendous Internet fund-raising ability. There's even a bathing suit shot on the page detailing "Asian Policies," though I don't really know what swimwear and Asian policies really have to do with one another.
While the Baidu homepage happened before Obama's most recent criticisms of China, I don't know that they would have necessarily have influenced the tone of the feature. Politics aside, Obama's Internet popularity and star quality (remember the Yes, We Can Video- which has been seen more than SEVENTEEN MILLION TIMES) make him quite a compelling candidate.
On the other hand, elections aren't won by celebrity power alone. Obama has won over the hearts of Baidu.com users, but he still has to win over the American voters.
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