International Links: Week 18 2010

International Links

This is my weekly post reviewing the interesting links for cross-cultural topics, international business and international social media.

Although I hate stereotypes and cultural generalizations, it’s always interesting to be aware of them when marketing to international audiences. And this week I found several European maps with some stereotypes I hadn’t paid attention to.

There are also a couple of great articles on the constant evolution of international web marketing and social media. In particular, comparisons of how the new non-Latin URLs look in different browsers and also how the trends in mobile phones will open markets in Africa. Enjoy the reads.

Cross-Cultural Topics

• How Americans See Europe – Infographic of stereotypes Americans have of Europeans. What other common stereotypes for Europeans do you know of?
• La cartographie des stéréotypes – More visuals with five fun maps by Bulgarian artists on stereotypes of Europe and Europeans.
• In Asia, a professor examines different social customs – Min Byoung-chul, a professor at Konkuk University, looks at the cultural differences he sees with Chinese students in Korea. Some interesting differences that show it’s not just about the language.
• Shanghai Is Trying to Untangle the Mangled English of Chinglish – Some Chinglish expressions are cute and some are incomprehensible. Apparently “long time no see” is a word-for-word translation of a Chinese expression. A fun read.
• What Matters: A new paradigm for change – There’s an interesting graphic in this article showing the 4 steps of a cultural revolution. Worth reading.
• Enron’s flop on Broadway shows culture gap between US and UK – Cross-cultural miscommunication: “Enron” flops on Broadway, after success in the UK
• Psychological Research Not Always Universal, Studies Should Involve More Cross-Cultural Collaboration – This has an interesting story of discovering cultural differences despite findings of previous research.
• Opening Your World to the Experience of Difference – A great read on how to open our world to different cultures. I live surrounded by people who are “different” to me. How many “different’ people do you have in your life?

Facebook Business Page on Cross-Cultural Communication:

International Business

• Becoming a global media brand in 60 minutes – A fun look at how to reach global audiences today using International Social Media.
• Taking Your Business Global – A good read highlighting how the web flattens the globe and the different steps of doing business abroad.
• Patience Required As Chinese Companies Go Overseas – This is the first article written by Dan Harris on the new Forbes blog on China with some interesting stories on doing business in China.

Facebook Business Page on International Business:

International Marketing

• Going ‘Glocal’ is more important than ever – Here’s an interesting read shared by Amadou M. Sall about making the most out of both local marketing and global marketing. Although this does sound like a rehash of what’s been common practice before.
• We’re nearing the end of email, maybe – Penelope Trunk’s article raises some pertinent questions about how we now use email. I’ve got 4 email accounts I use regularly, and about a half a dozen others not really used. How many do you have?

Facebook Business Page on International Marketing:

International Sales

• Which markets matter most to Australian exporters? – Here’s a look at where Australians make their sales abroad. How often to you check export stats for your country?

Facebook Business Page on International Sales:

International Social Media

• iPhone app globalization: Ready for take-off – A look at why app developers will create more localized versions. Interesting to note the top companies localizing their apps are: PayPal, Google, Facebook and Monopoly.
• The dawn of a new URL – John Yunker shares screenshots testing out the new full length IDNs on different browsers. Translation is going to become more important on the web for some of us.
• 3 Social Media Lessons For Global Marketers – A good summary of social media in Brazil, Germany and China on HubSpot.
• Love a Good Crisis – Silvia Cambie writes an interesting post about how people used social media during the recent volcanic ash crisis.
• On Love and Hate for 160 characters – This is an informative read on SMS etc. as a multi-use platform in Africa

Facebook Business Page on International Social Media:

Now It’s Your Turn

• What do these international and cross-cultural links inspire for you?
• Which of these reads did you most enjoy?
• What interesting links on cross-cultural topics did you find recently?

Tagged as: 2010, blog hosting services, business, business pages, cross-cultural, Cross-Cultural Communication, cultural, cultural differences, cultural revolution, facebook, global marketing, globalization, international, International Business, International Marketing, marketing, online social networking, social information processing, social media, web 2.0, week, world wide web