Moobol

Moobol, founded in October 2006, is a popular photo sharing website based in Beijing, China. It is both the world's largest Chinese grassroots news and photography website and the first Chinese citizen journalism website. In addition being a photograph sharing website, the service is also used by bloggers as a photo archive. Moobol currently has more 100,000 photos from 30,000 users mostly from mainland China and Southeast Asia. Moobol is a subsidiary of China Daily.

Naming

The Chinese name of Moobol is Zhi Bo Ke, which literally means "people who report live". The origin of the word "Moobol" derives from "Mobile", describing people who use digital camera, cell phone camera and video camera or any other portable devices to capture or record what they have witnessed. Moobol is synonymous with citizen journalism.

History

Originally named Molive.cn, it was founded on January 1, 2006 by China Daily staffer Eric Zhang as a spin-off of Chinadaily.com.cn. It was initially created to provide internet service as well as other premium services to cell phone users in China. When the company noticed an influx of users uploading pictures from their cell phones to report live events such as traffic jams, street fights and fire accidents, Molive.cn narrowed its service to the picture uploading business.

On October 18, 2006, Molive.cn changed its name to Moobol.com and primarily focused on providing a place on the internet for the common people to upload the photos they have taken with their digital cameras and camera phones. These photographs are usually uploaded in groups and accompanied with a brief description to illustrate an event or events that happened during the time the pictures were taken.

Moobol.com is considered the pioneer citizen journalism web site in China. The creation of Moobol.com is significant because its model is revolutionary to the traditional Chinese media. On similar websites, bloggers often take the role of analysts rather than reporters. Since the beginning of the new millennium, a growing percentage of television stations and newspapers prefer news (photographs, audio, stories) by citizen journalists over the traditional media. The current media, whether it is television, newspaper, or radio, employee professional journalists to report the news they see fit, often with biased views. But due to geographical difference and the conflict of interest, working journalists do not possess the capability to be at every corner of China in any given time frame and they do not always report all the stories as they develop. Moobols (Moobol users/citizen journalists) upload and report content based exclusive and non-exclusive news stories often ignored by the mainstream media outlets.

Usage

As portable devices such as camera phones and digital cameras become more popular and easier to acquire, Moobols (Moobol users) can quickly upload their pictures or video files into Moobol.com via text messaging or direct website access.

Development

In the early days of development, Moobol realized the potential of China's 500 million and growing cell phone users. As the price of portal devices such as digital cameras and camera phones decreased sharply, it paved the way for ubiquitous usage of these picture capturing gadgets. In April 2007, Moobol.com began constructing local or grassroots channels for its users. Moobol has announced that it will launch its beta 2.0 version sometime in the summer of 2007. It has plans to launch an English version of its site in the near future to diversity its member base. The website is currently seeking Venture Capital funds both in China and abroad to further expand its services.

Features

Beta 2.0

Moobol.com is constructing its version beta2.0. The new version will be launched in June 2007. Its beta version strengthens mMobol's ability on user communication, photo uploading, categories, interactivity, user group and user's personal space.

Picpal

Picpal is an application for cell phone users. This software allows cell phone users to instantly upload their photos into the Moobol website.

Local Channels

Regional platforms will be constructed by Moobol.com to allow users from the same geographical location to share photos with each other.

Moobol Photo Contests

Moobol.com awards prizes to the winners of its photo contests, such as "New Year photo", "My-One-Day photo" and "Funny Things photo."

Photo Wit-key

Moobol is in the process of developing its photo wit-key platform. It will benefit not only web administrators, but also regular users. Through the photo Wit-key platform Moobols (citizen journalists) have the ability to request for photos they want by offering a reward to those who can provide it to them.

New versions

Moobol.com is in the process of launching an English version for English-speaking readers and users. Due to the enormity of the photo inventory and Moobol's limited resources, Moobol.com editors will select popular pictures and translate them into English.

Authentication

Moobol.com automatically analyzes photos upload by users. It analyzes the date & time, the type of camera and the editing software used to produce any given uploaded picture. This allows Moobol to certify the authenticity of pictures upload by its users to avoid fabrications.

Corporate Affairs

Business Model

Moobol has the right to sell photos uploaded by users and gain a percentage of the revenue. At the moment, some newspapers in Beijing such as The First, has an agreement with Moobol to purchase from its photo inventory. Since there are 6,600 newspaper and magazines in China, Moobol's business model is promising.

On the other hand, as a photo-heavy web, Moobol users have strong consuming power and potential consuming power on digital cameras, camera cell phones and digital products. No wonder Moobol can gain a lot in ads.

Corporate structure

Moobol is now run by a Board of Directors consisting of 5 people, who include Eric Zhang (founder and CEO), two senior members from Chinadaily.com.cn (parent company) and two members from MAS Technology (shareholders).

Moobol divided its personnel into five department; Business & Development, Editorial, Public Relations, Technology & Research and Administration.

Logo

Moobol's current logo, "Moobol Hands", was designed by Zhao Wei, the chief designer for Moobol.com in 2006. The logo, depicting two hands crossed to take a picture, exhibits the spirit of the Moobol culture, which is to "take picture on what you witnessed".

In 2007, Moobol began striking the "Moobol Hands" onto every photo that are uploaded onto Moobol.com to protect the author's copyright.

Slogans

• "Snap, upload and share."
• "Capture what you witness."

Headlines

Sister Kindergarten

On November 15, 2006, a set of exclusive pictures of a beautiful kindergarten teacher under the alias "Sister Kindergarten" appeared on Moobol.com. Over night, it was forwarded by tens of thousands of people and was featured on thousands of websites in China. Within 3 days, "Sister Kindergarten" became an instant internet celebrity. In February 2007, "Sister Kindergarten" was named ‘Love Angel’ by the Chinese Red Cross Foundation (CRCF). From that moment forward, Moobol became a well-known hotspot for creating internet celebrities.

Internet Cafe Inside Ancient Wall In Xi’an

On December 21, 2006, a Moobol user named Jin Chi Niao (Golden Wing Bird) took a group of pictures of an internet netbar built inside of the ancient City Wall in Xi’an. These pictures sparked a heated public debate. Supporters claim it is an efficient use of ancient achievements, while opponents argue the Internet cafe damages the aesthetic and historical value of the ancient wall as a whole. According to Jin Chi Niao, he was walking along the Xi'an Railway Station on December 21, 2006, and that's when he noticed a large sign of an internet cafe attached to the outer facet of an ancient city wall.

He quickly snapped a group of pictures and uploaded onto Moobol.com along with its description. Television stations and newspapers subsequently interviewed Jinchiniao and on December 26, 2006 the signboard of the internet cafe had been pulled down.

Notes

References

• “Christine Science Monitor’s Report”
• “Chinese Citizen Photojournalism”
• “Smile... You're on MoLive”
• “You Witness News” by Reuters and Yahoo”
• “New Cyber Sensation Casts a Spell With Smile”
• “Internet Cafe Shed Its Signboard On Ancient Wall”

External links

• Moobol Official Website