The development of the Internet over the past 20 years has not only changed the way most people live their life， but has also provided plenty of new platforms for business. The advertising industry’s adoption of the micro blog， or Weibo， as a promotional tool is an example.

Ye Feng， 34， a marketing professor in Beijing， frequently takes calls from public relations (PR) companies offering to pay him 5，000 yuan for every post on his micro blog that promotes their products.

He writes an average of eight posts daily， mainly about business matters and information about his courses. More importantly， he has more than 300，000 followers who read his posts on the micro-blogging website weibo.com. If Ye agreed to include product placements in 50 percent of his posts， he could make 20，000 yuan a day， just by typing fewer than 500 words， all of which are provided by PR companies.

However， he has consistently declined all offers. “I don’t want to make my micro blog too commercial，” he said. “I might lose fans if I am discovered promoting products in my postings.”

In addition to his work teaching Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) courses at many of China’s top universities， Ye is also the founder of Sunup Consulting Co Ltd.， a Beijing-based strategic consulting company.

He previously helped Shanghai Volkswagen Automobile Company Ltd. to open its official account on Weibo and delivered a series of online marketing activities through his connections with micro-blogging industry insiders. “The battleground of marketing is the Internet and the micro blog is the center of it，” he said.

Micro blog is no longer just a tool to make contact with friends and celebrities online， read their news and leave comments on their pages. It is also establishing a new business model.

According to Ye， a number of people in the industry have sponsored teams to operate micro blogs purely for commercial marketing purposes. He claims that these sites can earn as much as 100，000 yuan a day from this activity.

These accounts center around jokes， fashion and other light-hearted topics. Millions of people have signed up as followers.

Insiders have said half-jokingly that the influence of a micro blog can be compared with a national newspaper if it has more than 1 million fans. If it has 10 million fans， its impact is similar to that of a TV station. “Many accounts have achieved those sort of numbers already，” Ye said.

The Weibo account with the largest fans belongs to a Chinese actress called Yao Chen. She mostly posts about her daily life and work， and， as of June 17， her account had attracted 8，962，014 fans.

According to industry insiders， Yao has been offered at least 100，000 yuan for each post featuring product placements， but her agent has refused all offers. Yao’s agent confirmed to China Daily that her client has received a huge number of offers， but that all have been declined. “I have never discussed payment for Yao’s postings with any of the companies， but I think the value of each post on her micro blog would be more than 100，000 yuan，” she said.

Like Yao， most movie stars or singers have resisted the pressure to make their micro blogs too commercial， so the PR companies have to think of other ways of getting their message across.

How to make money from micro blog will remain a hot topic for some time， but the Internet is a place of unpredictable changes.

“The business model for micro blog will become fully established over the next three to five years， but it is hard to predict its business potential after that，” Ye said. “Changes come everywhere and at all times. Something new will replace it sometime， for sure.”

在過去20年間，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的發(fā)展不僅改變了大多數(shù)人的生活方式，還為各行各業(yè)提供了十分充足的新平臺。廣告業(yè)使用微博作為促銷工具，這正是一個例子。

來自北京的，34歲的市場營銷學(xué)教授葉峰不斷接到公關(guān)公司的電話，對方希望他能在個人微博上推銷他們的產(chǎn)品，并提出愿意為每一條微博支付5000元人民幣的酬勞。

葉峰平均每天發(fā)8條微博，主要都是有關(guān)商務(wù)及自己所教課程的信息。更重要的一點(diǎn)是，葉峰在微博上的粉絲超過三十萬。如果葉峰同意在其發(fā)布的半數(shù)微博中植入廣告，那么他每天將會有兩萬元入賬。而他需要做的僅僅是打不到500個字，而這些內(nèi)容則全部由公關(guān)公司提供。

然而，葉峰一如既往地婉拒了這些提議。葉峰表示：“我不想讓自己的微博過于商業(yè)化，如果粉絲們發(fā)現(xiàn)我在微博中推銷產(chǎn)品，可能就不會再關(guān)注我了?！?/p>

除了擔(dān)任國內(nèi)很多一流大學(xué)EMBA課程的教師外，葉峰還是北京一家名為“日出咨詢有限公司”的戰(zhàn)略咨詢公司的創(chuàng)始人。

之前，葉峰曾幫助上海一汽大眾有限公司在微博上開通其官方微博，并依靠與微博業(yè)內(nèi)人士的關(guān)系，協(xié)助一汽大眾展開了一系列網(wǎng)絡(luò)營銷活動。葉峰稱：“互聯(lián)網(wǎng)是營銷的戰(zhàn)場，而微博則是戰(zhàn)場的中心?！?/p>

微博已不再只是供人們在線聯(lián)系朋友和名人、瀏覽他們的新聞并在其主頁上留言的工具了。微博正在建立一種新的商業(yè)模式。

葉峰表示，業(yè)內(nèi)很多人純粹出于商業(yè)營銷的目的，出資建立專門的團(tuán)隊(duì)來運(yùn)作微博。葉峰稱，通過這樣的運(yùn)作，這些網(wǎng)站的日盈利達(dá)十萬元之多。

這些微博發(fā)布的信息主要圍繞笑話、時尚等輕松的話題。數(shù)百萬的用戶會關(guān)注此類微博，成為其粉絲。

內(nèi)部人士半開玩笑地說，如果一個微博賬號擁有一百多萬的粉絲，其影響力就相當(dāng)于一個全國性報紙；若擁有一千萬粉絲，其影響力就相當(dāng)于一個電視臺。葉峰說：“很多微博賬戶的粉絲數(shù)量已達(dá)到這樣的數(shù)字?！?/p>

微博上擁有最多粉絲的賬戶屬于中國女星姚晨。她發(fā)布的微博大多是關(guān)于自己的日常生活和工作，截至6月17日，她已經(jīng)擁有了8，962，014位粉絲。

據(jù)業(yè)內(nèi)人士透露，已經(jīng)有人想在姚晨的微博中植入廣告，并提出每條微博至少支付給姚晨十萬元，但都被其經(jīng)紀(jì)人拒絕了。姚晨的經(jīng)紀(jì)人在接受《中國日報》采訪時證實(shí)，姚晨的確收到了很多此類的邀請，但都謝絕了。她表示：“我從未和任何一家公司談?wù)撨^姚晨發(fā)布微博的酬勞問題，但我認(rèn)為，姚晨每條微博的價值應(yīng)該超過十萬元?！?/p>

多數(shù)影星和歌星也都跟姚晨一樣，反對自己的微博被過度商業(yè)化，因此公關(guān)公司不得不另辟蹊徑進(jìn)行推銷。

在一段時間內(nèi)，微博經(jīng)濟(jì)這個話題依舊會保持它的熱度。不過，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)一直都是個變幻莫測的地方。

葉峰說：“在未來三至五年內(nèi)，微博商業(yè)模式將逐漸健全起來，但很難預(yù)測此后其潛藏的商機(jī)。變化每時每刻，無處不在。敢肯定的是，總有一天這種商業(yè)模式將被新事物取代。”