1 RGF ASIAN INTELLIGENCE Telecommunications, Media social media tool management; and creative skills. Talent looking to enter this sector must have a comprehensive knowledge of digital platforms and how to use leverage them best to deliver marketing strategies, need to know how to close gaps between customer perception and business goals as well as how to handle interactions with customers in order to keep them loyal to the platform, and be able to copywrite and visually execute content suitable for various social media platforms. Overall, the Chinese social media industry is incredibly dynamic, with business rising and falling at an extremely fast pace. All the candidates have to improve they are agile and able to adapt to the competitive market. “ “9 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES CONSTANT DISRUPTION AND INNOVATION CONTINUES Information technology & services is a vast sector, comprising an array of markets and services. Honing in on web portals, social networking services, specialised information sites and online travel services provides a snapshot of the opportunities and challenges facing the wider sector: the number of users is growing which means ad revenue is growing but disruption is common and data privacy issues are increasingly a concern. The web portal market, which includes both horizontal and vertical sites, generates revenue from advertisements, usually through a performance-based advertising model or on a cost-per-click basis. Because the internet advertising market is expected to grow exponentially, so, too, should the web portal market,which is led by Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft, though the ad business driven by Facebook, Amazon and Alibaba may outpace the others soon 13 . Though the specialised information sites market better known as classified ads is the smallest of the digital ad categories, it is valued at an impressive US$18.2 billion. The biggest perk of online classified ads is that its a low-cost option, which allows sellers to earn more from their sales. Though the current largest market for classified ads is the U.S., Mainland Chinas market share has been increasing, rising from 23% in 2016 to 30% in 2018, thanks to increased mobile penetration and the rising popularity of e-commerce. As for social media networking, these constantly evolving, constantly disruptive platforms are increasing their revenue opportunities through data-based marketing and advertising solutions. However, with more attention placed on how the SNS market is using its users personal data, these platforms are revamping their data policies, algorithms and cybersecurity measures to provide users with more transparent information regarding how their data is used and with more control over what types of data they allow to be shared. Though SNS platforms have been under increased scrutiny, combined revenue from advertisements, user purchases and data-sharing partnerships is forecasted to reach just over US$98 million in 2019, and is expected to grow to a market volume of approximately US$188 million by 2023 14 . Similarly, the online travel services market is a lucrative one it was valued at nearly US$765 billion in 2017, and is expected to generate US$2 billion by 2026 15 . The largest travel market has historically been North America, but Asia Pacific has recently become the global leader for digital travel, recording sales of over US$215 billion in 2018, a gain of 21% year-on-year 16 .TOP PLAYERS FOR WEB PORTAL The rankings include total revenue of a companys other business beyond the subject sector 1 2 3 4 5 Alphabet Inc. Verizon Communications Inc. Microsoft Corporation Facebook, Inc. Baidu, Inc. TOP PLAYERS FOR SPECIALISED INFORMATION SITES The rankings include total revenue of a companys other business beyond the subject sector 1 2 3 4 5 Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd Google Asia Pacific Pte Ltd Meituan-Dianping 58 Inc. Carvana Co. 10TOP PLAYERS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA The rankings include total revenue of a companys other business beyond the subject sector 1 2 3 4 5 Facebook, Inc. Tencent Holdings Ltd Twitter, Inc. Tencent Technology Beijing Co. Ltd. YY Inc. TOP PLAYERS FOR ONLINE TRAVEL SERVICES The rankings include total revenue of a companys other business beyond the subject sector 1 2 3 4 5 Booking Holdings Inc. Liberty Expedia Holdings, Inc. Expedia Group, Inc. Amadeus IT Group S.A. Ctrip International, Ltd 11The information technology & services sector comes with an array of opportunities and challenges. Most markets must be agile and innovative due to near-constant disruption and changing consumer behavior, as well as knowledgeable about competitors and emerging trends. By having a sense of where the sector is headed, brands can then leverage tools and trends to introduce features and services that will benefit their users and keep them engaged. Increased disruption via social media marketplaces Though markets across the tech industry and beyond are being disrupted by social media, the web portals and specialised information sites are feeling particularly pressured by the social platforms. With the rise of social media advertising, other models of digital advertisements including the post-per-click model are declining in popularity. Additionally, social media marketplaces are posing a challenge to the classified ad space however, specialised information sites continue to boast higher conversion rates, even with lower traffic, than social media marketplaces have yet to achieve. But, users do like that on social media marketplaces they are able to interact with real, as opposed to anonymous, sellers. Both web portals and classified ad websites will need to adapt to changing models and work to integrate new tools in order to remain relevant. BRANDS ARE INCREASINGLY FINDING WAYS TO IMPLEMENT AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) AND VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) “ INDUSTRY TRENDS 12