Hong Kong signs on to the Social Media Week cause

There is no online community quite like China's, with an estimated 450 million people logging on to the internet every day.

And with Hong Kong continually promoting itself as the gateway to China, it's little wonder then that the organizers behind Social Media Week ( http://socialmediaweek.org) have this year decided to launch a version of their event in the city.

Social Media Week Hong Kong ( http://socialmediaweek.org/hon2gkong) will run February 8-12 - SMWs in New York, San Francisco, Rome, Paris, Toronto, Sao Paulo and Istanbul are scheduled for February 7-11 - with the purpose of "discussing emerging trends in social media and how they are impacting different levels of society and business."

SMW was launched in New York in 2009 and combines actual conferences with online seminars, enabling people to log on from anywhere overseas.

The Hong Kong event will be its first time in Asia - and the emphasis will be on what is going on in mainland China.

Topics up for discussion will cover four distinct areas: Understanding Social Media in China, Social Media 101, Experts' Round and Community Focus.

There will also be a "Bloggers Series" held each day, focusing on Hong Kong Bloggers, Mainland China Bloggers, Food, Fashion and Travel.

"Social Media Week presented a tremendous opportunity to unify conversations taking place about social media throughout the city," Sarah Woodhouse, group managing director of SMWHK partners Impactasia, said in a press release issued to mark the event.

"Being one of nine cities participating in the global event gives Hong Kong the opportunity to showcase the happenings of our growing social media scene."

Registration for the Hong Kong event is now open on the SMWHK website: http://socialmediaweek.org/hongkong/schedule

Social Media Week Hong Kong
February 8-12
http://socialmediaweek.org/hongkong
Social Media Week on Twitter: http://twitter.com/socialmediaweek

MS