Jon Russell

So can anyone in North Korea actually get on the Internet?

Very few of them can. A small number of people -- almost all of them government officials -- are permitted to access the Internet in North Korea. Because the country has no commercial Internet service providers, they typically get on the net through dial-up modems connected to special phone lines or with mobile phones via satellite. Around 20,000 North Koreans have access to cell phones, but most are forbidden from accessing the Internet.

Interesting insight from an article on internet usage in North Korea, a country in the news after setting up a presence on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube - though it emerged these were set-up by foreign supports of Kim Jong Il.

Willis Wee and Sarah Chong, at first glance, look like your typical non-descript young Singapore Management University (SMU) undergraduates. Which they are, of course. But what people may not realize is that the two are the brains behind highly-influential Singapore-based social media and marketing blog Penn Olson, read by marketing practitioners from all around the region.

Yes, you heard right. Seasoned marketing professionals listening to two kids who haven’t yet graduated from school. Sure it’s no Mashable – yet – but at over 100,000 page views a month it’s still an impressive feat.

Willis, a third-year undergraduate at SMU who is interested in marketing, advertising, public relations and business development, blogs at Penn Olson and consults on social media and marketing for businesses while juggling schoolwork. Sarah is likewise a final-year student in the same university studying economics and business management whose passion lies in marketing. “Seeing and learning how businesses create, promote and sell their business excite me,” Sarah says. “It has been a privilege to do what I do, and to be able to observe and move with the changing consumer trends.”

First started in July 2009, the site targets readers who are into marketing, advertising, PR, and how technology, research and concepts can be used to improve business. Willis and Sarah were exposed to the power of social media last year, and became very interested in its potential in marketing.

This is an interesting piece from youngupstarts.com looking at two Singapore undergrads.

It serves as a perfect example of how a reputation can be forged using social media. If the content is good enough, and marketed well enough, viewers will come, word will get around and the originators will begin building a reputation.

Congrats to the guys at P&O, I'm sure we will be seeing more of them in the spotlight.

Crampton provides a glimpse of his encyclopaedic knowledge of social networking in Asia in this brief interview with Robert Scoble at LeWeb 09.

There is no mention of Thailand, instead the focus is on the larger more influential markets of China, India and Japan where business models and usage is hugely different from socnets in the West.

As a former Bangkok resident, and head of Ogilvy's Asia operations, Tom is more than well clued up on Thailand, as I can testify from interviewing him for a social media piece in Director Thailand.