About the author
My name is William Moss. I have been working in media and technology for nearly twenty years, in a progression that has taken me from radio and television to Internet game development to e-commerce and public relations. For most of the past six years I have been a public relations consultant in Beijing, focusing on Chinese mainstream and online media. Since May, 2010 I have been Director of Communications for North Asia for Motorola Mobile Devices.
I came to China in 2004 following nine years in Singapore, where I helped found and lead a company developing online computer games and was later part of the senior management team at one of Singapore’s best known Internet and e-commerce consultancies. Because of my mix of Internet and media experience, I have a particular interest in how the Internet is shaping modern media and public communication, as well as in propaganda and the role of news and media in society.
I have written on China technology, media and business for various publications including CNET Asia, Media Magazine, ForeignPolicy.com and China Economic Review. Prior to moving to Asia, I worked in both radio and television news in San Francisco, USA, and co-authored two books on online computer games.
Contact information
I can be reached by e-mail at will [at] imagethief [dot] com or via any of the social networks listed in the right-hand column.
The Imagethief blog
I started Imagethief in June 2004, immediately after arriving in China. Although originally a straightforward expat blog, it shifted to its current focus of PR and public communication in China a few months after I started working for my current employer, in September 2004. If you’ve just discovered this blog, collections of some of my favorite and most widely read posts can be found under the annual restropectives for 2004-2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and a five year retrospective post from mid 2009. Chinalyst’s 2008 interview with me also gives a good overview of this blog. (Note that the archive links lead to an old Imagethief site.)
Disclaimer and Attribution
Imagethief is a personal blog. The opinions within are solely my own, and not those of Motorola or my past employers. If you wish to quote something from Imagethief in a mainstream media report, please contact me at the e-mail address above about proper attribution.
While I write about the generalities of PR in China, as a matter of policy I will not usually write about the specifics of my work. Nevertheless, you may want to bear in mind who I work for should I write about matters pertaining to mobile devices, telecommunications or information technology, as I occasionally do.
This blog is not affiliated with the “ImageThief” software application.
Comment Policy
I encourage comments and love a good comment thread. Comments are, however, moderated to control the astounding amount of comment spam I get, so please don’t worry if your comment doesn’t appear right away. Sad that it has to be this way, but welcome to the modern Internet.
I welcome all points of view and do not filter for disagreement or dissent. Readers are encouraged to post their own thoughts and opinions, and to disagree with the author if they wish. There are, however, limits. Imagethief is a supporter of free speech. That means you have every right to a blog, and I support your freedom to post whatever you want on it. But you don’t necessarily have a right to this blog. No right to publish is granted, and all comments are published at my discretion. The following behaviors will ensure your comment is never published:
- Personal attacks on me, other commenters or my family members.
- Posting comments that are completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand (exceptions may be made in certain circumstances, but think it over)
- Putting more than two external links in any one comment. Any more than that triggers my spam filter. This setting is not subject to debate.
- Including advertisements or comment-spam.
Posts are closed to new comments after two weeks. If you have any questions, want to comment on an old post, or want to raise something unrelated to a post, please e-mail me at will [at] imagethief [dot] com.
Link Exchanges
I don’t like them. And this isn’t 2005. People are not finding your blog through my blogroll. They’re finding it through Twitter, Facebook or Google, all of which provide context that a blogroll does not. Like my blog? Link to it! Got a blog you think I’ll like? Drop me an e-mail and I’ll take a look. If I like it, I’ll link to it. And you won’t even be obligated to link to me in return. But avoid the “if-you-link-to-me-I’ll-link-to-you” stuff. And don’t send me an e-mail telling me you already linked to me and would I puh-leeze etc. Trust me, there are better ways to build an audience.
Thanks, and happy reading!
