I was tallking to a colleague in Shanghai earlier today, whose wife has the myspace.com/shanghai identity the central My Space Shanghai person...

Apparently she is now recognized in public when they are out as a result of her photo being used..... and some people have been trying to steal her identity... Co-ordinating myspace in Shanghai must be seen to have some significant value.

What was interesting in the discussion was how intensely global the whole social network is. The use of Flickr for instance.... My colleague has developed an online discussion and friendship with someone in Minnesota who enjoys vicariously life in Shanghai through looking at my colleague's pictures of Shangai life on line via Flickr.

And there is one futher item that came up in our conversation that really is profound. I was told today that the generations shift in Shangai between demographic groups has changed radically. Where 20 years of difference in age at one time used to be a bench mark of difference in generation, now the number is 5 years. So now the 15 year olds are as different from the 20 year olds as they are from the 40 year olds. Now in Shanghai hip hop is already old hat, and musical and other tastes are changing as rapidly as your imagination...

It's going to be a  mashed up kind of world!