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Occupy Central
Hong Kong

How social media shapes Occupy: Web forum HKGolden.com takes off

The huge jump in page views of a web forum reflects the importance of social media in shaping the pro-democracy Occupy Central movement

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Occupy movement protesters in Mong Kok. Photo: Sam Tsang
Phila Siu

A popular web forum, seen as an unofficial organising tool for the pro-democracy Occupy Central protests, has recorded a tenfold jump in page views in the last month, reflecting the importance of social media in shaping the protest.

HKGolden.com made headlines this month after a young man was arrested for posting a message on the forum allegedly encouraging people to charge at police and block rail lines. Since then, forum users have been using code words to avoid referring directly to their sit-in participation.
Before September 28, the Chinese-language platform logged about 300,000 hits a day in its current affairs chat room, HKGolden.com's chief executive, Joe Lam Cho-shun, said. That skyrocketed after that Sunday, when police fired 87 canisters of tear gas at protesters in Admiralty.
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"In the few days after that, we were getting 2.9 million page views a day," said Lam, known as the "godfather" of the forum.

The website has 300,000 registered users. Readers do not need to register unless they want to post or comment.

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The site became a place where the online community could get the latest Occupy updates, share protest tactics and encourage people to become "occupiers". Users dished out suggestions for what protesters should bring to the sites, such as food, water and masks to help protect against pepper spray.

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