Sonya Yan Song is an experienced researcher in online news media and emerging technologies. She joined the Media and Information Studies program in the fall of 2009.

In 2008, Song conducted her research in comparative business models of online media companies in China at The University of Hong Kong. In particular, she explored ways in which the development of China’s online media sector, which mirrors and diverges from developments in the online sector in North America and Western Europe. Her research holds the potential to define and analyze the Chinese alternative approaches of practicing online journalism, which may be of significant interest to global media companies seeking to understand and tap into the world’s largest Internet market. Song possesses a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science from Tsinghua University in Beijing, the country’s leading university, and Master of Philosophy in Journalism from The University of Hong Kong. She began her career in Internet start-ups in 1999, at the peak of the dotcom bubble. Later, Song worked as a journalist and columnist focusing on the Internet, online media and technology sectors at China Internet Weekly (Beijing), BlogChina.com (Beijing), New Weekly (Guangzhou), and Sanlian Life Week (Beijing). Her writings have touched on a full range of China’s new media sector, including coverage of companies as diverse as CCTV, Google China, Baidu.com, Sohu.com, QQ.com, Sina.com, Taihe Rye Music, and numerous start-ups. Moreover, her work experience obtained at various publications has endowed her with a wide view of the journalistic practice in China. Song is also an avid photographer, graphic designer and devotee of literature and films.