Week 3O:
Unveil the mysteries in China’s social
media:
Renren = The Chinese Facebook?
The typical one and most popular social Net website in China is Renren, a so-called Chinese Facebook. However, there is a fierce debate concerning whether Renren equals to Facebook or not.
In order to unveil the mysteries behind Renren, I would like to share some background information first. The Renren Network, which literally means everyone’s website in Chinese, is a Chinese social networking service that is similar to Facebook.
Known as Xiaonei Network formerly
(literally on-campus), Renren was started in December 2005 by four
graduates. Later on in 2008, Xiaonei
launched its WAP version, which users can access through mobile phones. In
August 2009, Xiaonei officially changed its name to Renren (everybody in
Chinese), which reflected the expansion situation.
To some extent: Renren=Facebook.
Similar to Facebook, Renren has the same
common functions, such as renewing the mood, blogging, voting, sharing blogs,
photos, articles, and external links, uploading photos, leaving a message or
making comments, chatting online, playing games. By using these applications,
people could build their social net online easily and conveniently. Obviously,
Renren bridged a tie for Chinese people, especially the young generation to
communication with each other.
Naturally, Renren ≠ Facebook!
The Key Word One: CENSORSHIP.
Politics is a
forever-sensitive topic in the world. Renren’s censorship is fairly strict.
Blogs containing keywords like Tiananmen Square massacre, Falun Gong and Zhao
Ziyang can not be released. Besides, other topics that are suspicious or in
somewhat relation to political topics, obscenity and thriller all have to be
manually censored by the government department before they are released.
The Key Word two:
POPULARITY.
Renren has simply not grown to take up the market in China comparing
with what Facebook has achieved in the U.S. and elsewhere. It is statistically
reported that Facebook has 500 millions active users, plus 100 billion hits per
day, plus, 50 billion photos as well as 2 trillion objects cached.
On the contrary, China has more than 400 million Internet users, the
total registration members for Renren is about 100 million. However, frankly
speaking, Renren only has 20 to 30 million active monthly users, which is
really a small proportion considering the large population. The era for Renren
has not come yet.
The Key Word three: COMPETITORS.
Even though the Chinese government protect domestic social medium
from the international market, it does not mean the domestic competition is not
fierce for Renren. Other powerful competitors are Baidu, Sina, Kaxin001,etc.For instance, Kaxin001, launching a
Farmville type game long before Farmville was popular in the U.S., strikes
dramatic popularity in China. The competition between Renren and Kaxin001 is
still lasting and the result is they will combine together to gain market shares. The following is a ranking list for Chinese main social medias. Renren ranked NO.5.
The Key Word four: REVENUE.
Facebook’s main revenues are from advertising. For instance,
Microsoft is Facebook’s exclusive parter for seving banner advertising. The bar
graph bellows shows the revenue trend for Facebook.
There is a totally different pictures for Renren. Definitely Renren
has the potential to be powerful, but we still need to face the reality that
Renren can not make that much money. Making profits is an vital factor for
doing business. Renren still need to take some measures to change its business
situation.
In summary, the mysteries in China's social media is that the social media is not that powerful enough to dominate the entire Chinese market, even though government try their best to protect domestic market. The future for social media still needs patience and perspiration.
Very interesting and informative blog. Many facts I didn't know. I loved your style of writing, and the tables were really helpful. I bet many people who earn their living on Facebook and Social Media are going to be very interested in learning more on this matter.
ReplyDeleteAfter learning social media and marketing course this semester, I found that I could know better about China's social media market. There still have a lot of stories about China's Renren and Facebook. I would like to share with you more specifically and in details.
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