No single social networking site stands out among the crowd of half billion Chinese internet users. Here’s a closer look at the social media situation focusing on the top three networks (QZone, 51.com and Sina Weibo).

1. Social Networking in China: A Closer Look
Posted by Goutama Bachtiar on May 9, 2012 in Features
China is the world‟s biggest country, in terms of population. However, we can‟t expect the
same for the world‟s biggest social network here. No single social networking site stands
out among the crowd of half billion Chinese internet users. Facebook, even though
successful (even considered the fourth largest “nation” in the planet, with over 800 million
members) has a very small following in China, due to Internet restrictions and policies.
There are only close to 510,000 Facebook users in China, only about a thousand above
Yemen and a thousand less than Ethiopia.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was spotted in Shanghai this March, leading to speculation that
the social network might be expanding here. (Photo Credit: weibo.com/shdaily)
There are plenty of social networks in this market, but in this post, we will take the top three
and take a look into their profile, market share and future prospects. Qzone successfully
steals the younger demographics‟ attention and that of rural users, actively promoting
through QQ Messenger. 51.com has gained ground since day one at lower tier cities,
while Sina Weibo accounted for the majority of micro blog users, and is the most favored
network, used by thousands of corporations and organizations in the country. Most Chinese
are members of multiple networks. On average, each person is a member of 2.8 social
networks, according to the Chinese Internet Network Information Center.
Actually there are plenty of smaller networks targeting niche demographics: elite, females,
techies, and so on and so forth. The social networking scene is moderately crowded and
competitive, although a clear separation exists between the top three and “the rest” in terms
of mass-market viability.
As in http://www.techwireasia.com/2971/social-networking-in-china-a-closer-look/ Page 1

2. Every social network in China claims to be the largest, and it‟s quite difficult to have
trustworthy data. But, we can look into results of recent surveys from various sources as
reference points for this article.
QZone
Gaining huge traffic from its sister app QQ Messenger, Qzone has logged more than 500
million users. Owned by Tencent, and being with a product family such as QQ Shoq, QQ
Games, and QQ Pet, the service has easily booked millions of members with teens, rural
folks, and casual users as their main targets. For those who haven‟t heard about it, QZone
allows us to write blogs, share pictures, and listen to music. It also lets users customize
elements such as background and other apps and on-screen accessories based on their
preferences. Most the services are not free and it applies to their mobile version as well.
Around 150 million users update their accounts at least once a month, making QZone one
of the most active communities in the industry.
On the other hand, since many QZone start out with a proprietary messaging app, the
service is experiencing a big problem of having a low retention rate. This is a trend in other
networks too, although it might be difficult to observe where users use nicknames or aliases
rather than real-life names.
The demographics are a bit different, too. Even as majority of users are teenagers and
Chinese living in rural areas, older users have been contributing to the growth of Xiaoyou
(classmates). The service is not helped by the unintuitive nature of the website. Like
Facebook, QZone has social games that run over the platform to increase user
engagement and popularity. Unfortunately, QZone is still struggling to resolve instability and
performance issues relating to the integration those games with the network.
Backed up by online giant Tencent, which reports billion dollar revenues annually, QZone
should face no issue when it comes to financial matters in the long run. Tencent claims to
understand the social networking scene and the ecosystem in which its user thrive.
However, they have left out a big and important demographic in their potential market: older
students and white-collar workers.
51.com
51.com is apparently slowing in growth, and is now one of the lowest-traffic sites among
Chinese social networks. Latest demographics indicate that urban and educated users
have mostly turned to competitors. What they are doing now is trying to keep their core user
base, mostly in lower tier cities.
The simple social network with rich functionality has plenty of pre-installed apps and
customizable skins. The good thing is the site has better games developed in-house, which
is greatly helped by a recent US$ 15 million investment, so that the site can build its own
gaming portal. As such, 51.com is no longer dependent on advertising and value-added
services.
Giant Interactive Group is the major stakeholder with a US$ 51 million investment,
accounting for a 25% stake. Others are Sequoia Capital, SIG, Redpoint Ventures,
Susquehanna International, and Intel Capital.
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3. The seven year old social network has announced a profit in 2009, with ad revenues of US$
30 million. Since its launch, 51.com has been fully committed to provide stable services and
useful facilities so that users can conveniently communicate with each other.
As China‟s economic outlook shows positive figures, the number of the residents in lower
tier cities is decreasing, with the population moving toward first tier areas. Note that
RenRen‟s approach is by starting with elite students at China‟s top universities, and then
spreading outward, which seems to have been far more successful. And, considering the
crowded scene, they stand little chance in competing in top-tier cities.
Sina Weibo
Sina Weibo is owned and run by Sina under the umbrella of Sina Corp. During
the NetImpact event in Jakarta, Sina Weibo‟s partner fund Songbo Li said that the service
has hit more than 200 million users in less than three years.
It serves millions posts per day, and signs up 20 million new users per month, making Sina
Weibo the fastest-rising star among social networks in China. Similar to Twitter, Sina Weibo
uses a verification process for celebrities and organizations. Interestingly, the site has more
than 60,000 verified accounts — a decent number that surprised even Sina — consisting of
movie stars, singers, businessmen, sports stars, religious leaders, government officials and
other public figures in particular. These are not only from the mainland, but from Hong
Kong, Taiwan and Macau too.
Earlier last February, Bloomberg reported that the site — which literally means “Sina
Microblog” — already has 300 million users. Launched after the Urumqi riots (Twitter and
Twitter clone Fanfou were blocked afterward), it has grown both virally and through clever
marketing. Most of the time, even other microblogging services are referred as “Weibo” due
to the popularity of the brand.
Meanwhile, Foursquare look-alike Weilingdi and female-targeted Sina Lady Weibo are
struggling to gain traction among existing Sina users, and likewise non Sina users. It will be
exciting to watch the launch of the international Sina Weibo, which is aimed squarely
against Twitter.
The Future Scene
The competition is certainly still widely open and the social media space still has plenty
room to grow. Remember that the number of Internet users will still grow from its current
level of about 700 million out of China‟s 1.4 billion total populations.
Of course, the government will want to be involved, especially with the top three networks.
These social networking services are probably too big to shut down, and so there needs to
be some monitoring done. All Internet companies in China have to obey rules and comply
with authorities‟ self-censorship regulations to stay in business. These are often affected by
crackdown policies that change from time-to-time.
Quoting a previous post , such a “„contamination‟ from the internet might disrupt their social
framework as the foundation of the tremendous economic growth the country has been
experiencing for more than two decades.”
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4. The growth of Renren users is one of the highest due to its management team and open
application programming interface (API) policy. Formerly known as Xiaonei and tagged as a
Facebook clone, the service started to target students since day one, and now their efforts
in pushing toward younger students seems fairly successful.
Networks that are eyeing an international launch will have to compete with Silicon Valley
made networks. These will have to go beyond translation. Localization doesn‟t just mean
translation. Brands will need to get a deeper understanding of the market, and deliver
localized best user experiences. Another point to contend with is content blocking. We
might recall a case where Baidu was sued for blocking off search results in the U.S.
Another exciting trend to watch is Instagram, which has already established a strategic
partnership with Sina Weibo and runs its Chinese-language version after co-founder Kevin
Systrom visited Beijing a few months ago. Unsurprisingly, the government treats foreign
social-networking sites as a threat even though they have tied-up with local players in the
nation.
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