Part 2: China Social Media Doppelgangers

Thank you all for showing up on time to your second day of class.  I hope you reviewed Part 1: Current and Future Statistics on Chinese Social Media at home as we will be adding to these numbers today.  Let’s begin.

Reason 4: “But, we already use Twitter.” Newsflash! The Chinese government doesn’t like Twitter, and blocks it. Good luck marketing yourself in China if that’s your only strategy.

Contrary to popular belief, the Chinese government doesn’t shut out Twitter completely, in fact, you can log on right now! Fanfou.im has been available in China for close to a year now (about the time that Twitter’s pipes have been clogged). In addition, Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder, has recently announced changes to be enforced in order to accommodate China’s Internet policies. Expect Twitter to be available soon as the Expo season approaches.

Reason 5: “We’ve got a Facebook Page” Also blocked.

Indeed. Since October of 2007, Facebook has been the number one social networking group in America (surpassing MySpace). Facebook has 400 million active accounts (within 30 days), but a key statistic to consider is that 70% of those accounts are based outside the United States and translated into 70 different languages!

Compare this to China’s exact copy of Facebook, RenRen.com, whose active user count reaches only 120 million. But how many languages is it translated into? Zero. Virtually all its members are Chinese speaking Chinese nationals.

In review, Facebook demographic: world, Facebook languages: 71. RenRen demographic: China, RenRen languages: 1.

And that’s just RenRen–the 3rd largest social networking service in China.  Right behind RenRen is Kaixin001, the Red Facebook clone, that accounts for 80 million active subscribers.  Running doppelganger total: 200 million.

The second leading SNS is 51.com –another Facebook clone used by those in more rural areas–and it has 160 million active accounts!  Running doppelganger total: 360 million.

In review, Facebook: 400 million active accounts in 192 countries.  Chinese FacebookS:  360 million active accounts in one country.

Let’s face it; China’s networking ecosystem is a world in and of itself, and we haven’t even touched upon its number one social medium:  QQ.  This deserves its own chapter.  Stay tuned for Part 3.

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2 of 6 in a series expanding on Ren Media’s Top 10 Reasons to use Chinese Social Media.

Next Part 3

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Related articles from around the web

• Facebook reportedly gearing up for China launch before year’s end (sfgate.com)
• China’s top four social networks: RenRen, Kaixin001, Qzone, and 51.com (digital.venturebeat.com)
• Social media and China: What you need to know (smartblogs.com)
• China’s Tencent: $1.8 billion in 2009 revenues – what Facebook could learn (digital.venturebeat.com)
• Chinese Government To Police Social Games (techcrunch.com)
• Open Thread: Is China Threatened by U.S. Social Media, or Could it Care Less? (readwriteweb.com)

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Tagged as: 51.com, China, facebook, Jack Dorsey, Kaixin001, Social network service, twitter, United States