CHINESE SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES VS.

AMERICAN SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES

Alex Hächler

CONTENT

• Social networking services• History• Chinese social networking services

• Freedom of expression• Government intervention• Website licence

• Comparison• Popularity, largest social networks and mobile app

activity• Demonstration: Sina Weibo

HISTORY - SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES

Name Type Founded

Skype VoIP / Instant messaging

2003

Facebook Social network 2004YouTube Video sharing 2005Twitter Microblogging 2006Whatsapp Mobile messaging 2009

Name Type FoundedQzone Social network 2005Renren Social network 2005Tudou Video sharing 2005Youku Video sharing 2006Sina Weibo Microblogging &

social network2009

Tencent Weibo

Microblogging 2010

WeChat Mobile messaging 2011Jego VoIP / Instant

messaging2013

Sources from: http://en.wikipedia.org 2013

SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICE - QZONE• Social network

• write blogs, keep diaries, send photos, listen to music and watch videos

• 623.3 million registered users (Nov 2013)

• Alexa.com (based on qq.com!):• Global rank: 7• China rank: 2

SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICE - RENREN• Social network

• «Facebook of China», popular amongst college students

• 160 million registered users (Dec 2012)

• Alexa.com:• Global rank: 608• China rank: 100

SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICE - SINA WEIBO• Microblogging (also

available in English)

• Hybrid between Twitter and Facebook with a limit of 140 Chinese characters

• 503 million registered users (Dec 2012)

• Alexa.com:• Global rank: 18• China rank: 7

SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICE - TUDOU, YOUKU

• Video sharing

• «YouTubes of China»

• 96 million registered users (Jan 2012) ), Youku: 50 million (Mar 2012)

• Alexa.com (Tudou):• Global rank: 480• China rank: 71

• Alexa.com (Youku):• Global rank: 84• China rank: 17

SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICE - TENCENT WEIBO

• Microblogging(also available in English)

• Similar to Twitter with a limit of 140 Chinese characters

• 540 million registered users (Dec 2012)

• Alexa.com (based on qq.com!) :• Global rank: 7• China rank: 2

SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICE - WECHAT• Mobile messaging

(also available in English)

• «Whatsapp of China»

• 300 million registered users (Jan 2013)

SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICE - JEGO• VoIP / Instant messaging

(also available in English)

• «Skype of China»

• Recently launched by China Mobile in June 2013

FREEDOM – GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION

• Facebook and Twitter were blocked by Beijing's firewall in mid-2009

• China has the largest recorded number of imprisoned cyber-dissidents in the world.Some of the reasons:• Communicating with groups abroad• Signing online petitions• Calling for reform• Calling for an end to corruption

• Government forces to employ teams of internal censors• prevent criticism of the government and social unrest

FREEDOM – GOVERNMENT WEBSITE LICENCE

FREEDOM – EN.GREATFIRE.ORG

COMPARISON – LARGEST SOCIAL NETWORKS

Faceb

ook

YouT

ube

Qzone (

China o

nly)*

Sina W

eibo*

Whatsa

pp

Google

+Tu

mblrLIN

E*

Twitte

r

WeCha

t

Tence

nt Weib

o

Linke

dIn

Youk

u (Chin

a only

)

Instag

ram

Tudo

u (Chin

a only

)

RenRen

(Chin

a only

)

Pinter

estBa

dooOrku

t

Fours

quareVin

e*

vKon

takte

(Russia

only)

Myspace

Snap

chat0

200400600800

100012001400

1,1551,000

712500

350327300275240236220184175150114

54 50 45 44 40 40 31 30 20

monthly active users (unless indicated otherwise)

in m

illio

n

* = total users

Source: adapted from http://www.businessinsider.com/a-global-social-media-census-2013-10

COMPARISON - POPULARITY

Faceb

ook

Qzone*

Renren

Whatsa

pp

WeCha

t

Twitte

r

Tence

nt Weib

o

Sina W

eibo**

Youtu

be

Youku

+ Tudo

u0

200400600800

1,0001,2001,400

1,150

500

54

350236 240 220

81

1,000

289

monthly active usersin

milli

on

Sources: adapted from intelligence.businessinsider.com: November 2013, * forbes.com: July 2012, **online.wsj.com: October 2013

COMPARISON - MOBILE SOCIAL APP ACTIVITY

zhihuImbang

Tianya Community MobileTianya MobilePengyou.com

Kakao StoryFacebook

RenrenBaidu Tieba

Qzone

1.731.791.9722.54.034.99

35.5961.16

211.03

Top 10 - mobile social apps amount of active users in December 2013 in China

in million

Source: adapted from enfodesk, China Internet Watch 2013

DEMONSTRATION: SINA WEIBO

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

SOURCES 1/2• www.alexa.com (for all social networks) 15.01.2014• http://antictrl.com/chapter-7-1-impact-of-journalists-and-cyberdissidents 30.01.2014• http://blog.factbrowser.com/tag/youku 15.01.2014• http://www.chinainternetwatch.com/tag/qzone 15.01.2014• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2431861/China-lifts-ban-Facebook--people-

living-working-small-area-Shanghai.html 03.02.2014• http://www.digitalelement.com/press_room/

Tudou_deploys_hyperlocal_geolocation_technology.html 18.01.2014• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qzone 15.01.2014• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renren 15.01.2014• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tencent_Weibo 15.01.2014• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudou 15.01.2014• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WeChat 15.01.2014• http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youku 15.01.2014

SOURCES 2/2

• http://www.internetfreedom.org/Background#Firewall_of_Shame 24.01.2014

• http://thenextweb.com/asia/2013/08/13/chinas-twitter-like-sina-weibo-service-now-has-over-50-million-active-users-per-day/#!tRg36 18.01.2014

• http://www.techinasia.com/tencent-weibo-registered-users-540-million/ 17.01.2014

• http://techrice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Slide11.jpg 19.01.2014• http://www.weibo.com/u/5021904851/home?wvr=5&uut=fin&from=reg

15.01.2014

IMAGE SOURCES• http://flagpedia.net/data/flags/normal/cn.png

• http://flagpedia.net/data/flags/normal/us.png

• http://raitamaa.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/qzone.png

• http://www.language-trainers.de/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/weibo-tencent.png

• http://was-de.wascdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Wechat-logo-315x315.png

• http://www.kjr-bgl.de/userdata/others/Facebook-Icon.png

• http://www.brookwood.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/twitter.png

• http://graphics8.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2013/07/31/startups-explorer/81401f9ca5ce61eb42e47e9a6f5756338086bd21/imgs/logos/whatsapp.png

• http://files.softicons.com/download/social-media-icons/social-bookmarks-icon-set-by-yootheme/png/128x128/social_skype_box_blue.png

• http://www.cse.ust.hk/~bwuaa/image/renren_icon.png

• http://www.ciefcci.org/zh/images/yootheme/menu/weibo.gif

• http://www.digitalintheround.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/paris-hilton-sina-weibo.png

• http://s3.amazonaws.com/crunchbase_prod_assets/assets/images/original/0001/6516/16516v1.png

• http://ascportfolios.org/chinaandmedia/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/100217235565a51910767283b5.jpg

• http://marketingtochina.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/like_facebook_chine.jpg

• http://meedan.org/wp-content/uploads/tencent.weibo_.screenshot.jpg

• http://www.oneclickroot.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/WECHAT-1.jpg

• http://cdn3.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/11/Jego-1.png

• http://www.hdicon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/youtube_icon.png

• http://healthscopeasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/youku_logo2.png

• http://www.userlogos.org/files/logos/Karmody/tudou_Iphone01.png

• http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/files/2013/01/WMSN1212_1024-730x514.png