In the West, the Internet started with users in business, academia and government, mostly fulfilling utilitarian needs. In contrast, Internet usage in China stemmed from a consumer phenomenon, focused on entertainment and communications. Most Western media coverage of Internet usage in China focuses on the narrative of censorship and control, missing the vibrant social nature of the largest internet market in the world.
Like many other countries, one of the hottest areas of Internet growth in China is in social media. While American companies like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter dominate Western markets, many of China’s 300 million Internet users are gravitating toward home-grown sites such as Youku for video sharing, QQ for social networking, Xiaonei, Kaixin001 and others. China is currently dominated by these large domestic social networking sites (SNS), while foreign players have been entering the market with less success.
Apart from the issue of government censorship, the failure of most foreign SNS in China is probably due in large part to a lack of proper localization for the Chinese market. Chinese users approach online social networking differently than Western users. In order to stand a chance against Chinese competitors, foreign social networking companies should take the time to understand these differences and adapt their sites appropriately.
1. Amusing themselves to death. Chinese people use SNS as a primary source of cheap, quick, accessible entertainment throughout the week, and less for practical communication. In “Parking Wars” (one of the hottest games on Chinese SNS), players earn virtual cash for parking on friends’ lots and ticketing friends when they park illegally. After earning enough money, users can buy more expensive cars. Millions of white-collar professionals are addicted; many check their Kaixin001 profiles several times a day to update their parking status. And why? For fun, of course. That is the primary motivation of Chinese netizens when logging into an SNS, and entertaining games like this one keep users actively engaged.
2. Higher tolerance for disturbance and lack of privacy. While Western users are often sensitive to “clutter” in their social networking profiles, Chinese users dig the extras that come with social networking platforms. Viral games, contests, forum discussions, and other add-ons drive traffic because young Chinese netizens don’t hesitate to send invitations to friends to get them involved. And instead of keeping online conversations within private networks, Chinese netizens gravitate toward bulletin board systems (BBS) to express themselves and participate in public discussions.
3. Appreciation for online freedom of speech. In one study, 73 percent of Chinese netizens agreed with the following statement: “Online, I feel free to say and do things I wouldn’t do or say offline.” Only 32 percent of American netizens surveyed agreed with this statement, suggesting that online freedom of speech is more valuable for the Chinese online community. This is likely due to the political constraints upon everyday life created by the Chinese government.
4. Higher percentage of “Creators” and “Critics.” Compared to Americans, urban Chinese netizens are more active in creating and critiquing online content, rather than simply consuming it.
Foreign companies want to take advantage of the recent social media surge in China, but how can they develop successful online strategies for reaching and engaging consumers? They need to realize that the current cut, translate and paste strategy will never work for a unique market with its own preferences and idiosyncrasies. New features need to be added, and entire websites need to be tailored and adapted to suit Chinese netizens.
Some additional questions to consider (I would love to hear your thoughts):
1. Are there any foreign SNS that are on the right track to tapping the Chinese market?
2. What will it take for foreign SNS to snag and keep users from QQ, Xiaonei and other domestic giants?
(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
Loading ...
Subscribe to Comments
Follow us on Twitter
Get email updates
7 Comments, Comment or Ping
Jon Hickey
Great post! I am actually working on a web startup marketing to S. Korea, and you are absolutely right that there is a different SNS culture in Asia than in the U.S. I can’t speak for China specifically, but it sounds like China and Korea are similar in the sense that they actually enjoy more clutter on their websites as opposed to the current U.S. push for very simple, clean design.
I have a question for you: how much loyalty do people feel to the domestic SNSs? Is there a feeling at all that Chinese citizens shouldn’t join facebook simply because it is foreign? Also, how much of the failure from foreign companies is due to the network effect? If facebook starts to enter the market against sites that are already loaded with users, is it possible that people won’t join facebook simply because their friends aren’t on it yet?
Dec 9th, 2009
Kaiser
My two cents as someone living in China who’s been involved in the Internet here for quite a number of years:
Foreign-based SNS enter the China market at their own peril. They’re on the horns of a serious dilemma immediately on entering: Either they 1) choose to censor in accordance with Chinese law, in which case they risk bringing down the wrath of all sorts of human rights NGOs as well as the moral condemnation of Congress, much as Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft did a few years back; or 2) they don’t censor (e.g., they allow people to join groups that are, say, pro-Tibetan independence, or advocate policies that the Chinese government finds anathema), in which case they’re blocked quickly. Facebook met with the latter fate — not a total block, but the Great Firewall definitely started to screw with access — only three days after making a Chinese language interface available; and since then, it’s been completely blocked, accessible only to people using VPNs or (a dwindling number of) free anonymous proxies.
Just a few years ago, as far as blocking of western Internet sites, the Chinese government was far more concerned with news sites that you’d describe as “Web 1.0″ sites. Not so anymore: No major news sites are blocked in China today, but Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and major blog hosting services are blocked. Why? Because they’re much more worried about the “read-write” web than the “read-only” web. They’re not afraid so much of “outside” information coming into China — not much hope of blocking that anyway, and not THAT much interest in reading it — as they’re concerned about Internet services that allow for the quick dissemination of information at a many-to-many level.
As for Jon Hickey’s question, I think loyalties are pretty entrenched at this point, and as you suggest, that’s due to the network effect. It’s been very difficult for new SNS (except for local city-based SNS) to gain any traction against the big incumbents Tencent (Xiaoyou), Renren (which used to be called Xiaonei.com), Kaixin001, and 51.com. It’s not that Facebook is “foreign”: It’s that it’s slow, unreliable, often blocked (as it is now), and doesn’t offer anything compelling that the local SNS don’t already offer. In fact Facebook’s most popular social game of late, Farmville, was entirely inspired by an immensely popular game in China called “Happy Farm.”
Dec 9th, 2009
Sharlen
This is a very interesting post. You are right about how people from China are somehow a little different than Westerners when it comes to Internet. Most of the reasons are because of the cultural differences. As a Chinese, I think most people are more introverted and aren’t really comfortable to express themselves and talk about lots of stuff with people unless they are really close friends. Internet is a new world for them to open-up little bit, but don’t expect a dramatic change.
“Happy Farm”‘s success indicates another interesting situation. Due to the high stress working environment, most office workers check their online-farms during office hours, just to escape from the stressful reality. I know some of my friends who registered on Facebook just for playing the game, he doesn’t post any message, the only thing he does on Facebook is to play the game.
Most successful SNS in China/ Taiwan has something in common – Chinese user interface. Facebook’s Chinese-speaking users grows rapidly after it offered the Chinese language option. Maybe Twitter can think about something like that if it wants to push its market in Chinese market.
Dec 12th, 2009
seanwang
Really appreciate the insight in this post. As somebody with a background in Chinese culture, I know people who use both “foreign” like MSN, as well as “local” like Kaixin001. Over time, their use of MSN decreases, because there is nothing new, fun or exciting that draws people in.
I kind of see a key difference here, US based social media relies heavily on user generated content, it’s plain and simple. The Chinese versions are heavily entertainment oriented, with games, jokes and fun elements, creating something out of nothing. It’s sort of like comparing cable with “youTube”.
I believe Google among other companies have made significant investments in some of the mentioned “local” companies.
Dec 14th, 2009
Ziwen Liu
It is usual to see how local companies beat foreign companies in China, like baidu vs google, taobao vs amazon, and etc. As you point out in this article, one of the most important reason is that local start-ups seem to be more capable of customizing their products to local Chinese. However, I believe there at least two other important reasons accountable for this phenomenon. On one hand, Chinese social media companies highly emphasize local market and therefore most of their resources will be put on local markets. For western companies, even though they might be well awared of the cultural differences, they just can’t take the risk of distracting their attention from local to foreign markets like China and invest in same amount of resources as local Chinese companies did. On the other hand, Chinese government clearly favors local companies rather than foreign, this fact is highly amplified by Chinese government’s frequent censorship on foreign companies.
Jan 7th, 2010
Tracey
Thank you for this interesting post. I agree with Sharlen that a lot of the difference in which people in the US and Asia see the internet has to do with the differences in culture. Other than being more introverted, many people tend to see the internet as a place away from reality rather than a source for information. While people may be more critical of their information consumption, they certainly will give more leniency to recreational activities on the internet.
I agree with Ziwen that foreign companies experience less success not only because of cultural differences but also because the Chinese government favors local companies a lot more than foreign ones. This can be explained not only because of favoritism but also that local companies are already under censorship thus require less effort to regulate than foreign ones.
Jan 26th, 2010
Taipeir
You forgot a VERY OBVIOUS point. Facebook is blocked in China, as are many other foreign sites!
May 13th, 2010
Reply to “What Social Media Companies Need to Know about China”