Online social networks are growing in popularity. Since launching in May 2008, the Chinese social networking website kaixin001.com has seen incredible growth. It is now the 13th most viewed site in the nation. But in an already crowded sector – and in a country where online copying is rampant – it’s anyone’s guess whether it will continue to remain popular. Who knows when and if another site will come along and surpass it.
Daniella and Maggie, two twenty-somethings living in Beijing and working for Lenovo, are hooked on China’s hot new craze. The western world has Facebook and MySpace; China has Kaixin, which means happy.
Kaixin001.com is similar to many other social networking sites, but also has online games. For example they have a game called Parking War where each user parks his or her cars in a friend’s parking spot to earn virtual money. This money can then be spent on buying more cars. In the game Friend Sales, each user can be bought for a number of hours, and forced to do things like clean a toilet, make a cup of tea or sing a song.
Daniella Zhang, one Kaixin user said “Before work starts, I’ll get on it and check it out, then during the day when I’m a bit bored, and then again at the end of work. I park my cars, buy some friends, vote in some polls.”
Kaixin has quickly established itself as China’s top social networking site. An estimated 30 million users log on everyday.
iResearch Consulting Group places the total market value of Chinese networking services in 2007 as upwards of 500 million yuan. Of this amount, social networking services accounted for more than half. The total market value is predicted to hit 1.6 billion yuan by 2011.
But, China’s online market is different than many others because copying is rampant. If one site has even a hint of traction, others doing the exact same thing will spring up seemingly overnight.
After the recent success of kaixin001.com a copycat emerged. The registered, but previously inactive domain name kaixin.com was purchased in October 2008 and launched a site of similar design and operation to kaixin001.com.
The new Kaixin has become popular in its own right, thanks in part to people who think they’re logging onto the original Kaixin.
Tan Xiaosheng, CTO of Myspace China highlights the instability of the market. He notes that even the top ranked sites still only reach a small percentage of China’s vast population.
And while he expects the growth of social networking sites to continue at breakneck speed, he cautions that the turnover of sites could be greater than ever.
Tan Xiaosheng, CTO of Myspace China said “If one enterprise or a website doesn’t build up their own core competence, and they can’t produce a unique product they won’t be competive. Also, if they don’t have their own marketing, PR, or creativity, they won’t survive.”
Somewhat troubling for Kaixin is the fact that two of their most fervent supporters aren’t convinced it has staying power.
Daniella says she is already beginning to lose interest in the site, while Maggie says the site could be a distant memory in a year’s time.
What is clear is that social networking in China is already hugely popular and continues to grow. But for the dominant sites in the sector, the trick is not just getting to the top, but staying there.
