I've been extensively researching China's social networking scene for sometime now, and the market grabbed my interest due to its diversity, immensity and competitiveness of the market:
- January 17, 2011
- February 12, 2011
- February 16, 2011
- February 28, 2011
- April 11, 2011
- June 12, 2011
- June 13, 2011
- June 20, 2011
- June 27, 2011
- July 30, 2011
In the U.S. Facebook, foursquare, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Zynga are the clear leaders in their respective social media categories (general social networking, microblogging, business social networks, location-based check-in services, video sharing and social gaming) respectively. However, in China there is generally one dominant player and two major followers within each category of China's Social Media Ecosystem as you can see from the following graphic.
Click Image To Enlarge
As you can readily see from the above graphic, China has more than enough competition to challenge any American social network from Facebook to YouTube--that's how huge the Chinese social media landscape is. Unfortunately, we will never know whether any of the above aforementioned U.S. social networking giants can compete, since all of them are banned in China.
Chinese social media expert Resonance China prepared the following infographic which describes China's social media space in great detail:
Click Image To Enlarge
Unlike U.S. social networks, China's social networks are highly censored by the Chinese government. There are quite literally 40,000 government employees charged with the task of reviewing social media posts for criticisms of the government. The social networks also have their own staffs, usually representing two-thirds of their staffs, dedicated to policing their sites to make sure they are in compliance with China's censorship regulations. First-time offenders usually get off with a handslap, but repeated offenders can be imprisoned. Zuck, are you listening?
China's three largest social networks include microblogger Seina Weibo (NASDAQ:SINA), and general social networking and gaming sites Renren (NYSE:RENN) and Tencent (HGK:0700). All three are public companies, but their stock prices have all but collapsed.
- Renren has taken the biggest hit, dropping from a high of 18.01 on May 4, 2011 to 3.35 on December 23, 2011.
- Sina Weibo has dropped from a high of 142.40 on April 19, 2011 to 55.79 on December 23, 2011.
- Tencent has faired a bit better dropping from 224.80 on May 8, 2011 to 159.30 on December 23, 2011.
Social networks going public in the U.S. have experienced similar stock price collapses as well.
- LinkedIn had a very successful IPO on May 19, 2011, going out at 45, and closing at 94.25 on its first day on trading. However, it has suffered several ups and downs, ending at 63.79 on December 23, 2011.
- Zynga, the social gamer, had its IPO on December 19, 2011. Its stock price went out at $10.00, popped to $11.50, but ended its first day of trading down 5% at $9.34 on its first day of trading. Apparently, its complete reliance on Facebook failed to generate the anticipated "Facebook Halo Effect," with investors viewing that association as a big negative rather than a negative. Zynga's stock price is now 9.39 as of December 23, 2011.
Facebook, now trades solely in the secondary market at between $32.50 and $33.00 per share, is making plans for its IPO in Q2 2012. That IPO could raise $10 billion for Facebook with a projected valuation of about $100 billion. However, Zynga situation could be a warning to all U.S. social networks that they are not the "hottest" thing since slided bread.
Like the U.S., China's social network landscape has been growing rapidly, and there are now definite signs of saturation and reaching a critical inflection point.
Courtesy of an article dated December 21, 2011 appearing in Resonance China
Thanks to give me these type of information...
Posted by: American social network | 02/14/2012 at 01:23 AM